I'm legitimately worried that the "acceptance" movement is being taken too far...

[Claymore]

As someone who grew up with crippling anxiety and self-hating tendencies, I'm a huge advocate of teaching people to accept themselves. It's something I still struggle with.

There are, of course, certain things that I *don't* think we should be teaching to "accept". If you're in bad physical shape, we should be willing to push each other to improve, to make healthier choices. But also, you don't *hate* someone for being overweight, you just encourage better behavior.

Fact is, we all have insecurities -- in many ways, I feel that our insecurities are largely what define us and shape who we are -- and one of the biggest struggles we face is learning to accept things about ourselves. No one should feel ashamed for being "too black", no woman should feel like she *needs* a boob-job or a nose-job... I think most of us would agree, we should try to teach one another to accept ourselves.

For some reason, though, there seems to be one glaring exception to this rule: Transgenderism.

Now for the record, if a person decides for themselves to make that choice, it's not my place to second-guess them. Whether you agree with it or not, you should always be their for your friends and family.

But it seems like this is something that isn't just "accepted", but is *encouraged*.

Just a few minutes ago, I hopped on social media and saw a guy "announcing" that his 6 YEAR-OLD SON was "choosing to be a girl". This was met with nothing but applause, as far as I can tell.

This... honestly, just makes me fuming mad. That child has NO IDEA what kind of decision you are making for them. As a parent, YOUR JOB is to prepare your child for the real world, and that means offering guidance and doing your best to set them on a good path. This child is incapable of understanding the ramification of "choosing to be a girl", and you're going to parade him over social media to get a bunch of social-justice points?

I fully support letting boys play with whatever toys they want, growing their hair out, and if he wants to wear dresses... well, I might sit down and let him know that he might be singled-out or picked-on for making that choice, but if he still wants to, then rock on. But deciding at 6 years-old "it's okay, you're going to be a girl now", I honestly think is beyond fucked-up. It is fundamentally shitty parenting, and borderline sick.

Thing is, this isn't even a isolated incident. It feels like society almost *encourages* people to make these crazy life-altering choices. It's not about "accepting" people; because if it WAS, we would be encouraging those people to first seek counseling and maybe a psychologist to MAKE SURE they're making an informed, non-emotional decision. But that's never the case. We're willing to tell woman they are beautiful just the way they are, black people that they are loved and valued regardless of skin color, but sex-change operation? "OH IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL, LIVE YOUR TRUTH".

As a society, do we really treat a life-altering sex-change operation with less seriousness than a boob-job?

I dunno, man. This seems fucked up.
[Infraction]

[NoiseTank13]

You are taking one of a handful of incidents and conflating it with the 'acceptance' movement, which is just... incorrect.

It's like taking that one Canadian man who married his dog and going 'I'm worried this is the future if we let the gays marry'.

[s_bushido]

But it seems like this is something that isn't just "accepted", but is *encouraged*.

Bullshit.

That is all.

[Elegiac]

We know it's you JK Rowling.

[PosPosPos]

We know it's you JK Rowling.

I grew up on Harry Potter and the message of love and acceptance much like a lot of people here probably do, and it's actually betraying to find out that she was just a different flavor of bigot in the end.

[s_bushido]

I grew up on Harry Potter and the message of love and acceptance much like a lot of people here probably do, and it's actually betraying to find out that she was just a different flavor of bigot in the end.

eh. She may be a jackass, but it's not going to stop me enjoying the books.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

It seems like you live in a society, and are becoming afraid of that society, rather afraid for it.

[PosPosPos]

eh. She may be a jackass, but it's not going to stop me enjoying the books.

Maybe. It's just going to make me second-guess my decision to buy the next book or watch the next movie in the HP universe.

[Elegiac]

I grew up on Harry Potter and the message of love and acceptance much like a lot of people here probably do, and it's actually betraying to find out that she was just a different flavor of bigot in the end.

Death of the author, baby.

If y'all would prefer some better YA authors might I recommend Rick Riordan and K.A. Applegate of Animorphs fame?

[Acidbaron]

Social media distorts perception of reality and should never be used as a benchmark for how the world really is. The extremes negatives and positives get over exposed what makes it so you end up believing that you are living in a world of nothing but extremes.

There is also a disconnect between what people say they believe and actually believe in, this parent in question could have seen the money signs from creating a controversy on social media and is planning to exploit that to the fullest, his kid well being be damned. Wouldn't be the first in that case the government should step in and take a good hard look on what's going on within the boundaries of what your society has deemed acceptable of course.

Also for every "acceptance" movement, there's a "counter" movement. These two keep alternating in history till we reach some common ground through one way or another.


My advice to you, turn off your social media and focus more on things that matter to you in your direct environment. Worry about yourself first then focus on other world drama's, however if you speak of having anxiety issues among other things, you could very well be diving into these kind of matters to distract yourself from not dealing with your personal issues to begin with, easier to worry about someone else their shit than your own.

[Lynarii]

As a society, do we really treat a life-altering sex-change operation with less seriousness than a boob-job?

I dunno, man. This seems fucked up.

Have... have you actually talked to any transgendered people about how easy and simple it was for them to go through the procedure, and how nobody ever questioned their decision or asked them to seek out things like counseling? Because that doesn't seem to be a common theme for anyone I've ever talked to who has actually lived the experience.

I don't know the laws in your area, but where I am they won't do an actual surgical operation like that on a six-year-old child. The MOST that they will do is give hormone blockers to delay puberty a bit while they make sure that the person in question is making an informed decision for themselves.

I don't know if the kid you're talking about is trans or not. Neither do you, you're just assuming that they aren't and it's being forced upon them because it fits your narrative. If they aren't, they'll explore the topic for a little bit, then reject it, because THAT IS A THING THAT CHILDREN DO. They explore things to find out what fits them. If they ARE trans though, who exactly benefits from starting the trauma train early by making sure they know how horrible they are?

[Acidbaron]

Maybe. It's just going to make me second-guess my decision to buy the next book or watch the next movie in the HP universe.

Think you always need to attempt to disconnect the work from the creator to some point. Be aware of it and their views, condemn them if they are really out there even, don't think not buying a book will hurt her income really and people who tend to become to political might have their work suffer for it as they lose track of what really set them apart in the first place, so eventually it can become a humbling experience for them.

Some of these people do think that just because their work or liked they are representative for a large group of people, they are not and only fans with a clouded judgement believe so as they are drunk on idolization.


But i would never just skip a work, i didn't stop reading or liking Conan and other mythos from Howard same as i didn't start disliking George Michael his music suddenly because he was a homosexual.

[PosPosPos]

Think you always need to attempt to disconnect the work from the creator to some point. Be aware of it and their views, condemn them if they are really out there even, don't think not buying a book will hurt her income really and people who tend to become to political might have their work suffer for it as they lose track of what really set them apart in the first place, so eventually it can become a humbling experience for them.

Some of these people do think that just because their work or liked they are representative for a large group of people, they are not and only fans with a clouded judgement believe so as they are drunk on idolization.


But i would never just skip a work, i didn't stop reading or liking Conan and other mythos from Howard same as i didn't start disliking George Michael his music suddenly because he was a homosexual.

For me it's simpler: I don't want to support bigots, or in general people with socially-harmfully narratives, because issues like human rights are far more important to me than my personal enjoyment of whatever services or writings they may offer.

Because if bigotry is allowed to endure, who knows when it will directly and negatively affect my personal life and enjoyment?

History's biggest lesson on the dangers of authoritarian bigotry, is that no one is ever totally immune to it. Anyone can, at any time, be subject to discrimination and violence.

Death of the author, baby.

If y'all would prefer some better YA authors might I recommend Rick Riordan and K.A. Applegate of Animorphs fame?

Will put them on my reading list.

[Unholyground]

I think letting a child that young decide anything is dumb if it involves changing the chemical makeup for their brains and bodies without the ability to actually make a proper decision. If they want to live and dress life a girl that is fine but no surgeries or anything like that until they can truly understand the gravity of those kinds of choices.

If an adult wants to change their gender all the power to them, but don't let a child make a choice to medically change themselves.

[Kumorii]

Honestly, I start to see a shift and people being more rational again. Crazies will always exist and isn't new so we will always find people in all times that does fucked up shit. It's sad that someone as innocent as a kid has to get potentially hurt by this, however, afterwards they will most likely turn and be opponents of it instead.

Sports is a good example of people starting to realise it's a bad idea to let transgender compete vs non-transgenders due to the physical advantage they have, especially in MMA.
If you have the energy you can of course try and engage with them, but they are mostly set in their ways until bad shit happens to them and reality checks in.

In that case of yours, I hope the kid turns out fine. If he doesn't, I hope the parents gets punishment.

[Bodonius]

When your a adult, do what the heck you want to do with your own money.
If not adult and/or not with your own money then no, you shouldnt be allowed.

[Acidbaron]

For me it's simpler: I don't want to support bigots, or in general people with socially-harmfully narratives, because issues like human rights are far more important to me than my personal enjoyment of whatever services or writings they may offer.

Because if bigotry is allowed to endure, who knows when it will directly and negatively affect my personal life and enjoyment?

History's biggest lesson on the dangers of authoritarian bigotry, is that no one is ever totally immune to it. Anyone can, at any time, be subject to discrimination and violence.

I would agree with you to a point if we are talking about how this is actually found in the work presented and even so i would try to look at it in the spirit of the time, not to accept their believes but to understand where they came from. Give it a place so to speak.

There's always the risk of going too far, like the BBC did with pulling the episode from Faulty Towers, a recent incident.

Another point i want to make is, there's a difference between supporting and ignoring. I find not that we should accept extreme views far from but a dialogue is needed, there is also danger in constantly dismissing everything and censoring ideas and believes how ignorant they might be. There always has to be some sort of dialogue in my opinion. I find far too often we dismiss people by labelling them and by doing so we tend to create a rather binary world view, what is far too black and white.

Now that being said i am not a Rowling fan, i watched the movies and found them okay but i haven't been compelled to read the books, reason i used REH as an example instead.

[PosPosPos]

I would agree with you to a point if we are talking about how this is actually found in the work presented and even so i would try to look at it in the spirit of the time, not to accept their believes but to understand where they came from. Give it a place so to speak.

There's always the risk of going too far, like the BBC did with pulling the episode from Faulty Towers, a recent incident.

Another point i want to make is, there's a difference between supporting and ignoring. I find not that we should accept extreme views far from but a dialogue is needed, there is also danger in constantly dismissing everything and censoring ideas and believes how ignorant they might be. There always has to be some sort of dialogue in my opinion. I find far too often we dismiss people by labelling them and by doing so we tend to create a rather binary world view, what is far too black and white.

Now that being said i am not a Rowling fan, i watched the movies and found them okay but i haven't been compelled to read the books, reason i used REH as an example instead.

Don't worry, I am certainly not going to throw away or burn my existing HP books and dvds, but as it stands I will probably not purchase any HP-related goods or services in the future.

It's not my first rodeo with personal boycotts, for instance I stopped playing League of Legends(spent about 30 dollars a month on skins prior to that) after their company's culture of misogyny was exposed.

[Claymore]

I gotta ask; what's all this about JK Rowling?

I feel like I've heard her name a couple of times in the past few weeks, has she done or said something? If anything, she's always come across as a huge advocate for diversity and equality (even if it meant retconning or flimsy attempts to pretend there was more inclusion than there actually was). Is that no longer the case?

[Elegiac]

I gotta ask; what's all this about JK Rowling?

I feel like I've heard her name a couple of times in the past few weeks, has she done or said something? If anything, she's always come across as a huge advocate for diversity and equality (even if it meant retconning or flimsy attempts to pretend there was more inclusion than there actually was). Is that no longer the case?

J.K. Rowling Comes Out As A TERF

Choose your next words carefully, my friend. The subject is quite a minefield.