Well, we've been trained from our earliest days to be where we are today. The crush has been harder and harder as we've gone through the 20th Century, and blaming Boomers is just one more tiptoe through the tulips of Divide & Conquer.
It's always been the case that youngsters don't have any idea what it feels like to be old, while oldsters know exactly what it's like to be young. That is played on us like a bad record, scratches and all (remember how music used to sound? Now it's mostly NOISE, sorry kids, but... no. And that is done on purpose, too. Play some good 60's rock n roll for college students of today, and voila, they like it, too! Well, not to harp on the subject, but most music I hear the kids playing today isn't music, it's noise. There's no TUNE, just a beat that can be danced to like robots would.
Okay, sorry, I went off on a tangent, because I'm a musician.
But you know, all this setting us against each other... I'm SICK of it! I am SICK of all the LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES, I am SICK of the nastiness and the fuckery and the skanky and perversity of the recent times. Our Littles are apparently in serious danger, with troubles like REFUSING to tie their own shoes (all made of PLASTIC now), and eating the gut-killing garbage that is ubiquitous in the US, full of toxic waste...
OKAY, I've started an avalanche... NO! I blame you, Rob D, for starting it!! You OLD people!!!
oh, wait. I'm old, too. shit.
Oh, I had a lovely little wake-up moment a few days ago... Somewhere I read something along the lines of, "We don't have to stop them, or fight them, or do ANYTHING about them, we simply ignore them and do not comply." Well, YEAH. I remember thinking this in 2020. Okay, I may yet recover... Where's my CSNY? Or Mozart? Bring on the OLD stuff. It's fathomable. xo
I refuse to accept any "boomer blame". While many horrible things were set in motion during my lifetime, none of it, NONE, was done or supported by me, and ALL was done by those who have been given way too much power and control, simply because "the majority" were to lazy to accept personal responsibility. The "shouldn't there be a law against it?" crowd hold the bulk of the blame, not any generation.
If we just let people be what they are, things would be fine. And what they ARE is Okay. Everyone thinks about being something or someone else when they're young. It's part of the growing up experience. So barketh the dog.
I debated commenting on these comments because they are *completely* off topic and I can't stand when the comments are completely out of whack. I mean... where in the hell did all of that come from? I'm flummoxed.
As you know, I was a miner for 30 years. There is a trans person at the mine I worked at (I've written about it before, years ago). A trans person running equipment at a coal mine. Doesn't get bothered, doesn't get mistreated, etc. They even let them use their chosen bathroom for heaven's sake. This is not the most important issue of our lifetimes, not by a longshot. It is an issue used to *divide* us (which, is exactly what I said in the post).
How someone could read my work on this post and find 2 words and completely miss the entire message is beyond me. They proved the point of my post perfectly. Division is an epidemic in this country. When it only takes two words taken out of context to divide people, we are in huge trouble my friend.
Your piece said that our country has gotten worse. (I don't remember your exact words). That's what set me off. It erases the experience of others.
In many ways, you're right. But I asked you to think of it from the perspective of people of color or LGBT folks. Life for them in the 1950s was not better than it is today. LGBT folks lost their jobs as soon as they were outed, and a lot of jobs were off limits to people of color to start with. Violence against both groups was so accepted that even cops got away with it. But being aware of that is "divisive"?
(And yes, nowadays some of us have gone from being the bullied to being the bullies. But that's a different post).
I'm glad that your former workplace treated your trans colleague fairly and respectfully. But that wasn't everyone's experience.
If I write something that reveals a blind spot, I want you to fill me in. I was assuming you would want me to do the same.
I didn’t say they didn’t EXIST, lol. Actually, I DID say that, but I didn't mean it like that, I meant that they weren't OUT, or however you'd like to think of it. Sorry.
And yeah, I actually DO practice what I preach. What’s with the 3rd degree, anyway? Are you trans and feeling beaten on? If so, you’re safe in my dog house.
LOL. I see what you were trying to say. Thanks for clarifying.
You said "Everyone thinks about being something or someone else when they're young. It's part of the growing up experience." That's very true but also used to erase the perspectives of trans adults. That, paired with my misinterpretation of your first sentence, is what made me give you the 3rd degree.
To answer your question, no, I'm not trans. Being queer, I've meet many trans folks over the past 25+ years.
No, I disagree with your statement that what we grow through as young people is “used to erase the perspective of trans adults.” Trans adults are FINE with me, but they are tiny minority and always have been, and I am of the opinion, just an IDEA, not saying I’m RIGHT, that trans folks have some kind of physical… something… that is at the root of their feeling they are in the “wrong” gender.
That is, in my experience, propaganda used by punishing adults who wish to isolate and vilify those they consider to be “wrong” in some sexual way. Many many people, as you are surely aware, have some SERIOUS issues about SEX, generally speaking, and are therefore pretty uptight about about ANYTHING that seems weird to them, never mind how society generally might view it. They, too are a minority, I’d say, and many people are taught via religion that sexuality is sinful by its very nature, but that’s not Nature, lol. NATURE doesn’t vilify anybody.
Look at what is happening to the youth (at least in the US) these days… It seems like a HUGE percentage of young people, children and teens in particular, are now involved in “changing their gender,” even to the point of surgical change. It’s not the normal growing up thing, it’s like a TREND. And it’s part of the destruction, or the attempted destruction, of normal culture, the same kind of targeted attack we see by something like opening the borders and then causing strife and conflict between immigrants and those who are citizens of a given society… not just in the US.
Anyway, since we got into this discussion, I thought I’d just … say a bit more! ^_^ I know I’m probably pretty rare in that I don’t give ONE tiny little rat’s ass what people do in private, with their own bodies, as long as CHILDREN are not being involved in sexual relations with ADULTS, and as long as people aren’t being tortured somehow. We are a species with MUCH variation and imagination, and privacy is exactly what it is, and should remain, for the most part: Private.
Judging everyone, especially negatively, is always a kind of mirror, it seems. Anyway, cheers.
These are extremely common sentiments. Seeing as how I've been a member of the LGBT community for more than 25 years, I think I'm pretty well informed on this topic. If you'd like to ask me any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. But it doesn't sound as if you think you have anything left to learn, so I'm not going to waste my time responding.
Well, we've been trained from our earliest days to be where we are today. The crush has been harder and harder as we've gone through the 20th Century, and blaming Boomers is just one more tiptoe through the tulips of Divide & Conquer.
It's always been the case that youngsters don't have any idea what it feels like to be old, while oldsters know exactly what it's like to be young. That is played on us like a bad record, scratches and all (remember how music used to sound? Now it's mostly NOISE, sorry kids, but... no. And that is done on purpose, too. Play some good 60's rock n roll for college students of today, and voila, they like it, too! Well, not to harp on the subject, but most music I hear the kids playing today isn't music, it's noise. There's no TUNE, just a beat that can be danced to like robots would.
Okay, sorry, I went off on a tangent, because I'm a musician.
But you know, all this setting us against each other... I'm SICK of it! I am SICK of all the LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES, I am SICK of the nastiness and the fuckery and the skanky and perversity of the recent times. Our Littles are apparently in serious danger, with troubles like REFUSING to tie their own shoes (all made of PLASTIC now), and eating the gut-killing garbage that is ubiquitous in the US, full of toxic waste...
OKAY, I've started an avalanche... NO! I blame you, Rob D, for starting it!! You OLD people!!!
oh, wait. I'm old, too. shit.
Oh, I had a lovely little wake-up moment a few days ago... Somewhere I read something along the lines of, "We don't have to stop them, or fight them, or do ANYTHING about them, we simply ignore them and do not comply." Well, YEAH. I remember thinking this in 2020. Okay, I may yet recover... Where's my CSNY? Or Mozart? Bring on the OLD stuff. It's fathomable. xo
Haha. It seemed you needed to vent. Thanks for checking in. :)
I guess I did. Sorry for being a wild whirlwind of fur...
I refuse to accept any "boomer blame". While many horrible things were set in motion during my lifetime, none of it, NONE, was done or supported by me, and ALL was done by those who have been given way too much power and control, simply because "the majority" were to lazy to accept personal responsibility. The "shouldn't there be a law against it?" crowd hold the bulk of the blame, not any generation.
Thanks Rob.
Amen!
Imagine being brown or gay, lesbian, or trans in the 1950s. They were second class citizens and subject to regular police brutality.
Agree with your broader point, though.
I'm not sure "trans" existed in the 50's...
If we just let people be what they are, things would be fine. And what they ARE is Okay. Everyone thinks about being something or someone else when they're young. It's part of the growing up experience. So barketh the dog.
I debated commenting on these comments because they are *completely* off topic and I can't stand when the comments are completely out of whack. I mean... where in the hell did all of that come from? I'm flummoxed.
As you know, I was a miner for 30 years. There is a trans person at the mine I worked at (I've written about it before, years ago). A trans person running equipment at a coal mine. Doesn't get bothered, doesn't get mistreated, etc. They even let them use their chosen bathroom for heaven's sake. This is not the most important issue of our lifetimes, not by a longshot. It is an issue used to *divide* us (which, is exactly what I said in the post).
How someone could read my work on this post and find 2 words and completely miss the entire message is beyond me. They proved the point of my post perfectly. Division is an epidemic in this country. When it only takes two words taken out of context to divide people, we are in huge trouble my friend.
You could have addressed me directly, Rob.
Your piece said that our country has gotten worse. (I don't remember your exact words). That's what set me off. It erases the experience of others.
In many ways, you're right. But I asked you to think of it from the perspective of people of color or LGBT folks. Life for them in the 1950s was not better than it is today. LGBT folks lost their jobs as soon as they were outed, and a lot of jobs were off limits to people of color to start with. Violence against both groups was so accepted that even cops got away with it. But being aware of that is "divisive"?
(And yes, nowadays some of us have gone from being the bullied to being the bullies. But that's a different post).
I'm glad that your former workplace treated your trans colleague fairly and respectfully. But that wasn't everyone's experience.
If I write something that reveals a blind spot, I want you to fill me in. I was assuming you would want me to do the same.
Sorry... sidetracked. Hopefully this issue is settled for now!
I know many older trans people, and actually, they did exist in the 50s. It was just a more difficult life.
“If we just let people be what they are, things would be fine.”
Agreed, but do you truly practice what you preach?
I didn’t say they didn’t EXIST, lol. Actually, I DID say that, but I didn't mean it like that, I meant that they weren't OUT, or however you'd like to think of it. Sorry.
And yeah, I actually DO practice what I preach. What’s with the 3rd degree, anyway? Are you trans and feeling beaten on? If so, you’re safe in my dog house.
LOL. I see what you were trying to say. Thanks for clarifying.
You said "Everyone thinks about being something or someone else when they're young. It's part of the growing up experience." That's very true but also used to erase the perspectives of trans adults. That, paired with my misinterpretation of your first sentence, is what made me give you the 3rd degree.
To answer your question, no, I'm not trans. Being queer, I've meet many trans folks over the past 25+ years.
No, I disagree with your statement that what we grow through as young people is “used to erase the perspective of trans adults.” Trans adults are FINE with me, but they are tiny minority and always have been, and I am of the opinion, just an IDEA, not saying I’m RIGHT, that trans folks have some kind of physical… something… that is at the root of their feeling they are in the “wrong” gender.
That is, in my experience, propaganda used by punishing adults who wish to isolate and vilify those they consider to be “wrong” in some sexual way. Many many people, as you are surely aware, have some SERIOUS issues about SEX, generally speaking, and are therefore pretty uptight about about ANYTHING that seems weird to them, never mind how society generally might view it. They, too are a minority, I’d say, and many people are taught via religion that sexuality is sinful by its very nature, but that’s not Nature, lol. NATURE doesn’t vilify anybody.
Look at what is happening to the youth (at least in the US) these days… It seems like a HUGE percentage of young people, children and teens in particular, are now involved in “changing their gender,” even to the point of surgical change. It’s not the normal growing up thing, it’s like a TREND. And it’s part of the destruction, or the attempted destruction, of normal culture, the same kind of targeted attack we see by something like opening the borders and then causing strife and conflict between immigrants and those who are citizens of a given society… not just in the US.
Anyway, since we got into this discussion, I thought I’d just … say a bit more! ^_^ I know I’m probably pretty rare in that I don’t give ONE tiny little rat’s ass what people do in private, with their own bodies, as long as CHILDREN are not being involved in sexual relations with ADULTS, and as long as people aren’t being tortured somehow. We are a species with MUCH variation and imagination, and privacy is exactly what it is, and should remain, for the most part: Private.
Judging everyone, especially negatively, is always a kind of mirror, it seems. Anyway, cheers.
These are extremely common sentiments. Seeing as how I've been a member of the LGBT community for more than 25 years, I think I'm pretty well informed on this topic. If you'd like to ask me any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. But it doesn't sound as if you think you have anything left to learn, so I'm not going to waste my time responding.