Style over substance?

I stopped watching Philosophy Tube videos when I began to find them a little annoying. Maybe it's because there is a little too much self satisfaction in Abigail Thorne's content which, as she clearly invites comparison with Contrapoints, seems to be noticeably absent from the latter's more acerbic and ironic style. Yes, Natalie was there first and the copying made me think that Philosophy Tube was starting to become more style over substance and thus increasingly distracting.

Abigail's Thorne recent pronouncements on gender dysphoria didn't help win me over either.

Oh well.

Self conscious

Being self conscious is probably one of the worst things we can be. After all, what good is it other than to instill insecurity?

It helps to ensure that we aren't ourselves and permeates our minds with doubt about how we are being perceived by others. Instead of focusing solely on what we want to do, we first pass our actions through a filter that questions how we are viewed from the perspective of strangers.

So we get rid of it

Universal

I am increasingly disinterested in transgender-focused subject matter because most of what touches it is really about the universal suffrage of all minorities. Thus social justice and equality is what we are always dealing with.

Prejudice is largely an irrational phenomenon because as we attempt to apply logic and critical thinking it quickly falls apart under any level of scrutiny. Human beings are emotional before they are rational and crowds can be swept into a frenzy by having the right type of messaging from bad faith actors seeking to capitalize.

Whether it was women's suffrage or the civil rights movement of the 1960's, there was always underlying hatred sparked largely by the fear of loss of status and power. The unknown frightens people to death.

Therefore viewed with a wider lens the issue of transgender rights is much the same as any other human issue. It is about universal justice.

History repeats

Argentina has just elected a right wing populist a la Trump. He joins the ranks of other nations who are increasingly openly flirting or downright adopting fascist policies. Javier Milei's victory celebration consisted largely of frantically running up and down the stage like a deranged lunatic.

Everytime I look up I see deadly parallels with the early 1930's and it's not pretty. The current worldwide celebration of and fascination with the lowest common denominator by the terminally stupid does not help.

Sooner

Both my dysphoria and euphoria have calmed down significantly with my social transition which is a sign of being at a good balance point. The starve and feed cycle long behind me, I realize what a disservice I was doing my gender dysphoria in trying to go cold turkey for as long as possible starting when I was very young.

My case is perhaps extreme in that I had religion and heavily absorbed social stigma to remove from my psyche, but nevertheless I will continue to preach the idea of slow and steady ultimately wins the race and keeps you on solid footing. The proof in the pudding is that I am more content than I've ever been.

Millennial and GenZ transgender people are much less likely to have a mental closet full of stigma which will only help them reach where they need to be much sooner than I.

Rosalynn

Rosalynn Carter's recent death at age 96 made me think about how people with such integrity perhaps used to be more commonplace. Unlike the hypocrite "Christian nationalists" of today, her and her husband represented charity and service to humanity which was beyond reproach continuing to build a legacy well after their time in the White House was over.

Americans may have their own opinions on Jimmy Carter's tenure as president, but you certainly could not doubt the sincerity and effort that permeated all facets of this couple's time together and what they tried to do in advancing humanitarian causes.

We could certainly do with a few more like her today; dignity, humility and grace which are almost relics of a bygone era.

Rustin

The movie "Rustin" is a biopic set in the early 1960''s civil rights era about a man who was openly gay when it was still a crime. In fact being both black and gay in America in 1963 meant your life was guranteed to be no picnic.

But Bayard Rustin was no shrinking violet and his work with the NAACP and with Martin Luther King towards organizing the March on Washington in 1963 ended up being his crowning achievement.

Colman Domingo steals the show here as Rustin and portrays him as a man of courage and dignity freed from the type of stigma that one would have expected to experience in this era. His tenacity and ability to keep his head high in the face of extreme prejudice paved the way for later generations.

On Netflix and highly recommended.

Process

Living in a gender role different from the one you were raised as is a gradual adaptation process. It's like slowly entering a hot bath and the body acclimatizes to the new temperature. At least this is how I needed it to be.

People know you and greet you and yesterday morning it was Mathilde (a lovely lady eight years my junior) who caught up to me on my morning walk with a bubbly "Hello Joanna how are you?".

You get comfortable and stop questioning and others see what you see in yourself.

Back to a first love

Started painting when young and going back to it. This one is in progress.

after all I'm retired :)

Disappointed

The older I have gotten the more I have become disappointed with the way the world operates. If you analyze its inner workings you realize it runs on a combination of over focus on the inanely vapid, willful ignorance, malevolence and innocence which you thought could not exist in grown human beings. However, top that off with a sprinkling of goodness and philanthropy you did not think was possible, and it changes the entire dynamic.

All this to say that the world is an enigma and i am increasingly being left without a filter within its often irrational power structures.

Knowing all this, the appetite which some have for autocracy is better understood and when you factor in that many people are scared to death and gullible beyond comprehension, you can see the draw for facile solutions. It is why false prophets continue to appear and have their time in the sun before their charlatanism is discovered. If you love black and white thinking you are more susceptible than those who understand that nuance, subtlety and greys exist and form part of everything.

"S'il vous plait"

"Madame s'il vous plait" she pleaded at me for change which I did not have. She was no older than my daughter and looked gaunt and sleep deprived. Begging in the Montreal metro is commonplace and I see it every day as more people fall off the grid.

The gap between the haves and have nots widens and there are solutions but they require structural changes to our societies which won't come without pushback.

I have led a successful professional life and paid my fair share of taxes gladly. I lived well but sparsely and continue to as money does not bring happiness unless we fall below the line where we cannot clothe, feed or house ourselves. But the world operates on greed and power and not enough people want to share the wealth such that more can partake which is a pity.

The next time I will maybe have change but it wouldn't solve that young woman's problems. Yes, there is personal responsibility involved no doubt, but some have a massive head start in this life and refuse to ever look back until it bites them in the rear end.