Logjam

We have hit a perfect logjam which was a long time in coming and yet entirely foreseeable. 

Climate change, the loss of jobs to automation (AI), income inequality and the nature of human relationships and families have all met at a crisis point which threatens to derail many societies. 

The change in the old world order has scared the living daylights out of stupid conservatives who are in panic mode. Their antidote has been to bear down even more by refuting science and generally being all around bad eggs. 

The revenge of the white boomer has been to stall as much as possible what was inevitably coming. 

The diversification of the world has hit hard. Immigration patterns and changes in family dynamics has meant a loss of power for white men who thought they owned everything. With that order threatened it was time to elect more right leaning politicians who would restore social order. 

It didn't work. 

Trumpism has been an abject failure largely thanks to the deception of the working class and the flow of capital moving upwards towards the already wealthy. 

The experiments tried in Brazil and Hungary didn't work either because culture war smoke screens ultimately don't work when working people's lives grow progressively worse in the process. 

Thus we are facing a multi-faceted problem which needs addressing before the world can begin a new era of relative prosperity. 

Making villains out of visible minorities hasn't worked and people who can't afford basic necessities are tired of hearing the term "woke" from idiot online influencers being paid handsomely by billionaire capitalists.

Time has run out for people who thought this plan would work and the next few years will be very chaotic. 

Just ask the people living next door to data centers. But you'll need to speak loudly if you want them to hear you.

A shot in the veins

Yesterday I got caught up watching a few older episodes of the series "The Undateables". 

What stayed with me afterwards was the charming optimism and exuberance shown by people that much of society outright dismisses. 

Some are deeply autistic, have down syndrome, learning disabilities, genetic conditions which affect appearance, their height or some other physical feature which hampers their search for romantic companionship. 

Some have been disappointed before and some have never dated and yet there is sweetness there that melted away (at least temporarily) my negativity towards couple life. 

Their genuine hope springs eternal which I find very soothing. 

These people are devoid of masks and false bravado. They wear their heart on their sleeves and are giddy beyond belief when they get the call that a potential match has been found. 

Yes, their first dates can be awkward but then no more than anyone else's. The difference is that their efforts to make a genuine connection are not spoiled by learned techniques which would derail their earnestness. 

They simply want to be loved for who they are which they couldn't hide even if they tried to. They very rightfully are fully themselves at all times.

We should all be so lucky.

It's also a shot in the veins for someone who has let a little too much realism seep into their circulatory system.

Hello

Aileen was walking her beautiful husky in my direction as we crossed paths on the sidewalk. 

"Hello there and where are you going on this fine morning? To work?" 

"No I'm retired" I responded and I could see she was surprised since she had clearly underestimated my age which I then divulged.

"I need to get out of the house and get my energy out otherwise I go mental" and she laughs. 

Aileen is 67 and works at the daycare attached to the school directly in front of my house. We have never spoken before other than a brief good morning or a comment on the weather. 

This morning it's a solid 5 minute conversation as I head to the metro early as usual. I leave the house at 6 am because I love the fresh air and lack of extreme summer heat.

She gently scolds her 4 year old husky "don't get hair on her" and pulls him back which then prompts me to pet him to show I'm not quite so sensitive. 

Building a neighborhood life is an organic process. People see and recognize you and they say hello as you process where you know them from. You slowly but surely become a known commodity.

It's been one of the pleasant things about my transition.

"Normal"

What was considered "normal" within a culture has been historically determined based on its prevalence of occurrence. The smaller the percentage of something being observed, the more likely it was that it would be seen as an anomaly or as a disorder. 

Our knowledge of science wasn't very advanced at the time but today it is at its highest point in our history. Suddenly "normal" isn't such a simple thing to determine because nature has shown itself to largely operate on a series of continuums. 

For a human being, at each level of the chromosomes, gonads, endocrine system and the genitals we find possible variations which contradict the concocted idea of a perfect binary. 

Add to that the behavioral aspects of gender (which includes aspects of brain chemistry) and you have a slew of possible combinations for producing a human being who challenges what "normal" is. 

Historically we haven't used science as the ultimate barometer but instead cultural norms which simply decided what was acceptable. Depending on what culture you were born in would determine your social suitability and ability to lead a peaceful life. 

Regretably the western world's Judeo-Christian model was for thousands of years among the most rigid. 

It is now 2026 and when gender criticals say that "sex matters" it makes me chuckle a bit because they aren't basing themselves on our latest scientific reality. They are relying instead on their own determination of what should be permitted based on simplified criteria we espoused decades ago and beyond. 

In that case their 'sex matters" catch phrase loses its potency and becomes meaningless since science isn't on their side.

Instead, they want to go back to an outdated "normal" that has very little to do with the reality of our natural messiness as a species.

Cynic

You could say that a cynic is ostensibly a disappointed idealist.

They were optimistic starting out in life but were burned enough times such that their positivity melted into resignation that says "there is no point in getting one's hopes up" 

As we get older we have had our share of deception and it's very tempting to feel deep disappointment. I work on the balance point between my knowledge of human nature and the acknowledgement that fortunately it also produces the besr of us. 

In that sense I don't consider myself a cynic but instead a person who recognizes what's coming from a long distance by virtue of my life experience. 

I don't hold out false hope but neither do I dismiss things in advance before knowing what I am facing and give the benefit of the doubt first. 

Experience doesn't need to breed cynicism but that doesn't mean we don't burn off a naiveté which doesn't serve us well at all in this life.

You've met just one

I don't follow Ray Williams and his retransition but when a short pops up on my feed I click on it. 

His insistence that AGP (as part of the Blanchard taxonomy) is responsible for his transition path is interesting because instead of focusing primarily on personal wellness and wholeness it seems he is looking for solace by being categorized as a typology. 

I find it tips his hand by saying "I am doing something I cannot help" rather than stating "I am moving towards affirming my identity" which is very telling.

I don't criticize his decision and his motivation is his own only that he is just feeding into the hands of gender criticals who want sexual dysfunction to be a significant aspect of the "trans ideology". 

Imagine if we spent all our time looking at human dysfunction and variability as a whole (which is plentiful to a point I had dared not imagine when younger) so we could take aim at groupings of people for eradication. 

Human beings are highly complex and cannot be readily put into boxes. This variability ends up in every facet of what constitutes us which means when you meet a person you have met precisely one person and not a typology.

Normalcy

At the Whitehouse correspondent dinner, Trump spoke incoherently for over an hour berating people and generally being the humorless and loathsome moron we've come to expect. 

Everyone has had enough of him except the minority of Americans who are unreachable. We even have some of those here in Canada. 

This dinner is supposed to be a celebration of the 1st ammendment where in the past some good natured ribbing could be had at the president's expense.

However these are different times. 

The WSJ reporters win an award for exposing Trump ties to the child molester Epstein and, in a moment worthy a Twilight Zone episode, the winners shake the hand of the criminal president who must think by now he is untouchable for all the escaping from the law he has managed. 

Slurring his way incomprehensibly through speeches has become routine and Americans must be desensitized after 10 years of this. It's become strangely normal to have an incompetent fool at the helm. 

There was a time where country was placed over party and, despite the imperfection of political systems, people on the whole felt a sense of normalcy that no longer exists. 

Every previous president looks almost like a star by comparison. Yes, even Bedtime for Bonzo and "My Pet Goat" Dubbya.

The dangling participle

I don't recall which scientist said the following: 

"I'd rather have questions unanswered than see answers go unquestioned" 

People love certainty which allows them to sleep at night however it has the opposite effect on me. I am very comfortable with uncertainty especially if not all the dots line up. My science background won't allow me to invest in fallacy. 

When I first started blogging I took interest in theories that made conclusions about transgender people without having enough conclusive data and would have necessitated mind reading skills to resolve. 

I therefore concluded that bias was being baked in for nefarious reasons rather than be in favour of leaving things with some degree of uncertainty. 

Most world religions rely on certainty. People are given their marching papers with a set of instructions and then the brain is shut off. There is no further need to explore any nagging questions. 

If you are comfortable with uncertainty I laud you because it means you have left room for critical thinking and reasonable doubt.

You don't mind that you may be dealing with (to borrow a phrase from grammar) a dangling participle.

Don't overthink it

When you live full time one of the challenges can become balancing your masculine and feminine energies which everyone possesses. 

You are no longer wearing a masculine mask for the world and then saving up your femininity for opportune openings. This requires a deliberate reflection but one which need not involve too much stress. 

If you are transgender you will already possess feminine energy only that it may have been forced underground or entirely suppressed for perhaps years. This would certainly be the case if you are older and coming out later in life as I did. 

I no longer need to overthink things but for a while I was self conscious as to how I was being perceived. Over time however you blend yourself into one entity that has a range of behaviour and moods like anyone else. 

It becomes second nature. 

Today I had coffee with Angela who is a few years younger and doesn't know I am transgender and I found myself thinking about how far I had come in my letting go of self analysis. 

She told me she's never seen me so calm and chill which I feel is both a reflection of having retired plus grown into myself as a trans person. 

It can take a while to achieve this but the key is to have confidence that people will see the real you since you know perfectly well it's not an act. 

In other words, there's no point in worrying about what's always naturally been there.

You simply allow it to shine through.

Exclusivity

Human beings are strange. 

We create definitions through exclusivity so we can restrict others. If you belong to a tribe the idea is to make sure others don't belong. 

Find any grouping in society and you are guaranteed to find policing watchdogs to restrict belonging. This is because humans operate out of fear rather than the idea of inclusiveness. 

The people I have most admired in my life were intelligent, sincere, confident and kind. These are traits that discourage fear and insecurity which meant they also didn't feel compelled to seek safety within a group that didn't share their value system. 

Many people live their lives scared to death which ends up infringing on their personal growth. They might join a group for safety where they can look down on others and find false confidence in doing so.

They find comfort with the rest of the fearful.

Damage

We are all born clean slates but then we become somehow damaged. We have parents who were themselves damaged and we live in a damaged society. 

We learn early on that the world is far from pristine. 

There isn't really an antidote for this but countless poets, philosophers, gurus, psychiatrists and playwrights have tried to find answers to what ails us and how to fix it. 

It appears that the imperfection is baked in under the guise of what we think is free will and the natural entropy of the universe. 

We cannot repair the world but we can repair ourselves to a point. We can learn to process the damage we've been exposed to and put context to it. 

We can understand that some if not most came from the wounds of others.