Why are some people obsessed with race, gender, and generation ?

[McBell]

I agree with banning these things for children. Not for everyone.


This I disagree with. I love drag. Is there a context for this? If drag is infront of children, then no. Drag is by nature a sexualized performance.


Disagree with this.


I agree with the sports one based on bone structure and muscle mass in transwomen.

I disagree with this bathroom lunacy. Were up up to me, I'd have single-person toilets for whoever needs to use them.



I'd ban this for under 12s. I am pro-sex education for any kind of sex, however. I believe this should begin at puberty.

We disagree on some stuff, but I'm not interested in arguing. You're obviously more socially liberal than me and we'd just be talking past each other.

I merely answered your question.
Which is what you asked me to do.

 

[Ignatius A]

It actually did answer and address your question. If you knew the flag code you'd easily identify the pinhead "patriots" violating it.

How do you know anyone here is violating it?

 

[Ignatius A]

I think I might be a closet patriot. I've never approved/appreciated people wearing representations of the flag all over their bodies. Heck, I don't mind people having a flag in their yard as long as they do it right and bring it in every night. Which most don't do it right.

Crap. I think I was in the Scouts too long.

No need to bring it in at night if you have a dedicated light.

 

[Rival]

I merely answered your question.
Which is what you asked me to do.

Sure, but this is a discussion forum. I was just trying to discuss

 

[McBell]

How do you know anyone here is violating it?

Where was it said that some here are violating it?

 

[Debater Slayer]

In your opinion, do people on the left ever go too far?

Any group has a subset who go too far, so yes.

If so, any examples?

Some that particularly stand out to me:

• Extending valid and accurate criticism of Western powers' excesses to blaming the "West" for every real or perceived ill either in one's country or elsewhere. Ironically, many fundamentalists also adopt a similar MO when they criticize the "West" for sound reasons like exploitative and hegemonic policies but then also include many other things that are personal decisions or legal protections for freedoms they disapprove of, like secularism, freedom of religion, sexual freedom, LGBT rights, etc.

• Putting other cultures on a pedestal in an act of overcompensation for historical or current wrongs committed against them. I don't see why it's necessary to idealize Indigenous, Asian, or African cultures in order to condemn the wrongs Western powers have perpetrated against them. All cultures have positive and negative aspects, like other products of human endeavor.

• The corollary to the above: Bashing "Western culture" and saying or implying that it has no redeeming qualities or that it is overall horrible because of the abovementioned wrongs. Again, any culture has positive and negative aspects, and no culture is entirely good or entirely bad.

• Standing with or against certain people or countries by default instead of considering each issue on its own merit. For example, I have seen a lot of Marxists argue that NATO shouldn't aid Ukraine or that the West shouldn't aid Taiwan. A lot of this seems to me rooted in opposing Western policies in general even when they may have merit or are optimal given the surrounding context.

• Arguing for large-scale, comprehensive social and economic revolution without proposing a detailed plan for how such a revolution would work out in practice rather than theory. Lenin, Guevara, Mao, and Pol Pot all tried that. It was an atrocious, blood-soaked failure every time because of how unrealistic and heavy-handed it was.

There are other examples; these are just a few extreme ones offhand.

I think the far left ends up helping the right in many cases, because our opponents on the far right can take advantage of the far left promoting silly or divisive ideas

I think that largely depends on what one considers "silly or divisive ideas," although I also think that when the far right gains influence in a given country, the factors leading to that tend to be much more complicated and numerous than the above.

 

[Banach-Tarski Paradox]

I'm all for championing women and girls, promoting women's rights, and continuing to work on true equality.

But I think the word "patriarchy" is needlessly divisive, it often ends up pitting women against all men, when many men are women's allies.

The men lost.

 

[Eddi]

I'm not big into the whole pride thing

But I think it is necessary

 

[The Hammer]

Crap. I think I was in the Scouts too long.

Military and Scouts for me. People are so bad about the flag.

 

[Debater Slayer]

Not arguably, it has been but multicultural is not the same as multiculturalism. I grew up in a city with Poles, Italians, Germans, Portuguese etc etc. It was great because every year they all had their cultural festivals. The food was great but everyone of them thought of themselves as Americans not hyphenated Americans. They were damn proud of their cultures but never more than being American. That's no longer the case.

Can one not identify with American heritage and at the same time identify with any other cultural heritage they have?

 

[We Never Know]

I know what the Flag Code is an it makes it obvious when others don't based on how they treat, display and store a flag.
Here's a part of it. Displaying tattered flags offends the Flag Code. You are not to do it, and worn and tattered flags are to be disposed of with dignity. The same goes with wearing the flag. That's a no. Real patriots know being a patriot is more than expressing a word of identity.
Amd, yes, I am bitter these wankers amd their "cut along the line" sense of patriotism who couldn't pass a citizenship test if their life depended on it are trying to hijack my country.

Do you condone people burning the flag?

 

[Rival]

Can one not identify with American heritage and at the same time identify with any other cultural heritage they have?

This isn't really the issue as many see it.

It's that x-Americans are being targeted by politicians, such as Joe Biden saying 'If you don't vote for me, you ain't black.'

That causes needless division. It turns one's culture into a political identity when they are all meant to be Americans.

 

[Banach-Tarski Paradox]

In your opinion, do people on the left ever go too far? If so, any examples?

I think the far left ends up helping the right in many cases, because our opponents on the far right can take advantage of the far left promoting silly or divisive ideas

Lobbing cylinders of gas on Black churches where innocent civilians are seeking refuge is going too far.

We need to take away their guns.

Maybe it's the Guns - Cheryl Wheeler​

 

[McBell]

Do you condone people burning the flag?

I have no problem with people burning a flag.

 

[McBell]

We need to take away their gins.

I agree.
Limit them to only bourbon whiskey.

 

[We Never Know]

I think I might be a closet patriot. I've never approved/appreciated people wearing representations of the flag all over their bodies. Heck, I don't mind people having a flag in their yard as long as they do it right and bring it in every night. Which most don't do it right.

Crap. I think I was in the Scouts too long.

The flag can be displayed at night if there is a light on it

 

[Debater Slayer]

This isn't really the issue as many see it.

It's that x-Americans are being targeted by politicians, such as Joe Biden saying 'If you don't vote for me, you ain't black.'

That causes needless division.

I think Biden is an abject disgrace, so I don't care to defend him—and I agree he has participated in some of the division.

However, while I realize that American politics currently has too significant division, I don't see how the identity of a "hyphenated American," as another poster put it, is central to this. Politicians always try to target potential voters, but this doesn't seem to me to mean that those voters' identities are necessarily a problem.

 

[libre]

I'm not big into the whole pride thing

But I think it is necessary

This honestly is the most reflective of my stance.

I dress modestly, I don't like drag, I'm not fond of the rainbow, I don't *want* to be hypervisible or marginalized.

But I am marginalized. I recognize where pride comes from and what it holds off. It means so much to closeted queer youth and does much to deflect the efforts of politicians who politicize our existence and try to frame us as a threat to the youth, 'civilization' and whatnot.

I have a hard time taking complaints about pride's visibility seriously because I know what it's like to get scolded or glared at for merely holding my partners hand in public. Simply displaying affection for my partner leads to glaring and harassment on a busy street. I've had quite enough of hiding who I am for the consolation of those who are disturbed by queerness.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I disagree with this bathroom lunacy. Were up up to me, I'd have single-person toilets for whoever needs to use them.

Thise are fairly common in California, and honestly it's my IBS that has me loving them. Going back and forth, incontinence, whatever my bows decide to do I can just handle it and clean up and go about my business without others wondering what's up.
But from what I read parents caring for severely disabled adult children have ended up loving them the most. They get privacy and room and can be parents without nasty onlookers.

 

[McBell]

Lobbing cylinders of gas on Black churches where innocent civilians are seeking refuge is going too far.

We need to take away their guns.

How does taking away their guns stop them from lobbing cylinders of gas?

Shouldn't we take away gas?
Or cylinders?
Or both?