(no subject)
1. Hermit Break
A few weeks ago, I took a short break from the hermit routine and took a day trip downtown. Though I mostly roamed about, had lunch at a few places, and kept to myself, so it wasn't like I really immersed myself in the outside world. Still, it actually turned out to be a good idea to get out of the house for a day. For one thing, when I'm cooped up without a change in atmosphere, I can dwell on any negative thoughts or feelings that I might be having. I felt immediately better after returning home from my outing. I also felt more eager to get back to work after leaving the house.
I don't think that trying to create a "mobile office" where I work from coffee shops is a very good move, so I won't head in that direction. When I leave the house with an intention of working, I often get distracted by my surroundings and have trouble focusing on work. But I probably will go downtown more often to just clear my head. I originally thought that going out too often would cause me to lose my focus, but it surprisingly helps me with my focus by lifting some of the fatigue I get when I'm plugging away at my work for too long.
2. Manning
I didn't really follow the whole Bradley Manning issue because the media has done a pretty good job of clouding the coverage over that incident to the point where all the information I received was not very useful to me. So it came as a surprise when the media announced that she was changing her sex, though I guess that those who followed the trial pretty much saw it coming. But I was pretty impressed that Infowars, run by Alex Jones, respected Chelsea Manning's gender identity in their reporting. This is a second surprise for me where people who I think are going to say something cringe worthy actually don't and say some reasonable things about transitioning.
I'm especially happy that there seems to have been a track record of people who aren't the usual suspects, i.e. progressives and the GLBT community, coming out there and saying fairly favorable things about transsexuality. Yeah, I'm sure there's plenty of people saying terrible things, but just having a few big voices say positive things is enough for me. Even a Facebook "friend" of mine who has in the past said some mocking things about transsexuals and who still doesn't believe that the sex change is valid, made a posting saying that we should care about Manning's decision, which I think is evolution on this person's part. Anyways, these endorsements from people on the right really make me feel glad that I didn't just cling to progressivism or the GLBT community just for the feeling of security, even after I knew that those groups were a bad fit for me.
Since I do want to be stealth, it doesn't completely matter to me at all whether people have a positive perception of transsexuality or whether they accept the validity of transitioning. I pass, so it's not an issue for me; people will regard me in the way that I want to be regarded, even if they don't think that transitioning truly changes one's sex. I wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable being friends with someone who makes it a habit to constantly bash transsexuals, but if they don't understand the process or they think it's weird, I don't really care and can tolerate the difference in opinion. I also don't really feel that it's my job to "educate" everyone, so I'm fine allowing them to hold on to their beliefs for as long as they want; I'm not going to try to but in as that "straight guy who just happens to know a lot about transgender issues." So it's more like icing on the cake to know that the support and understanding is out there.
3. Racial Politics
After the Zimmerman verdict, I've done a pretty good job of just staying away from racial politics. I have my own views on what I consider to be failings on the left when it comes to addressing racial issues. I'm sure I've blogged about it extensively in this journal, so I won't do a rehash in this post. But I think that the main value of learning to articulate my disagreements was so that I could develop a life philosophy that works for me and use my perspective to benefit my own life. I really don't want to fall into the trap of constantly duking it out with people over racial issues, either online or in person.
But, one interesting surprise is that I hear my views being picked up more often in "mainstream" sources, and not just buried away somewhere on Fox News. I think that one of these days, there's going to be a shift and people who wantonly race bait are going to be taken to task. I think the reason that there's been a bit of a freebie period for people who do these things is that a lot of public figures don't want their careers or reputations to be ruined by a pissed off group of activists that will gun after them for saying something politically incorrect. So a lot of people tend to just bite their tongues and burry their heads in the sand. But I'm seeing that there's more people who just don't care if they're accused of being racist or an "Uncle Tom" or whatever, they're just going to say what they believe to be true when it comes to racial issues. So I'm really looking forward to a day when we start seeing a very compelling counter-narrative to the left's stances on racial issues and social issues in general.
Of course, I'm also willing to be patient. Yeah, I'd love to see my viewpoints reflected in the mainstream around the clock, starting today. But I realize that you have to sort of ease into the right social climate for that to happen. And I realize that my own views didn't come overnight. It took years of observation to eventually see the problems with the views the left pushes forward on race. And so I think that it will take a long time for more people people to come to that moment of realization. But I think that when people come to the realization on their own, it's going to stick with them for a lot longer and be far more meaningful than if they were to just constantly be beaten over the head with meaningless talking points and buzz terminology. So I just hope that if there is a truth to the point of view that I currently hold, then others will have to eventually recognize it as well, on their own time.
A few weeks ago, I took a short break from the hermit routine and took a day trip downtown. Though I mostly roamed about, had lunch at a few places, and kept to myself, so it wasn't like I really immersed myself in the outside world. Still, it actually turned out to be a good idea to get out of the house for a day. For one thing, when I'm cooped up without a change in atmosphere, I can dwell on any negative thoughts or feelings that I might be having. I felt immediately better after returning home from my outing. I also felt more eager to get back to work after leaving the house.
I don't think that trying to create a "mobile office" where I work from coffee shops is a very good move, so I won't head in that direction. When I leave the house with an intention of working, I often get distracted by my surroundings and have trouble focusing on work. But I probably will go downtown more often to just clear my head. I originally thought that going out too often would cause me to lose my focus, but it surprisingly helps me with my focus by lifting some of the fatigue I get when I'm plugging away at my work for too long.
2. Manning
I didn't really follow the whole Bradley Manning issue because the media has done a pretty good job of clouding the coverage over that incident to the point where all the information I received was not very useful to me. So it came as a surprise when the media announced that she was changing her sex, though I guess that those who followed the trial pretty much saw it coming. But I was pretty impressed that Infowars, run by Alex Jones, respected Chelsea Manning's gender identity in their reporting. This is a second surprise for me where people who I think are going to say something cringe worthy actually don't and say some reasonable things about transitioning.
I'm especially happy that there seems to have been a track record of people who aren't the usual suspects, i.e. progressives and the GLBT community, coming out there and saying fairly favorable things about transsexuality. Yeah, I'm sure there's plenty of people saying terrible things, but just having a few big voices say positive things is enough for me. Even a Facebook "friend" of mine who has in the past said some mocking things about transsexuals and who still doesn't believe that the sex change is valid, made a posting saying that we should care about Manning's decision, which I think is evolution on this person's part. Anyways, these endorsements from people on the right really make me feel glad that I didn't just cling to progressivism or the GLBT community just for the feeling of security, even after I knew that those groups were a bad fit for me.
Since I do want to be stealth, it doesn't completely matter to me at all whether people have a positive perception of transsexuality or whether they accept the validity of transitioning. I pass, so it's not an issue for me; people will regard me in the way that I want to be regarded, even if they don't think that transitioning truly changes one's sex. I wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable being friends with someone who makes it a habit to constantly bash transsexuals, but if they don't understand the process or they think it's weird, I don't really care and can tolerate the difference in opinion. I also don't really feel that it's my job to "educate" everyone, so I'm fine allowing them to hold on to their beliefs for as long as they want; I'm not going to try to but in as that "straight guy who just happens to know a lot about transgender issues." So it's more like icing on the cake to know that the support and understanding is out there.
3. Racial Politics
After the Zimmerman verdict, I've done a pretty good job of just staying away from racial politics. I have my own views on what I consider to be failings on the left when it comes to addressing racial issues. I'm sure I've blogged about it extensively in this journal, so I won't do a rehash in this post. But I think that the main value of learning to articulate my disagreements was so that I could develop a life philosophy that works for me and use my perspective to benefit my own life. I really don't want to fall into the trap of constantly duking it out with people over racial issues, either online or in person.
But, one interesting surprise is that I hear my views being picked up more often in "mainstream" sources, and not just buried away somewhere on Fox News. I think that one of these days, there's going to be a shift and people who wantonly race bait are going to be taken to task. I think the reason that there's been a bit of a freebie period for people who do these things is that a lot of public figures don't want their careers or reputations to be ruined by a pissed off group of activists that will gun after them for saying something politically incorrect. So a lot of people tend to just bite their tongues and burry their heads in the sand. But I'm seeing that there's more people who just don't care if they're accused of being racist or an "Uncle Tom" or whatever, they're just going to say what they believe to be true when it comes to racial issues. So I'm really looking forward to a day when we start seeing a very compelling counter-narrative to the left's stances on racial issues and social issues in general.
Of course, I'm also willing to be patient. Yeah, I'd love to see my viewpoints reflected in the mainstream around the clock, starting today. But I realize that you have to sort of ease into the right social climate for that to happen. And I realize that my own views didn't come overnight. It took years of observation to eventually see the problems with the views the left pushes forward on race. And so I think that it will take a long time for more people people to come to that moment of realization. But I think that when people come to the realization on their own, it's going to stick with them for a lot longer and be far more meaningful than if they were to just constantly be beaten over the head with meaningless talking points and buzz terminology. So I just hope that if there is a truth to the point of view that I currently hold, then others will have to eventually recognize it as well, on their own time.