Tarnstellung
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User ID: 553
Tarnstellung
1d ago
Yes, they do sometimes force gay men to transition to make them "straight", but all that means is that they're only progressive on trans issues, not LGB issues. In Iran, these are considered separate, not interrelated as they are in the West.
so that when one of their gay Imams is inevitably caught, they have a religious rules-lawyered way to claim he was actually just having sex with a woman.
Are you claiming that was the original motivation to allow transition? It's at most an unintended benefit (for the regime).
Tarnstellung
1d ago
So, everyone? Maybe excluding a few isolated tribes in the Amazon and the North Sentinelese?
Tarnstellung
2d ago
There's a law being debated in the UK right now that would penalize parents and therapists for questioning children's transitions. The overwhelming majority of he trans memeplex is much more extreme than anything Rowling has advocated.
I'm sorry, but to me this seems like a non sequitur. I'm not talking about the left end of the spectrum. I'm asking, on the centre-to-right side of the spectrum, what position is there between that held by Rowling and advocating imprisonment or execution for being trans (which you will surely agree is the very far-right end of the spectrum)?
Tarnstellung
2d ago
Because it allows them to live their life however they wish as long as they don't impose their beliefs on others.
Sharing a public toilet does not entail the imposition of philosophical or any other beliefs. Communists, liberals and fascists; monarchists and republicans; Christians, Muslims, Hindus and atheists share toilets every day with no difficulty.
Compelling the use of preferred pronouns
You could object to cancellation, etc., on free speech grounds, etc., but the personal decision to use or not use people's preferred pronouns has nothing to do with "compelling".
I repeat: What would be a less "moderate" stance that still comes short of advocating trans people's extermination? Advocating their imprisonment instead, I guess?
Tarnstellung
2d ago
Arguing that they shouldn't be allowed into women's spaces and are distinct from biological women
Philosophical arguments about whether trans women are "really" women are largely separate from the question of how they should be treated, though of course there is a strong correlation between people's views on these two questions.
A "moderate" position could be that trans women aren't "really" women, but that they should be treated as if they were. A slightly less "moderate" position could be that trans women shouldn't be allowed in "women's spaces", but we should still use their preferred pronouns. And so forth. Rowling doesn't even support using people's preferred pronouns. She believes trans women should be treated exactly like men; that they should not be given any recognition whatsoever. How is this "moderate"? What would be a less "moderate" stance that still comes short of advocating trans people's extermination? Advocating their imprisonment instead, I guess?
Arguing that the Quran says they should be thrown off buildings 'Misguided but wholesome allyship'
Is there actually anything in the Quran directed at trans people specifically? Iran is fairly progressive on trans rights. I don't think that would be possible if the Quran said trans people should be thrown off buildings.
Tarnstellung
2d ago
What kind of "recognition" does Rowling support? Because what you're saying sounds like treating trans women as men in every respect socially, and I'm pretty sure that's what Rowling advocates. She doesn't even use people's preferred pronouns, and I don't see what that has to do with protecting (cis) women's spaces.
I guess an in-between position could be imprisoning trans people instead of calling for their extermination.
Tarnstellung
3d ago
when we have such a recent example of a Democrat-controlled federal government actively making the problem worse just a few years ago.
There was very little fiscal policy could do to reduce inflation. The COVID inflation wave was 100% central banks going crazy. Politicians got punished for it worldwide, from Biden to Boris, because voters are too stupid to understand this.
Tarnstellung
3d ago
The argument that the US pays for Europe's defence is stupid because American defence spending mostly goes towards fighting its own pointless wars. Europe would be no less safe if the US hadn't started the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and most recently Iran. Europeans wouldn't object if the US were to halve its defence spending, bringing it in line with Europe, with the savings being found in not starting pointless wars.
When Europe actually had to step up to fund Ukraine, it did. It has sent more aid to Ukraine than the US.
Tarnstellung
3d ago
Rowling isn't remotely "moderate" on trans people. She's about as far right as you can get short of calling for their extermination. For an actual moderate, look at Jesse Singal.
Tarnstellung
3d ago
NATO doesn't have fees.
Tarnstellung
3d ago
here is the intelligence that they would use it on US soil.
The intelligence would have to be fabricated because that is ludicrous. Iran seeks nukes primarily for self-defence against Israel. If the US were to simply back out of the Middle East, that would be a major boon to world stability. If Iran were to get nukes, that would be a major boon to world stability, because suddenly you'd have MAD and neither side would start a large-scale war. What does not benefit world stability is starting a large-scale war and disrupting one of the most important shipping corridors in the world.
Tarnstellung
3d ago
Evidently American voters disagree with you.
Tarnstellung
3d ago
Colorado and Washington passed propositions against trans girls participating in school sports, and Colorado additionally to ban gender surgeries for minors.
Those are both rather milquetoast "anti-trans" policies. As someone who considers himself 100% pro–trans rights, I don't care about the former (I realize this is an unusual position in my camp, but I can't bring myself to care about it in either direction, and it's a huge drain on political capital), and totally support the latter. Surgeries, unlike hormones/puberty blockers, are not time-sensitive.
Tarnstellung
2mo ago
it's hypocritical to criticise conversatives trying to get Fun Home removed from a college syllabus while also defending students' boycotting a screening of the film American Sniper
Isn't the major difference here that removing a book from a syllabus prevents others from reading it, while boycotting a film only prevents yourself from seeing it? People taking the course that covers the book are presumably doing so of their own accord.
Tarnstellung
3mo ago
Why does it matter how they arrived? They'd been there for over a century, all the deportees had been born there, it was their homeland.
Tarnstellung
3mo ago
Why does it matter how they arrived? They'd been there for over a century, all the deportees had been born there, it was their homeland.
Tarnstellung
3mo ago
The Chagos islands had a human population that was forcibly removed to build a military base.
Tarnstellung
3mo ago
"Better" from the perspective of how severely the crime should be punished.
Tarnstellung
3mo ago
It does mean exactly that. A subpopulation with that one individual will have a mean equal to that individual's value. A subpopulation with one individual 3 SD above the mean and one 2 SD above the mean will have a mean of 2.5 SD above the mean. And so on when adding more individuals.
This is assuming the datapoints are simple numbers. Are you aiming for some kind of more complicated causal process?
Tarnstellung
3mo ago
I don't understand. If they're all "out on the far point of the curve for the greater population", doesn't that imply they have a higher mean?
Tarnstellung
3mo ago
Lifted pickup trucks. Nobody drives off-road. Nobody. It's not a real thing people do at the scale where you would need any kind of rig to do it beyond a Subaru Outback with good tires. But I can't go anywhere without seeing trucks that have been lifted to the point where they handle like hell, at a cost of thousands of dollars.
The widely accepted theory is that it's to compensate for a small penis.
Tarnstellung
3mo ago
At least in Alameda County.
Yeah, that would do it!
Tarnstellung
3mo ago
children regress to the mean somewhat even with highly-filtered parents
If you select a subpopulation from a population, the children of the subpopulation will regress to the mean of the subpopulation, not the entire population.
Tarnstellung
3mo ago
an Palestinian majority in Israel would turn the country into a failed state
What makes you say that? I know you're not into HBD, and Palestinians aren't a low-IQ population anyway – Palestinian Christians in Israel are more successful than Jews. If the concern is that they'd path-dependence their way into an Egypt/Algeria-type situation, presumably the preexisting institutions inherited from Israel would prevent that.
and result in a genocide
Can be prevented by an international peacekeeping force deployed to keep things in control until they stop hating each other.
How would such a ban be enforced if not by criminal sanctions, i.e., imprisonment or execution? Okay, I suppose you could fine people, but I can't imagine that being a very effective deterrent, and an anti-trans government would certainly want something more forceful. To compare our hypothetical to a real-life instance of medical procedures being criminalized, performing an abortion can get you life imprisonment in Texas. Evidently they thought fines were insufficient. You could perhaps nitpick over whether the trans person would be prosecuted or only the person performing the procedure.
I will concede that there is a difference between refusing to personally use trans people's preferred pronouns and creating social pressure for others to refuse. Furthermore, mere social pressure is not necessarily equivalent to a legal ban (which again would run into the question of enforcement), so that would be another step to the right, though some more traditional societies can be very forceful about extralegal enforcement of social norms.
But do we know if Rowling is actually indifferent regarding other people's pronoun usage? A person as prominent as her publicly and vocally refusing to use preferred pronouns is bound to have an effect on the discourse. I suspect she would be happy if her advocacy resulted in more people refusing to use trans people's preferred pronouns. Is that not a kind of "social pressure"?
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