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Notes -
Sam Brinton is in the news this week.
For those who don't know, Sam is the first non-binary, gay drag queen to hold a federal government leadership position. I know him for his distinctive appearance, with moustache, bald head, and typical cross-dressing clothing and makeup. Here's another piece about him, from several months ago. The culture war angle should be obvious, as this man was highlighted, along with Rachael Levine, as examples of progressive hiring in the Biden administration. Suffice to say that he is not the kind of person I can take seriously, and I do not think he should have been hired, and certainly shouldn't have been celebrated. But that's not why I'm posting.
Now, why was he in the news this week?
Brinton was caught stealing luggage from an airport terminal. I'll notice that this article has no pictures of him. A summary, from here:
So he's been put on leave, for now, and he's due in court on the 19th of this month. At first, I wouldn't have considered posting this, as I simply found it funny in an absurd way, but then I ran across what is really the reason why I posted. I ran across a thread on twitter explaining why this was actually serious, and reflected a dangerous escalation of perverse behavior. I'll quote the main points:
Go ahead and read the whole thread.
I hadn't considered this angle, at first, but once it's been pointed out to me, I can't shake it. It's the most plausible argument I've heard of for why Sam would steal the woman's luggage, given that all others make no sense.
So, to wrap up, my questions. First, should he be fired for stealing? Second, how likely is it that Sam stole the luggage specifically for underwear? And third, does this move the needle for you in any way, when considering whether to trust, hire, or promote people like Sam?
If you care I'll offer the leftist perspective on this. Of course this story is bigger than usual due to Brinton's identity. But Brinton isn't to blame for their outsized persona. I think Brinton's personal life adequately sums up how they came to be the person they are today.
Backstory:
Brinton grew up with homophobic parents who sent him to a conversion camp for two years after he came out. These camps are notorious for being both ineffective (clearly lol) and inhumane. Brinton's experience was so bad that they contemplated suicide while at the camp. Once out of the camp, Brinton was motivated to prevent others from having their same experience and started a successful political campaign to end conversion camps nationwide. After, they earned graduate degrees at MIT and starting working for several liberal think-tanks. The Biden administration then offered them a position which Brinton accepted. Despite having high-value degrees & work experience, Brinton received criticism for being a diversity hire. Then the suitcase incident happened.
Here's how Brinton's life would have gone if we lived in a Leftist Utopia™️:
Brinton grew up with supportive parents. After graduating high school, Brinton earned graduate degrees in nuclear science from MIT. They then worked with liberal think-tanks until they were offered a mid-tier government job in the area of their degree & work experience. Then the suitcase incident happened
Looking at the two stories, it's clear that Brinton's real life story is heavily influenced by their identity. Their entire childhood and pre-college experience would have been very different if they were straight or if society accepted them as-is. I'm seeing a lot of people talk about how Brinton is at fault for the extra attention due to their appearance & persona. But that's not Brinton's fault (unless you believe that Brinton is just making it up). The attention that's been given to Brinton is mostly negative - people questioning their credentials, calling them a diversity grad, a freak, etc.
If any other mid tier government employee took the wrong bag from the airport and claimed it was an honest mistake, it would only make the news AFTER a guilty verdict was reached (if guilty). Instead, this has become a major story because of Brinton's identity.
Yes, that's exactly what I believe. This kind of thing reminds me of the kid in my class who used to make stuff up for attention constantly. "My eyes change colour when I'm mad" being a notable standout. As far as I can tell, it's mostly the same thing minus being able to immediately and obviously prove it as bullshit on the spot. But bullshit it remains, as far as I'm concerned. Brinton is just a dude seeking attention.
I used to think like you so I know that I'm not going to convince you in a comment.
But this is still very interesting to me - one of the reasons I changed my mind on this is because I saw people in my own life (real people) come out and it made me question this reasoning. These were people that I knew for decades, people who didn't need attention, and often people who came out at a great expense (their families kicked them out, etc). I knew them well enough to know that they weren't just totally bullshitting me.
I think it's naive to think that people will go to a conversion camp for two years all for.... attention? It doesn't really follow that older LGBT people in their fifties are still doing it for the attention either. So why do you think that this is primarily attention related? If it was simply a personal choice you could turn off and on, why risk getting kicked out of your home or being discriminated against in a job interview?
Reads to me as a "no fuck you Dad!". I'm presuming there was already some tension there beforehand and this was the latest in a long line of actions intended to upset the parents or push back on their values or otherwise frustrate the rules of their house. That's the situation I personally see most often. "I don't like my parents so I'm going to make myself hideous and demand they respect it to get back at them/show they don't own me/whatever". It's the (de-?)evolution of bringing a black guy home, or having a fling with a same-sex partner, I guess.
Because the only things that happen are a person makes themselves ugly (usually, some go low effort and don't bother), and then starts demanding special treatment from everyone around them. This leads me to believe that the special treatment is the primary goal. The cheap and petty power thrill of making people stumble over their language for you. The constant reassurance to an insecure soul that people will inconvenience themselves for you. It seems parasitic, almost.
Why do people get piercings or tattoos knowing they could be discriminated against in future? (Not that I really believe it would constitute a malus to employment, if anything you'll become a diversity hire and get spotlights and positions far beyond what you deserve.) But we don't consider having face piercings a gender, and we don't consider having hand tattoos a gender. A person might feel incomplete if they were unadorned, even. Feel like they weren't being themselves. People might even get kicked out of their home for coming home with a tattoo their parents don't approve of! But crucially, they don't then demand inkself pronouns or nonsense like that. There's no impetus on other people around them to acknowledge and validate them, which means I can believe tattoos are done for the person's personal satisfaction in a way that I cannot believe for genderspecials.
ed; As for the older LGBT -- getting older as a homosexual is a constant barraging reinforcement of being told you're too old to matter and should just go off and quietly die in a hole somewhere because nobody wants or cares about you anymore. So any trend they can get in on to try and still feel "young" and "with it" will naturally be pounced upon. It's Dr Evil doing his silly little dance to try and impress Scott.
That's an interesting experience of which I'm not familiar with. I'm sure this does happen but this seems to be quite a one-sided reading of these situations. As I get older I regret giving the benefit of the doubt to adults as much as I have in the past - Parents whose kids "magically, out of nowhere" became rebellious and attention seeking always had a very different story once they were able to speak freely about their situation. We can go back and forth on this of course due to our varying personal experiences.
This is quite the one-sided take again. The only things that happen are people making themselves uglier? Uglier to whom? A woman might be uglier to you while becoming more appearing to a lesbian (no offense intended). Regardless, you're acting as though special treatment is the primary motivating factor here. What is your reasoning for that other than a personal assumption? I have to assume that you don't have much personal contact with these groups of people because this sort of reasoning is only something I read about in hypothetical right-wing publications. It's certainly not the norm.
This is a laughable comparison. You're talking about a group of people who think that sexuality is an innate trait and comparing it to jewelry that can be removed in a few hours.
You continue to make the assumption that that sexuality is as much of a choice as choosing to get a tatoo. Where are you getting this idea? Surely not from members of the LGBT community. I'm really curious to hear.
Funny, because as I get older I mostly realise that "oh god, my mother was right about everything all along". At least 90% of the time. And of course a teenager (or mental teenager) is going to have a different perspective on the matter, but that doesn't mean they're not histrionic. What I always think of is this video;
https://youtube.com/shorts/PJdmTZCWKXM
Now that's from the kid's perspective and it still makes her look like a useless waste of space. Her parents asked for a moderate contribution to living in the house post-18 and the response was to refuse, and to try to "educate" them, and hide behind mental illness to avoid doing what was asked of her. Presumably because it would involve getting off her ass and actually doing something other than fester on twitter/tiktok. This is what these sorts of identity and mental illness celebrants always remind me of.
Why wouldn't it be? Nothing else changes when you demand silly nonstandard pronouns. We are told that people can present however they want and you are obligated to kowtow to their requests instantly and without question.
I'm gay. I could hardly have more contact with them if I tried. And believe me, I try to avoid genderspecials at all costs.
I wasn't talking about sexuality at all. You're the only one talking about that. I'm talking about genderspecials; people who identify as made up, non-male/female genders and demand nonstandard pronouns. And as far as I can tell, doing so is nothing more than a fashion trend. You maybe change how you look a little (for the worse) and that's it.
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