I'm going to say something that might not be very popular. I want you to take some time over the next couple of weeks to talk to someone that thinks very differently from you. Maybe they're different politically. Maybe it's spiritually. Maybe it's a different parenting style. Whatever the case may be, talk to someone who thinks very differently. Listen, truly listen. Don't listen to argue. Listen to truly hear what their passion is on the topic
Why?
Because you don't know what truly know how to debate an issue without knowing what is on the other side. Because you may change your perspective, whether that means you strengthen your argument for the same side or you change it for the other side. Because you may find that just knowing what your differences are will make you realize that you're not that different at all. Because the more you hear about different stories and different perspectives, the more you may realize that life is about learning and loving.
Look, it might not change a thing about the way you view things. Just give it a try.
Showing posts with label #educateyourself. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #educateyourself. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Police
Now that I'm all caught up on my blogging, I'm going to talk to you about something that I find to be rather important..... the planned assault on police officers that seems to be taking place. This isn't about black lives matter or white lives matter or latino lives matter or anything else. I do believe that all lives matter. I do believe that there are a whole lot of televised/youtubed videos that don't show the whole story. This is all a topic for another, much longer discussion.
What I'm talking about today is planned assaults on police officers. It is NEVER okay. Do I believe there are probably "bad" police officers? Yes. I believe that there are "bad" people in nearly every profession on the planet. There are "bad" priests that assault children but the majority of priests are good men. There are "bad" teachers that assault children but the majority of teachers are good people. There are "bad" businessmen, trash men, waiters, managers, doctors, dentists, nannies, veterinarians, celebrities, athletes and everything else on the planet but the MAJORITY are not bad people. The myth that all police officers are bad is misleading and just plain wrong.
If you had any clue what most of these officers dealt with on a daily basis, you'd be amazed at how much they can endure. If you understood what they dealt with, you'd know that it is in their training and experience to be extremely cautious. The vast majority of times (and you can google REAL statistics to see this), if you simply follow what an officer says to do, nothing out of the ordinary will take place. I cannot stress enough the importance of the first part of that, though..... follow what the officer says. Police men and women deal with some truly terrible people. You may not mean anything by reaching for your pocket but they may have had someone an hour before that "innocently" reach for their pocket and draw a weapon. You see, what you think is nothing can often be a very big "something." Listen to their directions. It's that simple.
If you are one of the people planning an assault on an officer, I'd like to ask you the following: why? Are you basing your anger on lies? Are you truly looking at the situations or are you just feeding into the media hype? I say this all the time and I will say it again: educate yourself. Truly read from all sources and learn. Don't just read from one site or one book; read from an abundance of sources and perspectives. You'll learn that the media is just there for ratings.
To the police men and women out there, I'd like to say the following: Thank you. Thank you for your service to our community. Thank you for shielding victims. Thank you for running toward danger when the rest of us are running away. Thank you for being at the car accident. Thank you for helping that abuse victim. Thank you for everything that you do to keep our community safe.
What I'm talking about today is planned assaults on police officers. It is NEVER okay. Do I believe there are probably "bad" police officers? Yes. I believe that there are "bad" people in nearly every profession on the planet. There are "bad" priests that assault children but the majority of priests are good men. There are "bad" teachers that assault children but the majority of teachers are good people. There are "bad" businessmen, trash men, waiters, managers, doctors, dentists, nannies, veterinarians, celebrities, athletes and everything else on the planet but the MAJORITY are not bad people. The myth that all police officers are bad is misleading and just plain wrong.
If you had any clue what most of these officers dealt with on a daily basis, you'd be amazed at how much they can endure. If you understood what they dealt with, you'd know that it is in their training and experience to be extremely cautious. The vast majority of times (and you can google REAL statistics to see this), if you simply follow what an officer says to do, nothing out of the ordinary will take place. I cannot stress enough the importance of the first part of that, though..... follow what the officer says. Police men and women deal with some truly terrible people. You may not mean anything by reaching for your pocket but they may have had someone an hour before that "innocently" reach for their pocket and draw a weapon. You see, what you think is nothing can often be a very big "something." Listen to their directions. It's that simple.
If you are one of the people planning an assault on an officer, I'd like to ask you the following: why? Are you basing your anger on lies? Are you truly looking at the situations or are you just feeding into the media hype? I say this all the time and I will say it again: educate yourself. Truly read from all sources and learn. Don't just read from one site or one book; read from an abundance of sources and perspectives. You'll learn that the media is just there for ratings.
To the police men and women out there, I'd like to say the following: Thank you. Thank you for your service to our community. Thank you for shielding victims. Thank you for running toward danger when the rest of us are running away. Thank you for being at the car accident. Thank you for helping that abuse victim. Thank you for everything that you do to keep our community safe.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Muslim Does Not Equal Radical Islam
So I've seen several posts lately on the events of 9-11 saying that people have forgotten. On some level, it's true. We've forgotten how we came together as a nation. We've forgotten how terrifying that felt and how it made us appreciate our families and friends so much more. We've forgotten how it changed us and how much it shaped how we view things.
But some of us seem to have forgotten something else.... who we were fighting. You see, our war is not with all Muslims. Our fight has been against Radical Islam and that is an entirely different thing.
Here are a few thoughts I just want to share to give you some nuggets to chew on.....
*"The Quran encourages violence." Most of the people that make this argument have never actually read the Quran. In fact, most haven't read the Bible or the Book of Mormon or any other religious book in its entirety. Most are basing it on what they read....wait for it......online. Statistically speaking, the Bible contains more than twice as many violent passages as the Quran. Even when you break it down to percentage (as the Bible has many more pages), the Quran's percentage of violent passages (though larger in percentage than the Bible's 2.71%) is still only 5.34%. Is the Bible a violent book? Not, in my opinion. But my opinion is that the Quran isn't either. Realistically Christians seldom follow every single passage in the Bible to follow or they'd be cutting off hands and gouging out eyes. The reason? Christianity is based on Jesus saving our souls and creating a new covenant. All I am saying is that you should read the Quran YOURSELF before deciding it's violent because anything can be taken out of context.
*"My brother in law has been 'over there' fighting in the military and they all hate us.'" First off, God bless our military. I believe that they have been through hell and I believe that the areas they were called to be have some awful, awful things that can't be unseen. What I also believe, though, is that we are, once again, confusing all Muslims with a particular war-torn region of a country. I know, for damn certain, I would not want someone coming over here and judging me based on a gang-infested area of a major city. I wouldn't want everyone thinking that our whole country is violent and angry just because they were dropped in downtown Chicago (let's say) and encountered a bunch of violent, angry people.
*"All the men rape children." No, no they don't. Just like all Christian men don't lay down with their daughters like the Bible's Old Testament says. In fact, I'd venture that MOST Muslim men don't rape children just like most Christian men or Buddhist men or Jewish men or any other religion don't rape children. This is just cruel and xenophobic.
*"The women are beaten and have no rights." Okay, again, confusing a country (or portion of a country) and a religion. Let me stress again that a particular Middle Eastern country (or cluster of them) does NOT represent a religion. Do you see every single Christian woman walking around in completely modest clothing that shows off nothing with no makeup? Of course not. Just because the Bible says it, doesn't mean that they obey every single passage...why? Their focus tends to be on the New Testament because of the new covenant when Jesus died and was resurrected. There are plenty of Muslims that live in our country (and others) that treat their wives and daughters with more respect and dignity than many other families. You are confusing religion and a country.
*"Well look at all the shootings here...all Muslim." Again, generalization. Has Radical Islam waged a war with our country? Yes, ours and many others. Does that mean all Muslims have? No, not at all. I sure as hell don't want to be categorized with people that do violence in the name of Christianity. Why? Because those people don't represent all Christians. It's the same premise, like it or not.
*"Well I don't trust any Muslims." Well I feel very sad for you, then. Let me ask this question though: how many Muslims do you actually actively know? How many have you talked to, in depth? How many have you looked in the eye? I'm not talking about what you see, talk about or "chat" online. I'm talking about truly standing face to face with a Muslim man or woman and truly talking to them. I'm talking about asking them questions about their faith and their culture. I'm talking about asking THEIR opinions on all of this. I can tell you that I have conversed with many that I consider to be kind, generous, friendly people. I have friends that are Muslim and I trust some of them more than I trust some of my friends of other faith. Religion does not define us; our hearts do.
This is just the start of a conversation that I wish more people would have. I wish that they would understand that a country, particularly a portion of a country, does not represent a religion. I wish they would understand that 5.3% of a book doesn't represent the whole book. I wish that they would understand that Radical Islam doesn't represent the Muslim faith. I wish that they would take the time to TALK to Muslims, despite their fear, and truly understand that most are not violent, cruel people. I wish that they would take the time to get over their fear of what they don't understand and really educate themselves from ALL sides on what they are judging.
Please take the opportunity to learn.
Monday, June 20, 2016
Hate Breeds Hate; it will never change the world
One of the biggest things that I've had to learn in my adult years is that before I assume something based on limited information, I should research all sides of it. It has led me to learn more about other cultures, religions, and people, in general. I don't want to just assume because of what someone has told me. I don't just want to form an opinion to be part of a crowd. I want to learn about the differences that people have so that I can also find the things that we share. Why is this so important to me? Because.....
Hate will NEVER create more love; it only creates more hate.
In the vast majority of cases, hatred is caused by ignorance. People don't care to educate themselves on something so they just choose to dislike it instead. It's the adult equivalent of kids not wanting to eat their veggies: it's different and they assume they won't like it so they won't touch it. We tend, as adults, to sometimes decide that we don't like something without even having all of the information. We don't want to take the time to learn about it. We feel like different is hard, different is bad. We preach about changing the world but we forget that changing the world would require changes in ourselves and in our lives.....differences.
One of the biggest clashes of late seems to be religion (though this argument has been around since the dawn of time) or lack thereof. It exists in all religions, to some extent. After all religion is based on faith. In short, you believe that what/who you worship will bring good things into your life. You also believe, though, that every other religion has it wrong. Some religions believe that all other religions are below them. Some religions believe that we are all equal. Some believe only believers will get into Heaven, some believe in only chosen people getting there, some believe that you have to earn your way there and some believe that there isn't an afterlife because of reincarnation. Every religion believes that they are the only one that is right. Atheists believe there is no god. Agnostics are unsure of the existence of God.
Then there are those of us that exist without specific religion. I am a Christian and, yet, I don't particularly like the idea of organized religion because of how corrupt it has become. I don't expect everyone to believe as I believe. In fact, I believe that God speaks to different people in very different ways. Why would he do that? Simple...God created us to be such extraordinarily different people that he needs to speak to us in extraordinarily different ways. I believe that it is much the same as how parents of multiple children have to encourage and discipline different kids. You see, we all feel and express love a little bit differently.
Religious people can often have a tendency to be judgmental. They blame it on a book or their belief system. If you do this, you're not a good enough (fill in the blank with the religion). If you don't do that, you're not a good enough (fill in the blank with the religion). Then, add in atheists and agnostics who love to sound off on whether or not you're a good enough Christian (for example) because you do or don't do this or that. And what it all comes down to is ignorance. None of us know enough to truly make a solid judgment. We just don't. All we are doing by spreading this judgement on whether a person or a religion is right or wrong is spreading hatred....making a bigger precipice to fall into.
What if we all just took the time to learn? Instead of assuming that all Christians are this or all Muslims are that or all Buddhists are this way or all Jewish people are that way, what if we truly took the time to learn? What if we immersed ourselves in learning? What if we read what they read without assumptions? What if we TALKED to people of that faith and learned about what they believe and what they practice? What if we learned about their holidays and customs? What if we learned about their stances on the very issues that we make assumptions on now? What if we battled intolerance with education? What if we stopped being ignorant and started being intelligent?
You see, we will never change the world by hiding in a hole, believing that we already have all of the information that we will ever need by the time we are adults. We will only change the world when we change ourselves and dedicate our lives to learning.
Hate will NEVER create more love; it only creates more hate.
In the vast majority of cases, hatred is caused by ignorance. People don't care to educate themselves on something so they just choose to dislike it instead. It's the adult equivalent of kids not wanting to eat their veggies: it's different and they assume they won't like it so they won't touch it. We tend, as adults, to sometimes decide that we don't like something without even having all of the information. We don't want to take the time to learn about it. We feel like different is hard, different is bad. We preach about changing the world but we forget that changing the world would require changes in ourselves and in our lives.....differences.
One of the biggest clashes of late seems to be religion (though this argument has been around since the dawn of time) or lack thereof. It exists in all religions, to some extent. After all religion is based on faith. In short, you believe that what/who you worship will bring good things into your life. You also believe, though, that every other religion has it wrong. Some religions believe that all other religions are below them. Some religions believe that we are all equal. Some believe only believers will get into Heaven, some believe in only chosen people getting there, some believe that you have to earn your way there and some believe that there isn't an afterlife because of reincarnation. Every religion believes that they are the only one that is right. Atheists believe there is no god. Agnostics are unsure of the existence of God.
Then there are those of us that exist without specific religion. I am a Christian and, yet, I don't particularly like the idea of organized religion because of how corrupt it has become. I don't expect everyone to believe as I believe. In fact, I believe that God speaks to different people in very different ways. Why would he do that? Simple...God created us to be such extraordinarily different people that he needs to speak to us in extraordinarily different ways. I believe that it is much the same as how parents of multiple children have to encourage and discipline different kids. You see, we all feel and express love a little bit differently.
Religious people can often have a tendency to be judgmental. They blame it on a book or their belief system. If you do this, you're not a good enough (fill in the blank with the religion). If you don't do that, you're not a good enough (fill in the blank with the religion). Then, add in atheists and agnostics who love to sound off on whether or not you're a good enough Christian (for example) because you do or don't do this or that. And what it all comes down to is ignorance. None of us know enough to truly make a solid judgment. We just don't. All we are doing by spreading this judgement on whether a person or a religion is right or wrong is spreading hatred....making a bigger precipice to fall into.
What if we all just took the time to learn? Instead of assuming that all Christians are this or all Muslims are that or all Buddhists are this way or all Jewish people are that way, what if we truly took the time to learn? What if we immersed ourselves in learning? What if we read what they read without assumptions? What if we TALKED to people of that faith and learned about what they believe and what they practice? What if we learned about their holidays and customs? What if we learned about their stances on the very issues that we make assumptions on now? What if we battled intolerance with education? What if we stopped being ignorant and started being intelligent?
You see, we will never change the world by hiding in a hole, believing that we already have all of the information that we will ever need by the time we are adults. We will only change the world when we change ourselves and dedicate our lives to learning.
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Being an Advocate Doesn't Mean You Can Be a Bully
Okay, let me make something abundantly clear: standing up for what you believe in does NOT make you a douchenozzle. Sometimes, though, the method in which you choose to do so does. Let me tell you a little story....
I have a friend that we'll call "Mindy." Mindy is an animal lover. In fact, she's not just an animal lover; she's a vegan, dog foster parent, advocating animal lover. I love that about her. I love that she's so passionate about something so important. I don't always agree with her but I love that she is dedicating her life to something so important. However, Mindy has a major downfall. Mindy chooses to bully people if they disagree on ANYTHING regarding her cause....and I mean ANYTHING. She claims that it is in the interest of education but her method is absolutely, undeniably threatening. It's not that her message is wrong, persay, but her method of conveying it is actually hindering her purpose. In simpler terms, she's cutting off her nose to spite her face.
You see, Mindy standing up for what she believes in doesn't make her a jerk. The methods she chooses to do it, sometimes, though, do.
I love when people are passionate about something. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't. However, I love the fact that we live in a country that allows us to explore and educate on our passions. All I'm saying is that we should be thinking of how we are educating others to support our cause. We should be reading, reading, and reading some more. We should be reading things that support our cause but also things that don't. After all, you don't know what you're debating until you have fully educated yourself on the other side of the argument.
We have to learn to respect other's opinions. Maybe they will agree with you after hearing your presentation. Maybe they won't. We have to learn to respect their opinion, even if we disagree. We have to learn not to bully others in the name of education. We have to learn to spread kindness, not ugliness. If we are REALLY trying to make the world a better place, we are not going to achieve it with a million cookie cutter people who were educated by a dictator (so to speak.) We will achieve it by understanding that our country is a melting pot and those differences is what makes us wonderful.
I have a friend that we'll call "Mindy." Mindy is an animal lover. In fact, she's not just an animal lover; she's a vegan, dog foster parent, advocating animal lover. I love that about her. I love that she's so passionate about something so important. I don't always agree with her but I love that she is dedicating her life to something so important. However, Mindy has a major downfall. Mindy chooses to bully people if they disagree on ANYTHING regarding her cause....and I mean ANYTHING. She claims that it is in the interest of education but her method is absolutely, undeniably threatening. It's not that her message is wrong, persay, but her method of conveying it is actually hindering her purpose. In simpler terms, she's cutting off her nose to spite her face.
You see, Mindy standing up for what she believes in doesn't make her a jerk. The methods she chooses to do it, sometimes, though, do.
I love when people are passionate about something. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't. However, I love the fact that we live in a country that allows us to explore and educate on our passions. All I'm saying is that we should be thinking of how we are educating others to support our cause. We should be reading, reading, and reading some more. We should be reading things that support our cause but also things that don't. After all, you don't know what you're debating until you have fully educated yourself on the other side of the argument.
We have to learn to respect other's opinions. Maybe they will agree with you after hearing your presentation. Maybe they won't. We have to learn to respect their opinion, even if we disagree. We have to learn not to bully others in the name of education. We have to learn to spread kindness, not ugliness. If we are REALLY trying to make the world a better place, we are not going to achieve it with a million cookie cutter people who were educated by a dictator (so to speak.) We will achieve it by understanding that our country is a melting pot and those differences is what makes us wonderful.
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
The Meme That Says Getting Kicked In the Balls Hurts Worse Than Labor
There has been a meme traveling around social media that men are widely displaying. What does it say? Simply this: "A kick in the balls is above 9000 del (units) of pain which is similar to giving birth to 160 kids & breaking up to 3200 bones at a time." The men are posting with captions that say "haha" and "See? Ladies quit your bitching." Sadly, boys, it's just not true. This is a made up fact and you need to fact check before you start posting and razzing the ladies.
Exhibit A: http://www.medicaldaily.com/why-getting-kicked-nuts-will-knock-even-strongest-man-down-304788
Exhibit B: http://factsfromfiction.blogspot.com/2012/05/human-body-handles-45-dels-units-of.html
So let me sum up what you'll learn if you read up:
1. The "del" is a made up unit. There is a unit called the "dol" which is from the Latin word "dolor" but it is seldom used and never really caught on after its start in the 1950s.
2. There is not an actual "human limit" of pain. The idea of this meme is based on the fact that the "human limit" of pain is supposedly 45 dels and women experience 57 dels of pain during childbirth. Men also don't experience 9000 "dels" of pain being that it is crazy to assume they could surpass a supposed pain threshold by that much. This is rumor, folks. Again, "dels" don't exist and there is no actual number threshold.
3. Your nociceptors are what expresses pain. One side of it is directly related to short term pain with many more receptors. The other side of it has fewer receptors and is responsible for dull pain. Your nociceptors are essentially what triggers "pain."
4. While men's jumblies are connected to nociceptors in the stomach, hence why you feel abdominal pain when getting kicked in the junk, women's reproductive system are connected to the same visceral muscles. Same essential "pain", guys, sorry.
5. Labor, on average, lasts 8 hours. While they're in labor, they are dealing with tension and stretching of many muscles that causes localized, intense pain. Yes, boys, you do get the same nausea, etc when you get kicked in the nuts that women feel during labor but you are experiencing it for less than a half an hour.
6. Evolution has led to women having smaller hips but babies having bigger heads. You do the math.
7. Pain is subjective. Everyone perceives pain in a different way.
In short, there is no way to accurately measure this BUT it is likely that it CAN be just as painful on both sides, however it is longer and has more additional uglies that go with it in labor.
Do your research before posting and teasing people. Put this argument to rest and understand that both are painful.
(oh and by the way, my SHORTEST labor was 10 hours.....with no pain meds......no epidural.....so please don't lecture me on getting kicked in the nuts. I get it, it hurts. Until you have 10 hours of that pain and have to, then, squeeze a watermelon sized object from a coin sized hole, we can call it a draw...and I'm being generous.)
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Facebook's Trending Topics Policy
The question is "Is Facebook only 'trending' non-conservative (aka liberal, etc) topics?" Mark Zuckerberg is meeting with some conservatives, today, regarding this topic. It's been labeled as a huge deal and a whole mess of conservatives are up in arms over it.
My answer: If you are relying on social media for your education on any topic, you might be part of the problem.
Allow me to explain....
People seem to forget why social media is around. It is not around to serve as an encyclopedia. It's not around to serve as a newspaper. It's not around to be your primary news source. It's around for social connections. I repeat, it's for social connections. Facebook is not a news channel, nor is it designed as such.
While it's not "fair" that Facebook may be denying conservatives their trending topics, I'm of the mind that if you are not happy with the way Facebook functions, you can exercise YOUR right to stop using it. An easier solution would be to focus your attention on its intended use and get your political (and every other type of) education elsewhere. Celebrities are not where you should get your news from. Social media is not where you should get your news from. Get your news from reputable sources and, in my opinion, at least 2-3 DIFFERENT sources. Realistically, almost all news channels are also slanted to either the liberal or conservative side and you are better off consulting a few of these sources and then reading between the lines for what the truth may be.
This all comes back to my opinion that it is a business's right to do as they please with their business. It is the consumer's right to choose whether or not you want to partake in that business's services. Sure, you can give bad reviews. Sure, you can tell all of your friends, or anyone that will listen, how much you hate a business because of a particular reason. You can also take some responsibility and make your own choices withOUT forcing others (or businesses) to bend to your will and have to agree with you. Variety is the spice of life. If you don't like Facebook's trending topics, don't pay attention or discontinue Facebook or write an article on it....but stop with the expectation that Facebook needs to change its policy to suit you.
That's just my opinion.....oh and by the way, I'm an independent voter that tends on the conservative side....so there's that. I'm not anti-conservative. I'm anti-drama.
My answer: If you are relying on social media for your education on any topic, you might be part of the problem.
Allow me to explain....
People seem to forget why social media is around. It is not around to serve as an encyclopedia. It's not around to serve as a newspaper. It's not around to be your primary news source. It's around for social connections. I repeat, it's for social connections. Facebook is not a news channel, nor is it designed as such.
While it's not "fair" that Facebook may be denying conservatives their trending topics, I'm of the mind that if you are not happy with the way Facebook functions, you can exercise YOUR right to stop using it. An easier solution would be to focus your attention on its intended use and get your political (and every other type of) education elsewhere. Celebrities are not where you should get your news from. Social media is not where you should get your news from. Get your news from reputable sources and, in my opinion, at least 2-3 DIFFERENT sources. Realistically, almost all news channels are also slanted to either the liberal or conservative side and you are better off consulting a few of these sources and then reading between the lines for what the truth may be.
This all comes back to my opinion that it is a business's right to do as they please with their business. It is the consumer's right to choose whether or not you want to partake in that business's services. Sure, you can give bad reviews. Sure, you can tell all of your friends, or anyone that will listen, how much you hate a business because of a particular reason. You can also take some responsibility and make your own choices withOUT forcing others (or businesses) to bend to your will and have to agree with you. Variety is the spice of life. If you don't like Facebook's trending topics, don't pay attention or discontinue Facebook or write an article on it....but stop with the expectation that Facebook needs to change its policy to suit you.
That's just my opinion.....oh and by the way, I'm an independent voter that tends on the conservative side....so there's that. I'm not anti-conservative. I'm anti-drama.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
The Target Bathroom Policy
The controversy surrounding the "transgender bathroom policy" at Target is growing daily. Those on the opposing side are signing a petition to boycott Target. Those on the supporting side are cheering and actually shopping at Target MORE! I've kept mum for awhile, just trying to gather my thoughts on the topic. I wanted to listen to all sides of the argument and see where my opinion fell after the fact. So here goes......
First of all, the argument for the opposing side is namely based on the idea that "a man could pretend to be transgender just to get in the bathroom and assault your wife or child." In other words, the concern is not about transgender people (as a whole) but with child predators and the like. Here's a little nugget of information to think on.... what makes you think that predators would even bother to "pretend" to be transgender? Predators have been sneaking into bathrooms for decades. They don't need a policy to do it. You should ALWAYS be concerned about your safety and your family's safety (boys too) in public restrooms. That said, a policy that allows transgender people to use the bathroom of their choice will make absolutely no difference in whether or not predators are coming in to assault your family. The bigger risk, unfortunately, is that the transgender individuals will be assaulted themselves. Statistically they are assaulted in alarming numbers and it's just not okay. A piece of paper or a sign or a policy has nothing to do with whether or not a predator will come into the bathroom; it's like saying that a "no gun zone" sign will keep a gunman out.
A second argument is that "a man could come into the bathroom with your wife or child and flash their junk at them." This partially goes back to my last point but partially goes to another: why do you think this is limited to bathrooms? If your concern is that your daughter might see a penis in a Target bathroom, you are ignoring the fact that this can happen almost anywhere. Men (or women) that are going to flash you their "junk" are going to do it wherever they choose. You're worried about the bathroom in Target; meanwhile, this guy does it in the produce section at the supermarket. Again, I present the argument that you are confusing transgender people with mentally disturbed flashers. You have likely used the bathroom with a transgender person more often than you know....guess what, you were not affected in any way.
"Well it's simple. If you have a penis, use the men's bathroom. If you have a vagina, use the women's bathroom." Look, you can agree or disagree with whether or not you're born transgender (the same way you can argue whether or not you're born homosexual). The argument has nothing to do with the point on this. The fact is that transgender people often feel as if they were born in the wrong body. This argument is hard to debate but I will say that it's definitely not "simple."
"Well they're just being politically correct." No one cringes more at politically correct hoopla than I do but this is not about being politically correct; it's about being compassionate. It's about recognizing a "group" (for lack of better word) of people who just want to be able to do a simple human function (like urinate) where they feel comfortable. 99% of transgender people are not going to draw attention to themselves walking into a bathroom anywhere. They just want to poop in peace. It's as simple as that.
"Well I don't want some dude watching me pee." Well then close the stall door. A WHOOOOOLE lot of the people arguing this point have probably never even USED the bathroom in Target. Some "dude" is in the bathroom for the same reason you are and, guess what, they're going to close and lock the stall door and do the same thing you're doing: pee. The idea that transgender people will use this policy as some sort of excuse to be a sneaky perv is absolutely ridiculous and demoralizing (but I'll get to that in a second). Do YOU go into bathrooms and peer over the stalls or peek through the cracks? Nope. You're a normal person that looks under the stall enough to see if there's feet there and then waits for your turn. You close the stall door, lock it, pee, wash your hands (hopefully) and move on. Come on now.
I guess I want to close this by saying that this whole thing seems like it's very demoralizing to transgender people. You can argue the logistics of transgenderism all you want and agree to disagree with people but this debate over this policy is really hurtful on one side. I heard it said that "it wasn't about water fountains during segregation and it's not about bathrooms now" and it was summed up so perfectly. Before you start throwing hateful terminology around and grouping transgender individuals in with perverts, think about what you're saying and how small-minded and ridiculous you sound. To all the transgender people out there having to listen to this debate and hear the hateful things being spewed from people's mouths, I am so sorry that you're having to deal with this. Know that there are a whole lot of us that are more educated on transgender/transsexual folks that are fighting to break down the walls of ignorance.
If you AREN'T educated on the topic, here is a good starting point....
Source:
http://www.medicaldaily.com/what-difference-between-transsexual-and-transgender-facebooks-new-version-its-complicated-271389
First of all, the argument for the opposing side is namely based on the idea that "a man could pretend to be transgender just to get in the bathroom and assault your wife or child." In other words, the concern is not about transgender people (as a whole) but with child predators and the like. Here's a little nugget of information to think on.... what makes you think that predators would even bother to "pretend" to be transgender? Predators have been sneaking into bathrooms for decades. They don't need a policy to do it. You should ALWAYS be concerned about your safety and your family's safety (boys too) in public restrooms. That said, a policy that allows transgender people to use the bathroom of their choice will make absolutely no difference in whether or not predators are coming in to assault your family. The bigger risk, unfortunately, is that the transgender individuals will be assaulted themselves. Statistically they are assaulted in alarming numbers and it's just not okay. A piece of paper or a sign or a policy has nothing to do with whether or not a predator will come into the bathroom; it's like saying that a "no gun zone" sign will keep a gunman out.
A second argument is that "a man could come into the bathroom with your wife or child and flash their junk at them." This partially goes back to my last point but partially goes to another: why do you think this is limited to bathrooms? If your concern is that your daughter might see a penis in a Target bathroom, you are ignoring the fact that this can happen almost anywhere. Men (or women) that are going to flash you their "junk" are going to do it wherever they choose. You're worried about the bathroom in Target; meanwhile, this guy does it in the produce section at the supermarket. Again, I present the argument that you are confusing transgender people with mentally disturbed flashers. You have likely used the bathroom with a transgender person more often than you know....guess what, you were not affected in any way.
"Well it's simple. If you have a penis, use the men's bathroom. If you have a vagina, use the women's bathroom." Look, you can agree or disagree with whether or not you're born transgender (the same way you can argue whether or not you're born homosexual). The argument has nothing to do with the point on this. The fact is that transgender people often feel as if they were born in the wrong body. This argument is hard to debate but I will say that it's definitely not "simple."
"Well they're just being politically correct." No one cringes more at politically correct hoopla than I do but this is not about being politically correct; it's about being compassionate. It's about recognizing a "group" (for lack of better word) of people who just want to be able to do a simple human function (like urinate) where they feel comfortable. 99% of transgender people are not going to draw attention to themselves walking into a bathroom anywhere. They just want to poop in peace. It's as simple as that.
"Well I don't want some dude watching me pee." Well then close the stall door. A WHOOOOOLE lot of the people arguing this point have probably never even USED the bathroom in Target. Some "dude" is in the bathroom for the same reason you are and, guess what, they're going to close and lock the stall door and do the same thing you're doing: pee. The idea that transgender people will use this policy as some sort of excuse to be a sneaky perv is absolutely ridiculous and demoralizing (but I'll get to that in a second). Do YOU go into bathrooms and peer over the stalls or peek through the cracks? Nope. You're a normal person that looks under the stall enough to see if there's feet there and then waits for your turn. You close the stall door, lock it, pee, wash your hands (hopefully) and move on. Come on now.
I guess I want to close this by saying that this whole thing seems like it's very demoralizing to transgender people. You can argue the logistics of transgenderism all you want and agree to disagree with people but this debate over this policy is really hurtful on one side. I heard it said that "it wasn't about water fountains during segregation and it's not about bathrooms now" and it was summed up so perfectly. Before you start throwing hateful terminology around and grouping transgender individuals in with perverts, think about what you're saying and how small-minded and ridiculous you sound. To all the transgender people out there having to listen to this debate and hear the hateful things being spewed from people's mouths, I am so sorry that you're having to deal with this. Know that there are a whole lot of us that are more educated on transgender/transsexual folks that are fighting to break down the walls of ignorance.
If you AREN'T educated on the topic, here is a good starting point....
Source:
http://www.medicaldaily.com/what-difference-between-transsexual-and-transgender-facebooks-new-version-its-complicated-271389
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