Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

THE PATH TO TOTALITARIAN AMERICA - WE ARE WELL ON THE WAY

Rod Dreher has been doing yeoman work tracing the conditions that gave rise to the totalitarian Communist and Nazi regimes.  He is studying the social and ideological conditions that incubated and fostered these movements.  In September Dreher will publish the results of his research in a new book, Live Not By Lies.  [Note:  Many will recall Dreher's 2018 book that stirred great interest, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation.]

In a current blog post, Dreher writes:  Last year, I spoke to a Soviet-born scholar who teaches in an American public university. . . .   This morning, she sent me this e-mail, which I reproduce here with her permission:  [my emphases]

I know from your blog that the work on your new book is going well and I’m glad because, boy, it’s so needed. I’m observing some disturbing developments on my campus, and we are really not one of those wokester schools for spoiled brats one normally associates with this kind of thing.

 

This academic year I’ve had an opportunity to work with some early-career academics. These are newly-minted PhDs that are in their first year on the tenure-track. What’s really scary is that they sincerely believe all the woke dogma. Older people – those in their forties, fifties or sixties – might parrot the woke mantras because it’s what everybody in academia does and you have to survive. But the younger generation actually believes it all. Transwomen are women, black students fail calculus because there are no calc profs who “look like them,” ‘whiteness’ is the most oppressive thing in the world, the US is the most evil country in history, anybody who votes Republican is a racist, everybody who goes to church is a bigot but the hijab is deeply liberating. I gently mocked some of this stuff (like we normally do among older academics), and two of the younger academics in the group I supervise actually cried. Because they believe all this so deeply, and I’d even say fanatically, that they couldn’t comprehend why I wasn’t taking it seriously.

 

The fanatical glimmer in their eyes really scared me.

WHY IS IT THAT TRANSGENDER "GIRLS" ALWAYS WIN?

I think I know.   From the Daily Wire:

You wonder how the other runners may have felt.

On Monday, when Connecticut had its State Open track and field championships at Willow Brook Park, one person broke the State Open records for girls in both the 100 and 200-meter runs.

That person was a biological boy.

Terry Miller of Bulkeley, a transgender, won the events. In the 100 meter dash, the runner-up was Andraya Yearwood of Cromwell, also a transgender.

PETER SPRIGG - "A TRANSGENDER MILITARY IS A WEAKER, COMPROMISED MILITARY"

The Hill published Peter Sprigg's article (with which I agree) today: 
Donald Trump’s election as president, and the reelection of a Republican House and Senate, have created an opportunity for America “to rebuild our military” — a pledge that Trump made during his campaign.

While increasing the number of ships, submarines, and aircraft will cost billions of dollars, there is one change that would not cost a cent — ending President Obama’s use of the military to engage in liberal social engineering.

At President Obama’s urging, the law against homosexual conduct in the military (colloquially referred to as “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”) was repealedby a lame duck Congress in 2010. However, the Obama administration’s latest effort to deploy the military in the sexual revolution was the June 30, 2016, announcement by Defense Secretary Ash Carter that “transgender Americans may serve openly” in the military.

Carter also announced that by July 1, 2017, “the military services will begin accessing transgender individuals.”

Congress did not address the issue this year in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which passed the House on Dec. 2 and should see Senate action soon. However, Congress and the new administration should reconsider this policy next year.

Previous policy had prohibited military service by those who identify as transgender.

An April 2010 Department of Defense (DoD) Instruction regarding “Medical Standards” listed a “change of sex” as a disqualifying physical condition. This regulation was justified by the concern “that transsexuals would require medical maintenance,” and that “complications which may stem from the hormone therapy” could cause service members “to lose excessive duty time and impair (the) ability to serve in all corners of the globe.”

Under the same DoD Instruction, one of the disqualifying “Learning, Psychiatric, and Behavioral” conditions was:

“Current or history of psychosexual conditions including but not limited to transsexualism … (and) transvestism.”

A recent review of the scientific literature by psychiatrists Lawrence Mayer and Paul McHugh notes that:

“Adults who have undergone sex-reassignment surgery continue to have a higher risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes.”

In a reversal, the DoD has now issued an Instruction on “In-Service Transition for Transgender Service Members.” It requires the military to provide “all medically necessary care and treatment” to facilitate the “gender transition” of service members.

 

QUICK TAKES

   ** Robert Epstein - Your brain is not a computer   The "information processing" metaphor (IP), now dominate, when it is finally abandoned ("the IP metaphor is not even slightly valid"), will be seen as silly.

   ** David French's speech to homeschool graduates  - How to Live a Life of Privilege    Truly valuable reflections, observations, and exhortations.

   ** Andrew Strattaford - War on Cash - Besides the privacy it affords, cash serves "as a vital element in the preservation of the rights of the individual against the presumption of the state."

   **  Rod Dreher - "Transgender McCarthyism"  - Useful coverage of an asserted "right" that has left many of us further questioning the sobriety/sanity of the contemporary culture mindset

   **  Tyler Streckert - What It's Like to Be Gay at Wheaton College  -  "During my student years at Wheaton, I became healthier mentally, intellectually, socially, emotionally, and spiritually. When I tried to keep my orientation secret, I isolated myself from the very people who would love and accept me."  Streckert has devoted himself to celibacy.

THE STORY OF A MALE-IDENTIFYING LITTLE GIRL WHO DIDN'T TRANSITION

This is a great story that Lindsay Leigh Bentley tells of her growing up as a "tomboy" (my word) and how her life developed.  It has over 3,000 comments so you know it has hit a nerve.  Excerpt:

Anyhow, even as a baby I seemed to prefer “boy” things.  I was rough, tough, and daring.  My parents had to cut my curly hair short because I would twist it into knots and refused to let my parents brush it.  I once managed to make my way onto the second story roof, and was gleefully running around, as my parents had simultaneous panic-attacks.  My toys of choice were sticks, sling-shots, bows & arrows, guns, mud, motorcycles, and monsters.  When my sister and I picked out “My Little Ponies” I chose a blue one, and promptly cut all of that lustrous long hair off as short as possible.  My barbie also got the chop.

If ever a "girl" seemed to a "boy" it was Lindsay.  But there is more to the story...

"PERSONAL PERCEPTIONS" VS. REALITY

 

Michael Brown writes:  This is not fiction! It's the real story of a man who identified as a woman but who now identifies as a female dragon -- and has a big Facebook following.