Small but significant consequences….

[OatcakeCravings]

Forgive me if this sounds a bit muddled!

I was having a chat with my young teenage son about something he wanted me to buy him on eBay. I was refusing as I thought it was probably a fake and anyway I wouldn’t be spending such a large amount on something from eBay in case there was an issue with it and returning it was a problem etc etc. He kept arguing that the seller was saying it was genuine and brand new… I said well they would say that….and so it went on.

Transpires, after further conversation, that it has been drummed into him at school and I assume online (Scotland) that you must believe what someone says they are without question. So if someone tells him they are a boy (when previously they were a girl) then that’s that, no questions should be asked. This just raised massive red flags with me, where is all the internet safety that used to be drummed into kids? Where they were taught that anyone can say they are anything online and not to believe them. My DS thinks that is wrong and that you should believe people when they state who they are therefore believe what people say ie it’s a brand new not fake item!

I know this sounds really insignificant and silly but it just worried me a little. This isn’t a Trans issue, trans kids need the same protecting from people who aren’t what they say they are, obviously. It’s just that not being allowed to question all this gender stuff and accepting it as fact is seeping into other aspects of life which may cause issues.

This is yet another disaster spreading from this rash and unthought-out teaching in schools. I don’t blame the teachers alone, as the schools have allowed trans lobby groups in specifically to spread this message. And obviously the teachers would risk losing their jobs if they refused.

I was stunned by Amnesty sending posters saying “I am who I say I am” to the anti-feminist protest outside the Filia conference recently. So soon after Sarah Everard believing her killer had the right to ‘arrest’ her.

But actually teaching this in school to children? That man who says “Get in my car, Mummy sent me to collect you because she’s busy”?

It’s sheer insanity.

DD is 10, taking her first steps into the online world. First rule we have... trust no one. Its always been that.

Critical thought is what our children should learn at school.

yup, we are setting them up to be victims of fraud:
'mum, if he says he's Nigerian prince and needs all my bank details then thats it- don't deny his existence'

When we were kids it was always ‘don’t trust people’. Now we have a gen of “so you say you are James Bond? You look different on tv. Yes of course I’ll get into the back of your van...”.

THIS is how the human race will die out...

I wonder if he actually believes this, or if he’s just using an appeal to authority to get you to buy the thing he wants.

I used to have this on my wall at work. Always amused me.

I had this attitude from a liberal candidate I was talking to

I couldn't help but think their life experience must have been very different to mine

To use a naff phrase it's a privileged opinion in that the less well respected your class is in society the more reason you will have to know it's a rubbish starting point

There is a 2 player game theory thing whereby the best action in a repeated game is to be kind first and then mimic the other persons actions

This is wandering
But it's not a 2 player game . And it's not starting from zero . It's life. It's been running for a very long time,

When my grandmother was elderly and ill, her grasp on reality was not particularly tight or consistent.
She went for walks with my GF (he died 20 years previously)
The war was on (40 years ago)
A friend I brought with me (who she’s never met) was my dad
She thought my dad was wonderful (she had never had a good word to say about him)
She lived at X (she moved 50 years ago)

These were her truths.

It doesn’t sound petty at all. It’s very worrying.

I’m not surprised that some kids might choose this way of resolving the cognitive dissonance of being commanded to believe obvious lies. “Believe everything you’re told” is the simplest way to stay out of trouble. But of course it won’t keep them out of trouble as they get older.

So when someone emails you and offers ten million dollars to officiate a will on their behalf, believe them.

I’m not surprised that some kids might choose this way of resolving the cognitive dissonance of being commanded to believe obvious lies. “Believe everything you’re told” is the simplest way to stay out of trouble.

There are many who argue that this is the part of the point of subjecting people, particularly children, to this. Hard to say they don't have a point.

There are a lot of people whose main skillset is manipulating others, so making people more manipulable suits them fine.

The other issue is that more and more of their interactions are online. Living through avatars in made up lives.

Without the face to face interactions and real world conversations, they have lost the ability to actually read other people. Body language, tone of voice, the difference between a smile and a smirk.

DD is 10, taking her first steps into the online world. First rule we have... trust no one. Its always been that

I agree completely. Same in real life too.

OP is right, the kids are being told complete contractions in schools. They are being set up to be walked all over and taken advantage of.

How can they spot lies if they allow themselves to believe humans can somehow mind over matter themselves into something else?

They become coddled, unthinking and so easily led.

Very disturbing

It is insane and horrific and it can only end in tears.

I can't help but think of this story, which some of you may remember. A woman warned her teenage son he was being groomed online and even reported her concerns to the police who, of course, ignored her. The boy was lured to this man's house and murdered:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-30730807

That is so dangerous. When I was in primary school we were shown internet safety videos including one of a (10 year old?) girl chatting via text messenger with someone she thought was a girl the same age as her. In the beginning of the video, this person's messages were read out by a young girl's voice. At the end of the video we find out he is a creepy middle-aged man (I think his character tried to abduct the schoolgirl).

So they were explicitly trying to teach us that people are not always who they say they are online! How can they not have thought through, that if the only view they are pushing is "believe people without question" that children will apply that to all situations and will be put at risk by it?

How can they not have thought through, that if the only view they are pushing is "believe people without question" that children will apply that to all situations and will be put at risk by it?

Pretty sure many of the people pushing this have thought it through. But I wish the teachers delivering this messaging would think about the implications. Are they putting blind trust in pretend “experts?”

Yes this is all very worrying and I think this sort of unthinking mantra routine is a particular problem in Scotland just now. I’m just getting echoes of it in what my early years primary DC come out with.

However:
This isn’t a Trans issue, trans kids need the same protecting from people who aren’t what they say they are, obviously

I’m still listening to the Nolan podcasts. Episode 5. Dr David Bell. It’s absolutely harrowing. And when he says it’s not appropriate to label any children as “trans kids” I agree with him. The children in question certainly need protection though.