How Do We Fight Ignorance...

[Guest Leigh]

so, not that i'm out in real life...

but, on my youtube account, i always out myself when someone says something stupid in a video/comment....

and one of the comedians i'm subscribed to made a comment in one of his vids that such-and-such celebrity looks like a Transgender....

so, i commented saying that Transgender is an offensive word, i'm a transman, try and remember we're people too, etc....

and some loser posted back the word "Transgender" 80 times...as a responce to my comment.....

basically from there it went to me trying to eductate him, him insulting me, and finally me insulting him back.

my point being. how are we supposed to educated those who want to be ignorant jerks?

or do we just try to ignore them???

this really messes with my personal philosophy of 'love everyone'

peace&love

leigh

[MaryEllen]

How do you educate an ignorant jerk? Not easily. You can either ignore him or turn it back on him. If he says something nasty, reply with something like this. "Awww, I love you to honey. kissy kissy smoochie smoochie" "Would you like to go out with me. I know you'd really like to". That drives them bonkers. Just make sure that they don't have any personal information about you. You'd be putting yourself in danger if you did.

MaryEllen

[Guest Nikk]

When no one wants to listen we grab our stainless steel baseball bats and say, "Now you listen here."

Oh wait, right, there's your personal philosophy of love everyone.... Well you can still love someone with a concussion, right?

Silliness aside, I think that people are so wrought with confusion at the idea of transgenderism that they don't want to deal with someone who actually is. It's easier to activate the "illegitimate child mechanism" than to be kind and sympathetic.

The best idea in my mind, is to get close friends and family members active in understanding, and then they can begin educating non-friends/family/trans people..... I'm still working on a device to enable that though.....

[Guest Leigh]

How do you educate an ignorant jerk? Not easily. You can either ignore him or turn it back on him. If he says something nasty, reply with something like this. "Awww, I love you to honey. kissy kissy smoochie smoochie" "Would you like to go out with me. I know you'd really like to". That drives them bonkers. Just make sure that they don't have any personal information about you. You'd be putting yourself in danger if you did.

MaryEllen

lol..yeah, that's kind of the type of thing i said back to him..

but it still drives me crazy that i was the only one who cared that he was saying that crap...

peace

leigh

[Guest Leigh]

When no one wants to listen we grab our stainless steel baseball bats and say, "Now you listen here."

Oh wait, right, there's your personal philosophy of love everyone.... Well you can still love someone with a concussion, right?

Silliness aside, I think that people are so wrought with confusion at the idea of transgenderism that they don't want to deal with someone who actually is. It's easier to activate the "illegitimate child mechanism" than to be kind and sympathetic.

The best idea in my mind, is to get close friends and family members active in understanding, and then they can begin educating non-friends/family/trans people..... I'm still working on a device to enable that though.....

i have to admit, i can be tempted to go for your first bit of advice....lol..

but..yeah.

i guess i just have to do it one person at a time.

too bad people don't realize that HATE is the biggest problem with society.

mostly they just go after the "queers"...which i guess includes us...

peace&love

leigh

[Guest Pól]

1. Ignore the internet trolls. Not worth your time or effort.

2. In person, you just have to go one person/one small group of people at a time. Unless you become one of those speaker people and go on tour.

2.1. In person, if you meet an internet-troll-like person, verify that they are, in fact, troll-like, and then just don't bother. People like that are so set in their beliefs that there's very little you can do to change their minds that isn't drastic.

3. The easiest way to make people OK with transgenderism is to make transgenderism boring. I'm weird, but for the few people who know that I'm trans, the trans-ness has comparatively little to add to the weirdness, compared to, say, my cubing. The best way is to make it so that it's "no big deal" for people. Like "oh yeh, that guy is trans....:shrug:...so what?" is kind of what you're aiming for, I think.

4. Don't talk about it a lot unless people specifically ask you to, and then, stick to the purview of the question asked. For more on why this is true, see "Transgeneration" (TV show).

5. You can love them...very far away from you.

Pól

[Guest Leigh]

5. You can love them...very far away from you.

Pól

lol..i guess that's what i have to stick to.

peace&love

leigh

[Guest Javey]

Hate the hate, not the haters. Some people just need more time to grow. Sadly, not all the world is kind and accepting. We can't really make everyone in the world be more open minded, but we can help a lot of them go towards that direction. And thats better then nothing, right? I get frustrated with the ignorance of people, as does just about everybody sometimes. The best way to fight hatred without becoming a hater yourself, is to hate the hate and not the haters.

As far as youtube goes, i don't even post comments anymore. Someone who disagrees always tries to get in a fight or something. Kinda lame.

[Sally]

Most people who post comments are looking for an arguement.

My favorite uncle was one who loved to debate and he lived long enough for the beginnings of the Internet but before that he wrote letters to the editor in the local newspaper.

He would make a bold statement and then wait for a response and then the debate was on, running for weeks in the daily papres - no insults, no hate just airing of both sides of an issue - I miss him.

We could have had quite a debate over my being trans but he would never resort to just you're wrong or wierd or evil just facts and opinions based on his level of knowledge on a subject, but he was always willing to learn and grow.

Love ya,

Sally

[Guest April63]

Hate the hate, not the haters. Some people just need more time to grow. Sadly, not all the world is kind and accepting. We can't really make everyone in the world be more open minded, but we can help a lot of them go towards that direction. And thats better then nothing, right? I get frustrated with the ignorance of people, as does just about everybody sometimes. The best way to fight hatred without becoming a hater yourself, is to hate the hate and not the haters.

As far as youtube goes, i don't even post comments anymore. Someone who disagrees always tries to get in a fight or something. Kinda lame.

Don't hate anything. Hate = evil. I think people are more open-minded than we think.

[Guest Charlene_Leona]

Sometimes it's not worth upsetting oneself over another's ignorance. After all there going to have to live with being stupid for the rest of their lives.

[Sally]

Don't hate anything. Hate = evil. I think people are more open-minded than we think.

I know for a fact that the first part is true hate is evil and it can tear away at you and make you very unhappy.

I hope that April is right about people being more open minded than we think.

I do hope so!

But if you want to eliminate the hate in you, seeing the world as more open minded is a necessary step.

Love ya,

Sally

[Guest Neuro]

The internet is sadly full of jerks. It is a nesting ground for horrible people, even kind people can become cruel in a split second.

Trolls and such on the internet, are better left ignored because they feed on antagonistic and frustrated responses for arguments and 'lolz.' People like that, who say things like that commenter did; are not worth anything and do not deserve any energy of argument. In reality, they are sad and bitter often socially disturbed people. Being cruel on the internet makes them feel big--don't help them feel big by stirring them up.

I am not a kind of person who ever stands up to anyone, so perhaps you have more pride than me. :c but people can really be horrible.

--Michael

[Guest Leigh]

@ Sally, i think i would have liked your uncle. i'm kind of like that myself, but i try not to do it on the internet too much cuz someone always gets hateful.

@Charlene, lol...you're right. i should feel sorry for them instead, after all, i don't have to be the dumb one, and they do.

peace&love

leigh

[Guest Elizabeth K]

Hate consumes the hater. Be very careful to condemn the act not the person.

Hateful Internet comments - worthless.

A good heart and a prayer they see the error of their ways? priceless.

Just my opinion.

Lizzy

[Guest Leigh]

Hate consumes the hater. Be very careful to condemn the act not the person.

Hateful Internet comments - worthless.

A good heart and a prayer they see the error of their ways? priceless.

Just my opinion.

Lizzy

i just posted a topic in the Christianity forum inspired by this event, if you want to take a look. i encourage all (even the non-Christians here, such as myself) to take a look.

you are right though Lizzy, i always try not to hate, and i'm slowly learning.

peace&love

leigh

[Guest 1charlotte1]

We do not need to fight ignorance! In the end it will destroy itself, like hate, or the sith.

DON'T TAKE INTERNET COMMENTS TOO PERSONAL. I know what was said was stupid. And probably meant to hurt u. But u should expect this sort of thing from the Internet. There is a lot of people on the internet that will hate every single thing about any person. Do they matter? Not in my world. I just saw the movie milk for the first time, so I'm already sick of hearing about how much people hate any thing queer or transgendered. It saddens me! U would be inhuman to not be hurt by this person. Now I'm kinda rambling is that ok? I just want to say I'm sorry u had to deal with this person. If u want to combat ignorance, ur gonna need to be braver than me and be well out to everyone u know. And that we all care about u. Love everyone!

Hugz, Charlotte

[Guest Zabrak]

Ignore them and if you really want to help the cause or spread knowledge about us do it in a more creative way(AKA blogs and all that...you know what I mean). Don't allow haters, bigots and all those types of people drag you down.

[Guest Soph]

The internet gives people the power to be anonymous. As a result, people will troll to elicit a negative response. I'm sure there is something about needing attention, and that receiving negative attention is easier than positive. When you lose your temper with them, they win. Its that simple. Using rational arguments against them is futile. They are beyond the reach of logic. The content of your argument is entirely invalid when it encounters their veritable wall of arrogance an ignorance. Trust me, I was a /b/tard. Used to BE anonymous. Raided and everything. I've grown out of it though. Haven't even been on /b/ for weeks, and even then not seriously.

There is no way to win against trolls. Just ignore their statements, or do what I do and never put yourself out there. A whole lot easier that way.

[Guest Leigh]

The internet gives people the power to be anonymous. As a result, people will troll to elicit a negative response. I'm sure there is something about needing attention, and that receiving negative attention is easier than positive. When you lose your temper with them, they win. Its that simple. Using rational arguments against them is futile. They are beyond the reach of logic. The content of your argument is entirely invalid when it encounters their veritable wall of arrogance an ignorance. Trust me, I was a /b/tard. Used to BE anonymous. Raided and everything. I've grown out of it though. Haven't even been on /b/ for weeks, and even then not seriously.

There is no way to win against trolls. Just ignore their statements, or do what I do and never put yourself out there. A whole lot easier that way.

yeah...i guess you're right...it's just hard for me to think of them as "trolls" and hard for me to think of ppl as unable to be reached by rational arguments (even though i know plenty of ppl like that...)

thanks for the reminder/advice.

peace&love

leigh

[Guest Jeannine Bean]

I realize more and more that I'll always be on the fringe of society. I can cultivate my own cadre of people who are accepting and nice. One of my friends said tonight that he'd rather hang around with me than most foreigners in Taiwan...

I can't be friends with everyone, LOL... and I also see other transladies out and about (and some perhaps transmen, but they're often harder, much harder, for me to spot, even with my transdar :-).. and I notice how the transladies get treated, even in Asia, the pretty ones too... and my friends can usually spot a lot of them more or less instantly and think it's nice to point them out to me, but I'll usually watch if it's just me and notice others' reactions...

So yea, there's an element of always being on the fringe. And some of the more obvious ones, who wear a certain "experienced" look to them, sometimes have a real mean vibe they put out (and there's so many in this city... does anyone notice how common this all is?)... I think it's just because...

...we all have to have pretty thick skin.

And one of the nicest transgendered ladies I ever met, didn't even remotely pass, but she'd been out at work for years... She just didn't have the money, you could tell from her clothes. But her voice was very nice, very very practiced and nice... people still said "creepy" about her because she didn't fit into their frames... and somehow it was all okay because about people who didn't accept her she would always say, "I can just find people who are more fun!"

So when some douchebag is mean, just find people who are more fun!

--Jeannine

[Guest Leigh]

I realize more and more that I'll always be on the fringe of society. I can cultivate my own cadre of people who are accepting and nice. One of my friends said tonight that he'd rather hang around with me than most foreigners in Taiwan...

I can't be friends with everyone, LOL... and I also see other transladies out and about (and some perhaps transmen, but they're often harder, much harder, for me to spot, even with my transdar :-).. and I notice how the transladies get treated, even in Asia, the pretty ones too... and my friends can usually spot a lot of them more or less instantly and think it's nice to point them out to me, but I'll usually watch if it's just me and notice others' reactions...

So yea, there's an element of always being on the fringe. And some of the more obvious ones, who wear a certain "experienced" look to them, sometimes have a real mean vibe they put out (and there's so many in this city... does anyone notice how common this all is?)... I think it's just because...

...we all have to have pretty thick skin.

And one of the nicest transgendered ladies I ever met, didn't even remotely pass, but she'd been out at work for years... She just didn't have the money, you could tell from her clothes. But her voice was very nice, very very practiced and nice... people still said "creepy" about her because she didn't fit into their frames... and somehow it was all okay because about people who didn't accept her she would always say, "I can just find people who are more fun!"

So when some douchebag is mean, just find people who are more fun!

--Jeannine

thanks Jeannie, i will find ppl who are more fun... first stop, the playground

peace&love

leigh