Regarding Bradley Manning

[Guest -guest-]

I try to stay away from the "Comments" section of any online articles regarding transgender-related topics because they're so discouraging. But I know the participants have an ax to grind, no understanding or sympathy and no wish to learn the truth.

This column, however, is so much more prominent and so disdainful of the transgender condition that it troubles me deeply. It's his kind of attitude that makes it "okay" in the minds of readers to belittle and mistreat us and possibly even resort to violence against us..

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/356501/bradley-manning-not-woman-kevin-d-williamson

[Carolyn Marie]

It's a sad, but not surprising point of view. I wonder how many transsexual people the author has spoken with? I wonder what makes him such an expert? He read Dr. McHugh's work, and since McHugh's opinions bolster his own, that's the only authority he needed to hear from. There is no mention of any studies or any reports that contradict Dr. McHugh or the author's own ideas, because contrary views are not welcome, and of no use to someone like Mr. Williamson. He knows all he needs to know, and any additional facts are unimportant.

HUGS

Carolyn Marie

[Guest LizMarie]

National Review is a radical right wing rag that has helped elevate the Tea Party and radical extremist religious zealots to prominence in the American political scene. Anything that National Review says must be taken with a grain of salt because they always have a right wing axe to grind and to them, science is only relevant when it confirms their biases. Any science that defies those biases is something they then belittle.

My brother reads this magazine and occasionally quotes it to me on economic issues but he's also a licensed physical therapist and has enough medical training to understand that my trans condition definitely could be associated with a biological basis.

[Charlize]

Hate can be such a unifying force. Hitler used it to great affect. There is nothing like a little"science" to back up your elimination or suppression of undesirables.

Hugs,

Charlie

[Guest -guest-]

I guess I'll never understand people who choose to remain ignorant regarding matters like this - especially when not to seek the truth can cause others to be harmed.

How can they not see the nexus between the misinformation they publish and the next story about a transgender person being assaulted or even killed?

[Guest CassieX]

That article was worse than a room full of lawyers trying to decide what they would have for lunch. I did force myself to read it to conclusion though and did read some pretty funny comments though I quit after the first 100 or so. SomeRandomKidThatLikesBiology posted a really interesting bit about the fact that at the genetic level people could live their entire lives as a man or woman and not realize their chromosomes said otherwise. That appeared to go over well with the haters about as well as a sack full of cats in a bath tub.

Cassie

[Sakura]

This guy and radical feminist would prolly get along if it were not for the fact that he has a penis.

Looking for and at theses types of articals only begs one to be offended. The freedom of speech gives people a voice. and the internet allows them to reach other like minded Hate=tards. As Liz said , There is no proof one could show them. No words one can say to change thier mind. Thier "ideas" are as hard set in stone to them , As ours are to us. So i resolve to just not attempt to do anything about them. I live my life the way it makes sense to me. And if they can not deal with that then it is their cross to bare not mine.

[Guest EvaO]

I think SHE prefers to be called Chelsea.

[Guest -guest-]

As long as they can believe we're only exhibiting behavior or living a "lifestyle", they feel free to pass judgement. If it's a mental issue, obviously we should seek treatment. If it's just a sin or a perversion, they have remedies for those, too.

But they can never accept that we're not doing anything. We simply exist. It doesn't fit their view of how things are and how they ought to be.

[Guest Rainatgirl]

I found Williamson's article interesting.

It raises the question of whether or not a person's subjective identity is a delusion. Williamson makes it clear in this article that a person's physical body should be the sole measure of a person's identity. Any identity that contradicts the physical body must be a delusion.

I believe this is a valid question that should be carefully contemplated. Williamson's error is in thinking this question is limited to transsexuals, anorexics, and people who wish to be amputees. If we reduce identity to nothing more than biology, then we need to apply this across the board to all people and to all circumstances.

Once we take Williamson's premise as the sole criteria for our analysis it becomes clear that most of humanity is delusional. Lets take a nurse as an example, under Williamson's premise a person who identifies as a nurse is delusional, because there is no biological link that can make a person a nurse. Of course there is schooling, licensing, scrubs, hospitals, behaviour, the person's subjective identity, etc... that most people assume makes a person a nurse. However, under Williamson's premise these things do not constitute an argument for identifying as a nurse, because there is no genetic reason to self identify as a nurse. This absurd example demonstrates that identity is more complex than simply genetics and the objective state of the physical body.

I did not find the article particularly full hate. I also did not find anything in the article that called for violence against the transgender community. What I did find was a poor attempt to define the subjective identities of transsexuals as invalid. However, that does not mean that people of lower intelligence will not use Williamson's article as an excuse for violence against the transgender community.

As for the comments on the article I found them to be pretty standard from people who do not support transgender people.

On the issue of Bradley Manning I think he was wrong for leaking classified information even if he thought he was doing the right thing.