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Notes -
How about a pallet cleanser?
In the other thread a few people brought up surrogacy, and maybe I've spent too much time with TERFs, but am I the only one that overwhelmed with the feeling of Lovecraftian horror whenever it's brought up? The feeling is even more uncanny, because it's like I slept through some great societal debate where everybody decided it's actually a lovely thing that should be celebrated. Although maybe it's not all that bad, there's a certain "how it started, how it's going" quality to the NYT headlines. In any case the casual way it's supporters talk about surrogacy freaks me out even more than militant pro-choicers.
Then there's the whole slippery slope thing:
Love is love, we have a right to get married just the same as you! - Yes I agree!
We also have a right to adopt! - Sure! I mean I have my issues with adoption in practice, but in principle if there are kids without parents, and willing gay couples to adopt them I don't see an issue.
We also have a right to biological children! What? Do you expect us to be ok with not having children?
Wait what? Yes I do! I'm all for tolerance, and living and letting live, but you're not going to make me see this as a lovely family moment, and anyway I don't remember signing on to turning a fundamental human experience into an industry when I supported the gay rights movement. Accept the limits of your biology, and move on.
Which brings me to Dase's idea "postrat «don't mean-spiritedly dunk on a rationalist» challenge (impossible)". Indeed, I can't help myself, and even though I used to be rat/rat-adjacent, I find myself having growing disdain for the entire philosophy. There's a meme that's slowly gathering momentum, that all the trans stuff, and 72 genders is just a foot in the door for transhumanism, and after I heard the idea for the first time, I can't seem to unsee it. This twisted ideology will drive us to throw away our humanity, turn us into a cross-over between Umgah Blobbies and the Borg, or trick us into committing suicide, because there's a subroutine running on some GPU somewhere, that's somewhat similar to the processes in our brains. Given the utter dominance of the trans ideology, the vindication of the slippery slope argument, and the extrapolated trajectory of these ideas, I believe we have no other choice - Transhumanism must be destroyed!
It is worse than disgust and lovecraftian horror. It's cringe. I am talking about that specific picture.
I am fine with surrogacy as long the surrogate mother and the mother providing the egg cell are different persons.
But the way the new kids on the block caricature the spaces they have been allowed in is cringy. Also true for the new-ish breed of MtF (the ones that put videos on tiktok for periods and breast pains)
On the other hand probably this new cringe is pervading everywhere - everything now is not about the end result, it's about the performance.
Cringe is in the eye of the beholder. I find this comment cringe.
My favorite take on cringe is JrEg's schitzopost on it.
"'Cringe!' they choke out at the TikTok kids. Do they care that they are cringe? No! they share the cringe they like the cringe they comment on the cringe and then only then do they replicate the cringe themselves. And if no one's cringing then is it cringe?"
Cringe, JrEg goes on to explain, amounts to an emotional box erected by societal norms. Placing yourself subservient to the cringe of others, he argues, leaves you unable to remain consistently based in your own ideals.
I think I made a similar point a while ago.
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