Is The Transgender Issue, The Latest In The Troubling Wave Of Political Correctness?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3520225/Call-old-fashioned-tend-think-people-penises-men-Author-Ian-McEwan-wades-transgender-row-warning-troubling-wave-political-correctness.html

[Old_Geezer]

bigot ˈbɪɡət/ noun plural noun: bigots
a person who is intolerant towards those holding different opinions.

So is anyone here intolerant of others holding different opinions, whether they're right or wrong, or was that simply an general insult to those who don't agree with you ?

[jim360]

It's not a case of excluding body parts (or, perhaps, chromosomes) from defining who you are exactly, it's a case of excluding them as the principal, or indeed for some people the only, means of characterising the self.

[Peter Pedant]

Ian McEwan is entitled to his own opinion

well done Jim

my fave legal case on this is Corbett v Corbett - the April Ashley case
which is here
http://www.pfc.org.uk/caselaw/Corbett%20v%20Corbett.pdf

The judge Ormerod was also a doctor ( MB BS )

[Togo]

As far as I can see from the link provided and other recent reports of a similar kind, no one is denying the right of people with transgender issues the right or opportunity to dress or act as they wish. It appears to be more a comment on the proclivity of such people, who of course consider it to be the single if not the major issue in their lives, to insist that it is everybody else's too. There appears to be an inbuilt sense of victimhood that comes with the condition, meaning that the rest of us are in some way demonised as wicked, unthinking, bigots. We are meant to be on one long guilt trip to satisfy the need for attention and recognition. The last line of the piece put it pretty succinctly.// 'There seems to be a league table of oppression, where some people fight other people to claim the title of most oppressed.'

[jim360]

I'd agree that there are some people like that, in every group. Heck, these days even some people who aren't in any sense a minority, or historically treated less than equally, sometimes see themselves as "oppressed" -- because, apparently, every other group wanting equal rights takes something away from them.

The problem comes when such people are used to characterise the majority of the movement, who don't want to claim such a title and are just interested in living their lives in peace.

[Peter Pedant]

yup Jim

identify - er rather easy here
stigmatise - very easy - this is AB boys and girls ! AOG you are needed here
and then eliminate or oppress

however there are heart warming tales of reversal
when Sir Jams [ anderton that is, bless ! ] said the chinese minority in Manch were all drug dealers and or runners,
their very well educated chinese english-educated children articulately argued they and their parents were tax payers and entitled to the protection of the police just like anyone else
( lots of shooting at that time )

and Sir Jams went back to gay-bashing ( hooray according to the average ABer ) [ and that boys and girls is why Manchester was renamed Gunchester- he ignored th problem as more pressing problems beckoned ]

[Peter Pedant]

// As far as I can see from the link provided//

I am very impressed you read the case Corbett v Corbett....
very few people....

oh you didnt did you ?
you just said you did and / or meant some other easier-to-read link

[mushroom25]

so drug dealers pay their taxes then PP? well that makes it all ok then......

[Togo]

Ta aog. Just to reiterate, who cares? Its their private choice, the word being private surely. Unless............

[jim360]

I guess it depends on what *you* mean by private, too, right? Most people just want to live their lives in peace, but transpeople have, perhaps, to be at least somewhat open about it. Hard not to be, as friends, family, colleagues etc are hardly not going to notice if you change from one gender to the other.

And then, on the other hand... well, how many television interviews with transpeople have you seen? I can guarantee that exactly 100% of them will include at least one question along the lines of "can you tell me what's inside your pants then?" As if that is a question people normally ask to anyone else.

What I'm saying is that I agree it shouldn't be nearly as big an issue as it is, but oftentimes it isn't the transperson who makes it one.

[Togo]

Gotta wonder why they would want to be on telly, 'families' rarely go public I am sure.

[jim360]

Perhaps it's overdone, but then again never underestimate the importance of seeing someone else being open and unashamed about it when you are yourself. Also, if it's someone particularly high-profile, the media are kind of going to pick up on it -- and presumably they are the ones with the most power to stop these interviews taking place, either by refusing them or (more likely) by not offering them in the first place.

[Togo]

// either by refusing them or (more likely) by not offering them in the first place. //

Oh dear jim advocates discrimination. I think I have had enough on this thread. It is useful to me, to know when best to shut up, I know.

[jim360]

I'm not sure I understand why it follows that I'm advocating discrimination. Surely the point is that everyone would rather that "Celebirity is transgender" isn't front page, roll-out the interviews across all stations news?