Interesting article Geoff. When seeing the varying and opposed opinions on gender politics I'm reminded of the First Nations tribes who have a tradition for their medicine men or male shamans to sometimes self identify as women. I think that extraordinary people in our own culture who raise human spirits have done the same; the glam rock scene and performers like David Bowie or comedians like Eddie Izzard. The important thing to note is that these people are exceptions; incredibly valuable exceptions but exceptions nonetheless. Our culture seems to be set upon making this a norm and actively conditioning all of this, whilst devaluing the spiritual side of the equation; in my opinion at least. People should self identify and express themselves however they want, but I really think something else is going on here.
We’re on the same page again, Alan. I was going to mention exactly this when referencing aboriginal societies - across the world, there are shamans who cross-dress or identify as women, and it is accepted within the tribes. I may go back and add this to the article.
Very good observation about glam rock and sexually ambiguous stars like Bowie. They were also the rock stars most attractive to female fans. (Ian Hunter, whose music video appears at the bottom of the piece, started off in the glam rock band Mott the Hoople.)
Extraordinarily valuable individuals, I believe one of their cultural ‘functions’ is to keep male/female roles from becoming too rigid and stereotypical.
Reminds me of how in the animal kingdom, from insects to birds, its the male who’s colourful and dances around in courtship displays, not the female.
As for something else going on, there is also the mostly-forgotten issue of estrogen-imitating compounds in the water supply. Male sperm counts have gone down something like 60 percent in the past few decades, and chemicals may be culprit.
That's interesting about estrogen-imitating compounds and male sperm counts going down but when talking about "something else going on" my thoughts are more running along the lines some shadowy machiavellian cabal engineering social discord and extremism. I don't think that Jordan Peterson is saying, for example, that we shouldn't respect peoples preffered pronowns but, if I'm reading him right, that we shouldn't have to make into it such a legal issue. I kinda think that Political Correctness is a good idea, within limits, but pump that idea all full of steroids and you've got the current woke mentality going on.
"We’re losing our marbles. Let’s hope our kids have a few of their own left when they grow up". I can't add anything to your statement, but to thank you very much Geoff for your dedication, work and drawing public attention to this rather sad state of affairs.
I didn't hear about children getting mandated to get vaccinated against covid ?
One of your points Geoff is that children see drag on the media and want to do it if they didn't see drag on the media they wouldn't want to do drag ? Or at the very least seeing drag on the media makes children more inclined to try it. I would say you're right about that. Tho I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing. I know when I was a kid I had a free-for-all to watch TV . It had no effect on me. Except I wanted to be a cowboy when I grew up haha
Thanks for spotting that, Tim…’mandated’ was the wrong word choice. i’ve corrected it.
I think my main objection to kids being encouraged to identify with and mimic adult male drag queens was best summed up by the drag queen I linked to in the story.
You met Postman? He's one of my all time favourite authors, but never met him in the flesh. He intuited things that were coming and wrote about them. Wish he were still around...Great piece though utterly depressing subject matter.
Yes, I met Postman. It was a brief exchange, but got one gem of an anecdote from him. Said Marshall McLuhan told him it wasn’t academically sound to moralize when analyzing social trends. “I had a great response to this,” he told me. “What was that?” I asked.
Oh, that's lovely! Told him, didn't he. Was McLuhan actually saying that you should only moralize when NOT analyzing social trends? Postman nailed it, as usual.
Interesting article Geoff. When seeing the varying and opposed opinions on gender politics I'm reminded of the First Nations tribes who have a tradition for their medicine men or male shamans to sometimes self identify as women. I think that extraordinary people in our own culture who raise human spirits have done the same; the glam rock scene and performers like David Bowie or comedians like Eddie Izzard. The important thing to note is that these people are exceptions; incredibly valuable exceptions but exceptions nonetheless. Our culture seems to be set upon making this a norm and actively conditioning all of this, whilst devaluing the spiritual side of the equation; in my opinion at least. People should self identify and express themselves however they want, but I really think something else is going on here.
We’re on the same page again, Alan. I was going to mention exactly this when referencing aboriginal societies - across the world, there are shamans who cross-dress or identify as women, and it is accepted within the tribes. I may go back and add this to the article.
Very good observation about glam rock and sexually ambiguous stars like Bowie. They were also the rock stars most attractive to female fans. (Ian Hunter, whose music video appears at the bottom of the piece, started off in the glam rock band Mott the Hoople.)
Extraordinarily valuable individuals, I believe one of their cultural ‘functions’ is to keep male/female roles from becoming too rigid and stereotypical.
Reminds me of how in the animal kingdom, from insects to birds, its the male who’s colourful and dances around in courtship displays, not the female.
As for something else going on, there is also the mostly-forgotten issue of estrogen-imitating compounds in the water supply. Male sperm counts have gone down something like 60 percent in the past few decades, and chemicals may be culprit.
That's interesting about estrogen-imitating compounds and male sperm counts going down but when talking about "something else going on" my thoughts are more running along the lines some shadowy machiavellian cabal engineering social discord and extremism. I don't think that Jordan Peterson is saying, for example, that we shouldn't respect peoples preffered pronowns but, if I'm reading him right, that we shouldn't have to make into it such a legal issue. I kinda think that Political Correctness is a good idea, within limits, but pump that idea all full of steroids and you've got the current woke mentality going on.
"We’re losing our marbles. Let’s hope our kids have a few of their own left when they grow up". I can't add anything to your statement, but to thank you very much Geoff for your dedication, work and drawing public attention to this rather sad state of affairs.
You’re welcome Gerd…thanks for the tip of the hat!
I didn't hear about children getting mandated to get vaccinated against covid ?
One of your points Geoff is that children see drag on the media and want to do it if they didn't see drag on the media they wouldn't want to do drag ? Or at the very least seeing drag on the media makes children more inclined to try it. I would say you're right about that. Tho I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing. I know when I was a kid I had a free-for-all to watch TV . It had no effect on me. Except I wanted to be a cowboy when I grew up haha
Thanks for spotting that, Tim…’mandated’ was the wrong word choice. i’ve corrected it.
I think my main objection to kids being encouraged to identify with and mimic adult male drag queens was best summed up by the drag queen I linked to in the story.
You met Postman? He's one of my all time favourite authors, but never met him in the flesh. He intuited things that were coming and wrote about them. Wish he were still around...Great piece though utterly depressing subject matter.
Yes, I met Postman. It was a brief exchange, but got one gem of an anecdote from him. Said Marshall McLuhan told him it wasn’t academically sound to moralize when analyzing social trends. “I had a great response to this,” he told me. “What was that?” I asked.
“That’s bullshit, McLuhan!”
Oh, that's lovely! Told him, didn't he. Was McLuhan actually saying that you should only moralize when NOT analyzing social trends? Postman nailed it, as usual.