All: What would it take for everyone to be friends again?

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[–][deleted] 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

I really like your style! It's really good you can still engage in spite of the bigger, repugnant picture that's been created and shattered any illusions that trans people are benign or harmless--but it sounds like maybe it was less of a shock to you than to many others since you didn't necessarily see trans people that way, if I understand you correctly. That would track with the philosophy that you can't be too disappointed if you don't get your hopes up, which I honestly kind of love. Is that one of yours? I'm sorry about what happened with your family member, though, that's really sad. Hopefully things are much better now.

Thank you for sharing your insight and thoughts on this, I really appreciate it!

[–][deleted] 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Well, just speaking for myself here, I've been around, travelled, met and worked with a lot of people from different cultures and continents . . . my life experience takeaway is that people are people -- many are good, many are sane, some not so much. I wouldn't say I don't get my hopes up so much as having know and interacted with so many different people irl, I get the sense that some are trying to cope as best they can, some are addicted to self-righteousness (any flavor), some are extremely impressionable, some are intent on causing damage, and some are master manipulators. I don't think the TRA abuses would have gotten anywhere near where they are sans social media, because real-life humaning is a very different category of effort. But, yeah, I did sense "a disturbance in the Force" early on with TRA activity as practiced and distinctly felt like it was going to lead nowhere good, for anyone. I also recognized the seeds of postmodern sociology in it, as I've tangled with that bullshit numerous times in academia. It was a feeling like the pot of petunias in Hitchhiker's Guide -- "Oh no, not again.".

[–][deleted] 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Petunia pots just can't catch breaks! 😁 You're like a cursed psychic, doomed to watch the future you intuited come to life. The horror.

One of the best things to ever happen to me was moving away from my rural, childhood home and starting to discover a big world full of different kinds of people who can look and sound and act so different, but still share all of the same core things that make all of us human. It makes total sense that travelling so much and meeting so many different kinds of people would temper expectations and allay prejudices. And this:

I don't think the TRA abuses would have gotten anywhere near where they are sans social media, because real-life humaning is a very different category of effort

is so true. I would bet money it wouldn't have. Leave it to emerging internet mob mentality to reveal how much/little we've progressed 😩

[–][deleted] 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Right? Cassandra on the walls of Troy. With petunias. 🐋🌀💐

A more serious afterthought -- there's a distinct amount of overt mental health dysfunction coming from TRA circles (I know you know this, and have sadly experienced the predatory part of it in advocacy groups). I don't mean GD, or anger or exasperation or righteousness. I mean very true-to-type Borderline and other Personality Disorder behaviors. It follows consistent and obvious trajectories, and to be blunt, nobody is required to engage with BPD acting-out or related types of manipulation. It also alienates, as people wise up to the dynamics and disengage.

So until BPD etc. patients start taking ownership of their mental health status apart from GD, and begin to manage their interactions better, there will be even less empathy on offer.

(clarity edit)

[–][deleted] 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

This is such a great point. It's actually made me think a lot about the different people I've met and interacted with in that community, there are some of the meanest, scariest people who belong to that. Definitely beyond 'just' depressed and anxious, these are people I've seen go to prison. There is a particular person I knew who was the embodiment of this dysfunction and destruction.

You actually really got me thinking about this, I sort of forgot about some of these specific people. Definite inspiration for my next video topic, I hope you don't mind! When I can think of a better way to word this, I want to start a topic on this, too, unless you want to! Really good food for thought, Tentacles, thank you! 😀

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Cool! I don't mind at all. 🐙