Apologies in advance for the wall of text, but I found this video quite engaging and wanted to get some thoughts out. If you find them useful/interesting, great. If not, good day and god bless. The point of language is to transmit useful information. From one person to another. If I say to you "Pick up the apples from the table and put them in the basket." you know (and with context) exactly what I am asking you to do. "Pick up" means "Use your hands to grasp". "The apples" refers to the round, red fruit. "The table" refers to the flat object with four legs that is used to keep objects at roughly waist height. We include the word "From" to imply that I'm requesting you to take something away from the table. etc etc etc etc etc. I don't need to further explain the concept, you get the idea. Every word has a meaning. If I add the word "Please" at the start, it's a way of letting you know that what I'm saying isn't a hostile demand from a superior, but a friendly request from an equal. If I use the word "Thankyou" at the end, it's a way of letting you know that I haven't ignored the service that you've done me, and that I value your labour. These are courtesies, the meaning they add is secondary but still important. Now. What in the hell do neo-pronouns do? What meaningful information are they transmitting? Are they courtesies? If they are, what is the meaning of these courtesies? From everything I've been able to gather, there are two schools of thought: 1) That they are transmitting information. Namely, they seek to identify someone as "not male or female". 2) That they are courtesies. Namely, it's a way of reassuring the neo-pronoun user that the other person shares their gender paradigm. On the first... why? The vast majority of people do not conceive of there being any other options other than male or female. The information the neo-pronoun-user is attempting to transmit... cannot be received. It gets received as noise. It creates conflict. The insistence on using these terms, despite all protestation and discord is, at first, baffling. So I spoke with these neo-pronoun-user, lots of them, and the common theme is that the confusion is a feature, not a bug. Many neo-pronoun-users see this as "An opportunity to educated the ignorant". I would instead describe it as "A bludgeon to berate the unbelievers." but they seemed determined. On the second... also why? Why the need for constant validation? The people I spoke to seem genuinely anxious about it all. The need to be constantly reassured that one is surrounded by folks on the same team seems... pathological. Serious anxiety disorder level stuff. My suspicion is that the never-ending doom-scroll of "Gender Influencers" have... genuinely influenced them. And not in a healthy way. As for the "Geekiness" of it all. I agree. I can definitely see that. The same Harry Potter nerds who were autistically obsessing over whether they were a Hufflepuff or a Griffindor ended up experimenting with all of this gender nonsense. There is some definite overlap. And I don't use the term "autistic" flippantly. I play video games. That's my thing. Huge gamer. This might get a little into the weeds, and I don't know if you're at all familiar with video games, but in video games there are these things called mods. It's short for "Modifications". They're little add-ons that fans of the game make that change the game in some way. In literature you'd call it fan-fiction. Picture fan-fiction, but the fan-fiction gets slotted into the parent book. Anyway, modding (as with fan-fiction) was always something of a... autistic, obsessive... sort of realm. You had to be 1) Really into video games, 2) Really into a *particular* video game and 3) Be able to code. That meant... lots of people with autism. And that's fine, they did some really great work. Good people. But autistic. Over the last decade I've noticed a disturbing change in the modding scene... and it's gender/sexuality. Before, the mods added stuff that was related to the game. Shooter games got more guns, more places to shoot the guns, more people to shoot the guns at etc etc Racing games got more cars, more racetracks etc etc, you get the idea. Occasionally, as a goof, you'd get a mod like the one from Tomb Raider that made Lara Croft naked, or whatever. But that stuff was fairly rare. That all changed in the last decade. Over the last ten years there has been an explosion of mods that are, well, basically just degeneracy. The female characters get penises. The male characters get breasts. Every character becomes "romance-able". An endless supply of BDSM clothes to dress the characters up in. And in true fan-fiction style... a million self-insert characters that all share a common theme: Gender dysphoria. Some games are hit by this trend more than others, but it's a very broad thing that's happening. And this worries me, a lot, and that's not because we haven't been getting quality mods for a decade. What I'm suspecting is that the vast majority of these "transgender" folks... are just autistic... and their characteristic autistic obsession is being channelled into this... gender nonsense. The same way it was previously channelled into Harry Potter. I genuinely fear that, in the future, we will look back at this as a time when we catastrophically misdiagnosed a generation... into self-mutilation and madness. I think we'll look back at this time with the same regret as Thalidomide and transorbital lobotomies. I worry that we are watching, in real time, an entire generation of autists be driven mad. Either that... or it's all Calhoun's rats and population sink. At which point we're... fucked no matter what.

@AINorman

22 күн бұрын

Yeah everything you said is exactly right. My hope is that these people will have the option to plug themselves into a matrix one day where they can mod away and live out their fantasies, leaving the real world with a little less traffic. Sorry to anyone who has kids like that, but I’d be fine with losing most of the people we’d lose to it. They don’t like reality’s limits, so let’s get them into a new one where they don’t ask us all to live in their autistic fantasy world with them.

@kumoric

21 күн бұрын

finally someone with some sense

@GordieGii

8 күн бұрын

Very insightful. First, to get it out of the way "2) That they are courtesies" The word is 'shibboleth': a word, pronunciation, or fashion that identifies fellow members of an in group from those of an out group. e.g. wearing white after Labor Day. It used to be a secret that only 'the people worth knowing' new about. Some might call it a 'dog whistle.' Now 1): Using they/them would be sufficient to convey one's non buy nary status. Their other main purpose is to be used as a weapon to throw debating opponents out of flow. The use of traditional pronouns to speed up communication happens at a subconscious/automatic level, just like a/an and pronouncing 'the' as thee or thuh depending on the following noun. Forcing someone to consciously think about what pronoun to use for each person one refers to is like inducing ADD in them. Here's a fun game: Try to have a meaningful conversation with someone, but you have to add the phrase 'per se' after every five letter word. Or if you don't want to add any words, say every noun with an outrageous French accent and every verb with a thick Texas drawl. (have blood pressure meds near-by.)

@scale_e

8 күн бұрын

@@GordieGii Cheers. Shibboleth is my word of the day for today. :)

Having someone say “that’s valid” after a vulnerable share did always have the opposite of the intended effect

I'm tired of these pronouns debate. Do what you want, live as you like but don't tell me how the English language should be manipulated to suit your narcissistic personality.

@AINorman

22 күн бұрын

Exactly

These people are raving narcissists

@AINorman

22 күн бұрын

Yes, who knew the slippery slope from gay marriage would look like this 😒

If a pronoun is only used for one person isn't that just name?

@AINorman

22 күн бұрын

Exactly. You get to pick your name, but you can’t then dictate special “pronouns” that you want us to use

I am not using neo-pronouns for myself (but I will try to do it in my first and 2nd language if some other person wants that out of politeness). But as a german, I have to strongly disagree that any of those neo-pronouns sounds german. They do not, really sounds like my 1st language. Yes they use more consonants like our language, but they reminds me more of the greek alphabet (etha, zeta, theta...) than anything remotely german. 😆

@AINorman

21 күн бұрын

Hahaha okay, sorry to insult German that way

he/him she/her they/them, its all we need!

YHWH really was the first xenopronoun lol, nice catch. Though to be fair, God probably does have the best claim to an unknowable and inexpressible gender.

@AINorman

23 күн бұрын

Truly, God’s “gender” is unsayable

They may cry about discrimination and demanding people to use their own pronouns, but the language will naturally drop everything it doesn't need. I'm guessing there is some faintest chance that they/them might stay among 3rd person singular pronouns, but not the rest of them xyr, zir, purr. The concept of neopronouns is excessive at its core Those lefties don't know how languages work and what pronouns are used for. It's basically generalizing. They are overcomplicating the language and other people's lives by technically inventing new names for themselves.

When speaking of an individual he, she or it. Anything else such as plurals is not valid in the English language and most other languages too. I suppose if someone had a multiple personality disorder, they might be appropriate lol.

If everybody gets to make up their own pronouns, they aren't pronouns; they're nicknames. I said this a few weeks ago. Thanks for affirming my identity as someone who isn't completely insane.

@AINorman

9 күн бұрын

That's what I'm here for, sanity affirmation therapy.

"All genders" like what does that mean?😰

@AINorman

22 күн бұрын

I think usually people just mean “the range of personal expression.” Since a lot of personality either is directly related to sex or has become correlated with sex (in different ways in different cultures), there are lots of what have come to be thoughts of as “gendered” traits and stereotypes. Obviously, males and females vary greatly when it comes to all these traits. Some people want their pronouns to match that, but then clearly that would mean infinite pronouns. This is why many of us think it’s best to just do he’s and she’s and then be however you want to be in the world. Show people she’s and he’s can be just about every which way.

I learned pronouns in the 80s. Don't need a refresher.

@AINorman

22 күн бұрын

You’re missing out on some autistic hilarity, but suit yourself!

I tell you what, why don't we use the English language as it's meant to be regarding gender. She/ her or He/him. Simple isnt it !!

@AINorman

22 күн бұрын

Certainly works for me 🤷🏻

Pronouns are like names. I call people what they prefer. If some says Jeff is my name and I said no it's not or said it's actually John, that's weird and disrespectful. It's not hard to call someone any pronoun they prefer to be called

@AINorman

21 күн бұрын

Even if their pronouns are 3 syllables?

@user-we1ri

21 күн бұрын

@ArielleNorman yea 3 syllable words are still easy. Do you have a problem with pronunciation (pro·nun·ci·a·tion)?

@zitronekoma30

21 күн бұрын

look this isn't going to happen. It just won't. I'm pretty far left politically but this is really out there. *Most* people are not willing to bother with learning three extra names for every person they meet, especially when a respectful neutral pronoun like "they" exists. The only people who will go with this are those who are as incredibly left on social issues like you. This is where the problem lies, most of the western world is experiencing incredible pressure from the right, look at the European Parliament elections that just happened, the rightmost parties of a lot of countries have either the most or second to the most votes, if you know anything about the EU you know this is unprecedented and concerning. Of course the US is no better, nobody would be surprised if Trump won and the republicans are far, *far* from the center, this whole neopronoun system is too out there even for most center leaning democrats, you think this is ever going to happen in a country that can vote Trump into office? The answer is no.

@user-we1ri

21 күн бұрын

@zitronekoma30 saying they for everyone is easier in the same way calling people by features instead of their name is easier. Like hey blue shirt, glasses, mustache. Its just not hard learning someone's name and saying it. Maybe for you but I don't have that issue. If you're pretty far left politically maybe you understand a big reason Trump one is there is a small minority voting and Biden is pretty far right with a lot of issues. Like he's not saying let's build a wall but he does nothing to help those trapped in camps at the border. When he ignores this it gets worse. He's responsible in part for the crime bill. He sends a ridiculous amount of money abroad to fund an unjust war

@user-we1ri

21 күн бұрын

@zitronekoma30 this issue is like one of the only things biden is really left on. I want to vote for a guy that isnt racist and won't send a bunch of money towards harming innocent people. That's not an option in America because there are 2 options, and Biden is literally running on being marginally better than trump. It's pretty impossible to really motivate people on lesser evil voting

Amen!

Valid

Sorry but who cares? People using neopronouns has zero effect on me. It doesn't hurt anyone and it makes some people in the world happy, so why should I care at all? Imagine being such a stick in the mud that you film a 20 minute video about this

I am not required to participate in your delusion.

@AINorman

22 күн бұрын

Tell me you didn’t watch the video without telling me you didn’t watch the video 🙄

or just call bob a 'he' and not give a damn about his munchkin feelings :D