Guest post: A burning plane heading for Oz
Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Their stories have upended his assumptions.
…and any attention they got reinforced to the public the false impression that transgender people were incapable of making sound decisions about their treatment.
Guess what? The impression is not a false one. Deciding to pursue a course of medical treatment that promises something it’s not possible to do is the definition of a decision that is unsound. The falseness is in the claims of those offering such “treatments,” not in the correct perception that a course leading to sterilization and lifelong medical experimentation on your own flesh is not a good or healthy one.
It’s like getting on board a burning plane that is supposed to take you to Oz. You’ll never reach the stated destination, and the trip itself is dangerous and terrifying. Sure you post brave, smiling selfies while you’re in the air, but you’re still going to fall out of the sky before you get to where you’d hoped to because Oz isn’t real; and nobody can take you there. Anyone who says they can is lying, and cannot truly have your best interests at heart.
You left reality when you climbed aboard and took your seat, but nobody on the flight is going to tell you otherwise. There is no safety demonstration from the cabin crew because this plane (though on fire) is never going to crash. Should you have second thoughts, and try to make your way to the emergency exit (or look for a parachute), you will be subjected to threats and abuse, and told that your doubts and fear are going to kill everyone on the flight, and that you should shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down.
Jesusonapogostick Bruce. There you go, erasing my identity, denying my lived experience, and wanting to see me dead. Dead, I tell you.
OZ IS REAL. I have lived here for 59 of my 70 years! You don’t get to define my existence.
Want proof?
Here it is.
Merry Xmas to all.
Rev. Brindley;
My apologies. I shall strive to do better in the future when imputing non-existence to a fictional land which happens to share the coloquialized name of an actual place inhabited by actual people. My intended place of unreality was meant to be the purely literary one, and not geographical. No genocidal or tectonically disastrous result was intended, or should be construed, from the above post. No erasure or denial was intended, but I take full responsibility for my carelessness and honestly and deeply regret the actual harm I have caused to you, your loved ones, friends and neighbours, along with hardworking members of the Lollipop Guild.
On a side note, I’m not sure that Frank L. Baum loaded his Oz with quite as many poisonous creatures as natural selection has managed to do with your Oz. (Aus?). Pretty badass when your continent outstrips a land that has wicked witches and flying monkeys. VALIDATE US OR ELSE!
Thank you for your apology, Bruce. I accept it in the spirit in which it is made.
It is true, of course, that our Magical Land Of Oz is populated with creatures, who, if they don’t want to eat you, do want to kill you.
That’s why our National Motto is If it moves, kill it. If it doesn’t move, kill it before it gets a chance to move.
“along with hardworking members of the Lollipop Guild.”
Extra marks.