Thinking intelligently about progressive transhumanism

Two quick notes on recent news items, one in Lansing, one in DC

I do think we’re past peak transgenderism now. Somewhat famously, AOC removed the pronouns from her Twitter bio recently, which speaks to something. The issue about constantly needing to show you are Cool and With It by chasing the Current Thing is that there is always some new and sexier Current Thing that will now demonstrate your proper Status better than the last current thing. So none of these fads can last for too long.

But, on the other hand, transhumanism, including the desire for a fully chosen and customized life (including your sex), might be the predominant guiding force, culturally at least, for modern progressivism. Yesterday they may be anti-war, and today they want to bomb Russia into oblivion, they can flip on things like that very easily now. But transhumanism (of which transgenderism is the most obvious manifestation) is something they stick with, so it is still worthwhile to rebut it.

Ingham County wants tampons in the men’s restrooms

On that note, I wanted to share two recent news items. The first is from our own county in Michigan, look at that, very exciting.

Trump may have won the presidential election, but Lansing is still Lansing, friends.

But I want to make sure we’re talking about this correctly. The thing to realize here is that they are not installing these machines because they actually want to help people. There is a very real possibility that the number of people who would use the machines as intended (and not as a joke) over a year would actually be literally zero, $32,000 to help not a single soul. And they know that.

But that’s fine, because that’s not really the point. The real point is to take up public space to proselytize for progressive transhumanism. They could hang a rainbow flag in all the bathrooms instead, but that’s a little too in-your-face, and it would be harder to sell the expense. Building a world in which X is portrayed as the assumed belief is often more effective at making converts than trying to argue for X. The latter activates the reasoning faculties of the populace and will provoke intelligent resistance. The former may not. This is also why preachy Christian movies can be cringe, even to Christians, but a Hollywood blockbuster that just assumes a progressive anthropology, while the movie is mainly about something else, can be quite effective.

I’ve written as much before, but it might behoove conservatives and Christians to get more intelligent about taking up public space. The Left understands the power there, that’s why they tear down statues and write their slogans on the street.

No men in the women’s restrooms on Capitol Hill

The second here is a news item about the GOP’s intention to prohibit men from using the women’s restrooms on Capitol Hill.

The issue here is one of fighting, however truly, about the periphery of a problem, instead of the heart. “Men should not dress up like women and use their restrooms” is true. “Men should act like men, not like women” is a better comment though.

This matters because, it has sometimes been said, do other women want a woman who has been taking testosterone, undergone surgery, has facial hair, looks and sounds like a man, using their facilities? Would they feel safe in that situation? Probably not. That’s probably why this is “men cannot use the women’s room” instead of “women cannot use the men’s room” - it might very well be better for all concerned for such a woman to actually use the men’s room.

But the better answer, if we could have it, is that men should act like men, and women should act like women. Then the problem goes away. And, lest we say “how could you have such a thing now?”, that has been the situation for nigh all of Western history. Let’s not think that whatever began yesterday must continue forever.

THE END

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