What are your preferred adverbs?
But who says that’s even a thing?
A controversial policy change that bars teachers from using a student’s preferred pronouns without parental permission will soon go into effect in New Brunswick despite pushback. It has caused political turmoil in the Canadian province.
See the way that’s worded suggests that “preferred pronouns” are the normal everyday established form of pronouns when in fact they’re the invention of crazed magic-gender ideologues. There’s no such thing as “preferred pronouns.” That idea is a new and stupid invention. Teachers shouldn’t be paying any attention to them at all, and neither should students.
In May, under Premier Blaine Higgs, New Brunswick announced that a policy to create a safe space for students who identify as LGBT in schools will be amended, with the changes coming into effect on 1 July.
The amendments to the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity policy – also known as Policy 713 – removed explicit mention of allowing students to participate in extracurricular activities, including sports teams, that reflect their gender identity.
Notice how careful the BBC is to be unclear. The issue there is boys ruining girls’ sports by invading them, but the Beeb pretends it’s just a vague neutral “sports teams” versus “gender identity.” If they were clear about it, most people would think “Well obviously boys shouldn’t be ruining girls’ sports.”
More controversially, the changes – as explained by the province’s education minister Bill Hogan – also forbid teachers
from using[to use] the chosen preferred names and pronouns of a student under the age of 16 without the consent of their parents.
Again, the casual normalization of the absurd. There’s no such thing as “chosen pronouns” because we don’t get to tell other people what pronouns they can use. We get to tell people what name to call us, because that relates just to us. We don’t get to tell people what verbs or conjunctions or pronouns to use because that’s way too broad.
Even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau weighed in, igniting a debate on the issue at the federal level.
At a Pride event earlier in June, Mr Trudeau said that “trans kids in New Brunswick are being told they don’t have the right to be their true self, that they need to ask permission”.
But it isn’t their “true self.” That’s the whole point. It’s their imaginary, fantasy, pretend self. People are allowed to have such fantasies – I even think they’re a good thing in a lot of ways, especially for kids. Use your imagination by all means. Share your fantasies in like-minded groups if you want to. But demanding that the whole world join in is demanding way too much.
A common fantasy for kids is to identify with a fictional character they admire; superheroes are a common choice for this. Every once in awhile, a kid will latch onto a character of the opposite sex–a little girl who declares herself to be Superman, or a young boy who wants to be Wonder Woman.
In the past, these kids would be bullied and mocked; little Suzie would’ve been told she had to be SuperGIRL (the all-caps should be spoken with sneering emphasis that can only be achieved by a schoolyard taunt or a Trump supporter), and little Bobbie would’ve just been called ‘queer’ (back in the days when a common playground game was ‘Smear the Queer’–being queer was NOT a good thing back then).
Nowadays, of course, Suzie would be told she must be a little boy, and Bobby would be told he’s a little girl. Straight to the gender-affirming care clinic with you, kiddo!
Imagine a world where, instead, we actually listened to the kids, and asked what it was they liked about that particular hero that they found so inspiring, and then encouraged them to continue to try to live up to that role model, because it’s totally cool to find your heroes where it matters to you, and to ignore gender roles while doing it.
Freemage, that is on-target. My son liked WW for her bullets-and-bracelets maneuver. Not a little girl, just admiration of a snazzy technique.
My niece was told she couldn’t be a ninja turtle for Halloween because they were boys. My sister made her the costume and essentially dared anyone to challenge her. No one challenged my sister. She was dangerous.
How often do we get to see a conspiracy or coup play out in real time with so much of its inner workings and machinations so clear and obvious? This makes the January 6 putsch attempt look like amateur hour.
It’s all one big interconnected campaign. The drive to normalize “preferred pronouns” for “trans kids” helps to reinforce AGP demands for access women’s single-sex spaces, facilities, and opportunities on the strength of “TWAW.” “protect Trans Kids” is a lot catchier and more likely to gain sympathy and traction amongst the unaware and gullible than “Help White, middle-class, male fetishists get their jollies violating women’s boundaries,” but it’s all of a piece.
It’s more subtle—thus more dangerous — than this. Susie and Bobbie aren’t told anything about themselves. They’re just told about how some kids are trans kids. It’s PERFECTLY OKAY for a girl to pretend to be Superman or a boy to pretend to be Wonder Woman. That DOESN’T mean you’re transgender AT ALL! But … here’s a story about a little girl assigned a boy at birth who tried to express their true selves by wearing a skirt, and a little boy assigned a girl at birth who wouldn’t wear a skirt. It’s PERFECTLY OKAY to be transgender. We even celebrate it, because it’s so brave to announce your true self to the world. Let’s all give them our support!
So the little superheroes Susie and Bobby TELL people they’re trans. They insist on it, in fact. They persist even when people tell them it’s okay for a girl to be Superman or a boy to be Wonder Woman. Obviously, NOBODY is “transing” kids. It’s coming completely from the brave little children themselves.
Sastra, that is absolutely right. And no one was signaling to Hans; the horse just knew his numbers.
ChatGPT, an idiot savant responding with synthetic phatic speech, is like Clever Hans.
That’s … That’s actually a really good analogy.