Regarding the BTTF 2 is a work of Satan anecdote: it's so convenient that any time the actions of any authority are at odds with how a group expects/wants things to work, instead of challenging their own priors ("why did the majority steer so far from our beliefs?"), they just declare it a conspiracy by Satan. This is exactly what we see in politics these days as well.
It's exceedingly difficult for one to completely up-end their foundation of understanding, culture, and being. It's easier to do absolutely ridiculous things like declare a contrary outcome as a conspiracy by Satan or the Deep State or whatnot. I think that overcoming that ontological inertia speaks volumes to your individual strength as a person, and the power Carlos' brilliant work.
I wonder, who was raised to think well of trans people? I can't remember last time when I've seen(in person) a transexual person not to mention being discussed as a family matter. Something tells me that trans surgeries were not that popular either.
How do you know? Presumably you’re not doing a genital inspection on most people.
If you assume you can just tell, it’s easy to err into many false positives. (A section of the American far right seems to genuinely believe that Michelle Obama is trans — not just as an insult they like to throw around, but literally.)
Which is pretty incredible all by itself. But people seem to be very susceptible to contracting this kind of mind-virus and then becoming instrumental in spreading it. But at the root of these things are some very malicious people. One of them is on trial in NL right now, and I'm really happy to see the structural and deliberate approach to finding out where the limits on just being able to spout off are. The damage these characters do is real, and - ironically - the biggest risk to free speech comes from them.
Such a weird meme, why are people so obsessed with this idea of genitals being inspected these days.
Feels a bit like the obsession with koro or fan death. Like come on, no-one wants to look at your nob or your gash, no-one is demanding this. A very silly suggestion.
https://www.out.com/politics/2021/4/16/florida-lawmakers-pas...
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ohio-lawmakers-advance-tran...
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/new-jersey-playbook/202...
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2022/06/17/after-backlash-gop...
Well, we should all try and make the world better, right? Many kids and young adults today have been raised with a sense of curiosity and empathy rather than one of scorn and judgment, and that includes fully supporting trans people. That is surely true of older adults as well, especially those whose parents are trans themselves or have close friends/relatives who are trans.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/bmjyda/the-rise-and-fall-of-... (Zoklet was shut down I guess)
Or when it's straight and cis you don't feel the same way?
So what I think you're really asking for is for people to hide who they are if you don't like parts of them.
Art encompasses all aspects of the human experience. How could this not include identity and sexuality, and yes, the treatment one lives through as an aspect of those things. Also wrong is the supposition that a ideological art is somehow a lesser form of creativity. Some of the greatest works in history were made by "ideologues", and made specifically as tracts for their beliefs, either expressly or subtextually. To demand that art be politically inert and sanitized of the identity of its creator is to demand art that says nothing to the viewer and means nothing to the artist. It is to chide a mural for not being a wallpaper.
But even then: Wendy Carlos is perhaps one of the weakest examples of someone doing this, as the article itself makes abundantly clear. Her identity as a transgender woman was something she had to hide for over a decade, and even then the social stigma has driven her into seclusion ever since. Rather, the story of Wendy Carlos is one that massively underscores the sheer importance of having the loud-and-proud expressions of people's identity and experiences that we're (and I am) fortunate enough to have today. If you don't like that, well, maybe you can be the one to close your blinds this time.
In fact, that is the one thing that sets art and craft apart. So for 'ideologue' insert artist. A bricklayer is a craftsman.
My grandmother never managed to, but, to her considerable credit, she did realize that some of her views were no longer supported by the evidence available, she was just too rooted in her ways to change.
Ideology comes to mind as a pretty clean analog.
But looming in my mind is culture. Terminally, it seems indistinguishable from religion: it’s arbitrary, self-perpetuating, operates by getting deep psychological hooks into people and relies on (often blunt) communal enforcement.
And further, it seems “culture” has been elevated to the exalted, sacred status religion once commanded in society. In my view, this shift happened over the latter half of the 20th… cemented by 2010.
There are other groups that employ the same mechanisms.
To me it seems religious to think that trans people don't suffer from some form of mental illness, thus it would be a religious viewpoint to think trans is a healthy behavior. It seems maladaptive from an evolutionary basis, although of course these persons should not be disparaged or treated poorly because of that.
Merely having to look in the mirror and think constantly “this is not who I should be” is damaging. That’s why people deserve sympathy and aid from society.
When people say it’s maladaptive and characterize it as psychological disorder they are falling into the trap of believing that mental anguish must always have a mental solution. Thus they would prescribe therapy, drugs, and asylums.
On the converse, it is much easier in reality to change physical gender than it is to change one’s mind.
If someone wants to take estrogen and call themselves Jessica, why should I give a shit any more than when some gym rat (therefore on artificial testosterone) wants me to call him Jake instead of Jacob?
I don’t think there’s any religion in this, just good ol fashioned icky feelings about things that aren’t really a problem, they’re just icky feeling.
Trans people are at high risk for suicide, and based on my exposure to other persons at high risk of suicide I understand these maladaptive mental processes demand a certain amount of respect. I don't think just ignoring differences in mental state is a great solution.
If they want therapy I can pay for the therapy, if they want me to call them depresso mcfesso I can do that too idc. There’s no reason to be all high minded about stuff like this, man
do you not have anyone you can talk about this in real life with? what type of person is going to continue reading this?
Years later I learned the real story.
I'm still glad for my purchase and Wendy Carlos has made my life just a little bit better because of her art.
One day I looked up the soundtrack at the local record store and bought it..."Composer Wendy Carlos" huh, never heard of her and couldn't find anything really other than contributions to Clockwork Orange and Hooked on Bach and not much else. I moved on.
Later, when there was more Internet to be had, I decided to look up Wendy and was shocked to learn she was trans. It started me down a journey of reflection, challenging my upbringing, and reexamining many "truths" that I had been taught. Along that journey I learned about the tragedy of Alan Turing and other stories.
Wendy's music planted a seed that significantly transformed my inner life, much for the better. It helped me develop significantly in my thoughts on freedom, empathy, justice and the kind of future world I'd like to live in and leave behind.
In 1982 it took a lot of daring for a Disney exec to green light bringing her music to their audience. This was during an age of great an unjust moral panic on a variety of topics.
for reference: I remember my mother receiving a letter from her pastor outlining why "Back to the Future Part II" was the work of Satan and they should never allow it in their household. The central argument was a table that counted the number of time the seven dirty swear words were mentioned in the movie, challenged its rating, and attributed the low rating (PG I think) to a conspiracy by Satan worshipers to corrupt God's youth. This was 1989.