When everything is acceptable, how does one be different? Well, that's easy - don't accept everything.
Point is, we're going to be bred out. Parents who raise many children will be leaders of the families who hold swaying power in the next generations. So whoever grows the biggest families wins!
Not too long ago there was the issue in the pop culture news sphere about 2 different people, Caitlyn (formerly Bruce) Jenner, and Rachel Doezal. There were a lot of fascinating points made about our views on what is acceptable regarding these individuals and the debates that arose from their decisions.
Rachel Doezal is a white woman who has identified as a black woman for the last several years of her life. This is deemed unacceptable. (Even though we are starting to agree as humans that race is a fiction.) We are all humans, with many differences of culture, religion, and opinion - but all from the same species. No difference. However, her appropriating the characteristics and struggles of another people is offensive because she is building her identity off of someone else's experiences. She is living a lie, and as such is publicly ridiculed.
Caitlyn Jenner, who has changed the appearance of her gender is very accepted. While science agrees genetically that when one is a man, they cannot change their DNA (i.e. , doctors cannot change an XY chromosome (male) to an XX (female) chromosome.) Caitlyn Jenner can live as a woman and change her private parts to match, yet she will never have the insides of a woman. She cannot have a period, ovulate, or have babies. Yet, her decision to change her superficial appearance on what she "feels" she is, we applaud and accept.
Rachel Doezal, who did the same thing (changed her superficial appearance on what she "feels" she is), we despise and reject.
Why the double standard? Because we feel guilty for how our nations and ancestors treated Black Americans? Guilt is a waste of emotion. Take responsibility for someone else's crimes if you want to circumvent that guilt. Or is it because appropriating a culture is more offensive than appropriating a gender? Are there not struggles and culture within gender issues?
More over, this is an issue of who you are vs. what you are. Whether or not Rachel Doezal is white or black on the outside (that being what she is), the decision(s) she made to lie about her heritage and adopt a different cultural identity point to a greater issue inside her mind and heart which illuminate her character, which gets closer to who she actually is.
Same goes for Caitlyn Jenner. Was she someone worthy of repute as Bruce? Wasn't he a shitty dude? Let's see what she does now. Will she be selfless? Will she act with the best intentions for those beyond herself? Or will she spend her life in defense of rebuke? Maybe that's harsh, but I think it's fucked.
Reality disagrees with Bruce's self identity as a woman. Reality. Not me, not the state, not the church. The scientific evidence, genetics, chemical reactions and bodily functions all disagree with his feelings that he is really a she.
Reality disagrees with Bruce's self identity as a woman. Reality. Not me, not the state, not the church. The scientific evidence, genetics, chemical reactions and bodily functions all disagree with his feelings that he is really a she.
Is that tough and unsensitive? Sure.
Quite frankly, I'm having a lot of really mixed feelings about being offensive. I used to love being offensive! It was one of my favourite pass-times. Now I'm in my 30's, living in a safe progressive society where everyone is nice and polite, and I'm becoming afraid to rock the boat and "call em as I see 'em".
I don't really want to hurt people, but this over-sensitivity and acceptance is turning us into a bunch of wimps.
However, it's not going to be important for long. Because the family unit is disintegrating (or, maybe I should say 'has already disintegrated'), and if things don't change it will happen soon that our culture becomes a thing of the past.
Big words? Maybe. But not unrealistic.
Sub-replacement fertility trends show that when women have less than 2 or more children (2.33 children per woman) the culture has difficulty sustaining itself. Global population decline is heralded as necessary for sustainable development, but it's easy to overlook the change in demographics and economy that come as a result.
Point is, we're going to be bred out. Parents who raise many children will be leaders of the families who hold swaying power in the next generations. So whoever grows the biggest families wins!
I suspect that most educated people would applaud the decline of North American white males, which is what I am. And while there are many of us having kids, it's prominent in the mouths of my generation to say that not having children is a humanitarian decision.
I become very suspicious when a common trend in any kind of values justifies my own selfish behaviour - as in the decision to party my years away instead of entering manhood and taking up the responsibility of raising a family. I don't even like the effort and responsibility of being in a relationship, let alone working to support, educate, discipline, and raise kids.
But in my world, I am entitled to protest and stand up for my rights. My responsibilities I shrug off, as I'm generally encouraged to distraction by my peer group, media, and other external social influences.
Well, that's not entirely true; I am encouraged to make less of an impact via carbon, waste, or inter-personal harm. (These are good things, and certainly require me to check my behaviour.)
Well, that's not entirely true; I am encouraged to make less of an impact via carbon, waste, or inter-personal harm. (These are good things, and certainly require me to check my behaviour.)
But it's funny that my progressive world strives to correct such actions as littering, pollution and human rights - Yet when it comes to how we allow ourselves to behave in relation to our desires vs. our responsibility - the ripple effects and lasting consequences seem to be all but dismissed.
I guess what I'm wrestling with is the fact that I know I could be doing a lot more. I live a self serving life of comfort and indulgence, and as I become more aware of the hypocrisy of my actions (or in-actions) I can't help but feel ashamed.
Maybe if I agree that people can be whatever they feel like being, accept everything, and clap for the hyper-sexualization of every age and practice; maybe then I'll be happy.
Then I can finally let everybody know that all these years I've been struggling with intense self hatred over my repressed feelings that deep down, I'm a gay black woman. All I have to do is maim my organs and lie about my past, then I can be a FUCKING HERO.
Then I can finally let everybody know that all these years I've been struggling with intense self hatred over my repressed feelings that deep down, I'm a gay black woman. All I have to do is maim my organs and lie about my past, then I can be a FUCKING HERO.
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