I don’t understand how or why people can be so lacking in thinking capabilities...

[ThePrincipal]

And buy into the self id idea, and tie themselves in knots over sex, gender, non binary etc etc. Is it just unthinking wokeness, or do people just not care?

Or is there an element of attention seeking, wanting to be the special parent with the special child who needs special treatment?

I’ve been thinking about this and I think it’s a misplaced spirituality. People hate the idea that we are just our material bodies - there must be more to it than that. So we must have souls - we are all more than just different types of meat aren’t we? And maybe sometimes those souls get lost.

It’s magical thinking but it’s nicer than fact.

The fact that this is ultimately about the most base and material fact of all - sex - and specifically the dodgy end of male sexuality - has passed many people by. Karen White opened some eyes but the sad teenage girls transing obscure the picture again. Of course the sad teenage girls are just human shields for men’s sex rights activists but that’s quite a lot of thinking for a hurried and well meaning person who relies on the Guardian and the BBC for information.

The parents I know who decided to go ahead with transing their teens were dealing with a lot of homophobia from extended family and/or in the immediate family. They were not gay friendly or GNC friendly homes.

The unthinking parroting type ? A mixture of stupidity and wanting to 'be kind', without having any understanding of how to analyse the issue in a critical manner.

I haven't actually met or heard from anyone I think supports all the claims that genderism makes 100% without homophobia, stupidity or 'being kind' playing a major role.

I wish I knew. I read an exchange on Facebook the other day including some people I know personally, and it was just a mindless back pat with the word 'hate' repeated ad infinitum.

The people I know were clever people, and they engage with all sorts of sensible things elsewhere, but it's like every single just turned off any basic critical assessment skills at the mention of the word 'trans'.

Some of my colleagues had no clue this was an issue or that the GRA consultation is going on. Even those with daughters.
When I started trying explain this to them, I get the incredulous look and ‘that’s just non sense’...well nonsense is being embedded into law.

Those who are vaguely of this, seem to side with the WOKE.

I think a certain group of people adopt what they know they are supposed to think.

But when reasoning things through with simple critical thinking they get to the roadblock...how can a man identify as a woman if there's no definition of woman to identify with?
From there the choices are

1. Fingers in ears, lalala, twaw, you're all haterz
2. He's identifying with stereotypes, so I must admit that this means woman is stereotypes. I can do that.
3. He wants a female body, I feel pity and will pretend this is possible. I'll pretend hard.
4. Shit. It's all illogical crap. None of it makes sense. I'd have to pretend and lie and still none of it would make sense.

Some people refuse to think past 1.
Misogynists love to stop at 2.
People with actual compassion end up at 3 but feel torn between that and their compassion for women too.

Some people engage and reason right the way through to the end conclusion.

For many of them it's just a desire to be kind, usually for the sake of trans people they know personally. And they know it is the orthodox party line for people who consider themselves progressive, liberal, enlightened etc.

Giving up the position, it seems to them, requires giving up a lot of things that are central to their own identity and view of themselves as good people.

Backed into this corner, a lot of people will perform incredible mental gymnastics. Just today a friend of mine defended Rachel McKinnon on the grounds that some flowers have male and female parts so probably humans aren't sexually dimorphic. He's honestly not an idiot when it comes to other issues.

I think liberal PC left wing types have now evolved into a dangerous form of politically active brainwashed woke numbskulls.

I think it is appealing to emotions and people's urge to please and do the 'right thing' even at cost to themselves.
concerted workplace 'training' with careful misinformation on the law.
no alternative view presented, but 'the right wing' ie farage, robinson

Re: identity - the proponents of the gender ideology are experts in Identity politics so have a good idea as to how people see their identity irl, and how to tap into it.

Frankly, there is so much crap around, from people who believe water becomes special when running over certain stones, belief in having an aura and whatnot. There are a lot of people who are not grounded in reality and will fall for anything, particularly if it makes them feel important, or part of something bigger, somehow. With a different cultural background those same types, men and women, would probably have gone to Syria, feeling all special creating a new Califate.

All of the reasons above.

People have always wanted to believe we are special.

They are frightened to think we are just animals and this is all there is to life.

Short-term kindness versus long-term kindness?

Disagreeing with someone's view of how they see themselves in the world is deemed unkind so, to be kind, they'll happily agree that everyone is what they say they are.

However, in the long-term this is potentially unkind both to the person themselves (surgery, sterilisation) and to those affected by their behaviour (from female cyclists and fellow changing-room users all the way up to the victims of Karen White).

I saw this recently:
www.derby.ac.uk/news/2018/being-self-obsessed-identified-as-new-type-of-addiction-according-to-derby-research--/

Quote:
“However, this new theory proposes that there is a third type of addiction called ontological addiction – the addiction to how we believe we exist.

“Previous models of addiction have largely overlooked the possibility of being ‘addicted to ourselves’, yet ontological addiction meets all of the criteria for a genuine form of addiction. For example, people with the condition will often experience withdrawal symptoms if they try to overcome their addiction to selfhood by being less egocentric.

“While most psychological models of self imply that we exist as independent entities, the new theory demonstrates that this is a flawed perspective because, in actual fact, we rely on innumerable causes and conditions to live.

“People who have a wrong or erroneous view of themselves and reality can start to believe they are the centrepiece in a world in which all other lifeforms, objects and concepts are less important. Perceiving the world like this can give rise to an addiction feedback loop that constantly reaffirms the belief in self, which can lead to functional impairments and mental illness.

“Being addicted to ourselves becomes exhausting after a certain amount of time and causes us to miss out on the truth and wisdom of reality.”
continued

With a group recently, including a friend who's dc has said they are trans. The family suffered a massive trauma a few years ago. The dc has always been non-conforming in various ways, quite socially awkward, puberty started early for them. Always been outside the box, whole family likes to think of itself as different and interesting.

Following a year or so of being quite obviously miserable (possibly attributable to any/all of the above) dc said they were trans. My friend is, I think, just relieved to have a peg to hang the unhappiness on. She's rushed headlong into name change, off to a dodgy support group, loves Mermaids etc. I think she's desperate to go along with something that appears to be making her dc happier.

She virtually admitted that there was an element of well, they/we've always been a bit different. I believe part of her and her dc think they're very on trend, along with the whole "brave" thing. Whenever I throw a few statistics or facts into the mix I can feel people's bodies tensing. They're all so desperately keen to be seen as kind and on board. I asked, given it was only a few weeks ago, whether she found it hard to call her dc by the opposite sex pronoun. Oh no, she said. I just don't believe her.