Skiluros

No, they are backed by the economies of the issuing countries.

Gold standard is not viable in a modern economy.

I strongly disagree (btw I am not downvoting you). Let me try and explain; I am going to go on a bit of a tangent, but it’s all relevant to our discussion.

I am from Ukraine. I have exposure to the local LGBT community and generally I try to stay informed on social and governmental attitudes to LGBT rights in Ukraine.

I interact with queer Ukrainians (not trans Ukrainians though) who don’t speak English and aren’t exposed to the arguments and polemics inherent to English-language debates on the topic at hand (they have their own interests and priorities that reflect local realities).

My argument is that the discussion around the nature of sex is irrelevant to promoting transphobia. The far right (English-language or otherwise) will find something else to latch on to. I would even go as far as saying that the polemics of transphobia, in say the US, are largely defined by the propaganda strategies used by local oligarchs to maintain their economic power and enable corruption. On a certain level, the only reason why the American far right is even involved in transphobia, is because they are exposed to transphobic propaganda polemics pushed by local criminal/oligarch groupings. This is not unique to the US.

I would also argue that many in the Ukrainian LGBT community are more likely to agree with my interpretation than what you are arguing for (keep in mind that discussions around the extent to which sex is binary is not something that Ukrainian homophobes/transphobes engage in). Economic issues, the role of corruption, russian imperialism are far more important for the local LGBT community in shaping their worldview.

Now while I have exposure to the Ukrainian LGBT community, I don’t have any trans friends, so I am less confident about making statements regarding the attitudes of the Ukrainian trans community.

That being said, how do you know that Ukrainian trans folks (e.g. people who don’t speak English) completely agree with your interpretation on the interplay of “sex discussions” and transphobia?

Forget Ukraine, what about say Pakistan or India or Uzbekistan?

You claim that I want “purity of ideas” and an easy and neat framework. I could argue the same for you!

You are welcome to disagree with me and say I am wrong in my understanding of the binary nature of sex. It is what is. I am just trying to show you that my worldview has a level of nuance and it’s not a mere matter of wanting “neat solutions” while ignoring the weaponization of this discussion by the English-speaking far right.

No worries, we are all just taking part in an online discussion. Don’t think the notion of wasting time is relevant.

I am arguing that sex is binary. That there are edge cases, but these exceptions largely prove the rule.

The use of universal should have been “close to universal” or “very close to universal”

Beyond fungi, there are many other examples as well, single strand DNA life and so on.

What’s this got to do with anything? What element of what I wrote in this thread makes you believe I didn’t know this?

I will add that what you reference actually confirms that the binary sex model is a universal element of life as we know it.

The good thing from all of this is that non-Americans will start to take a more mature and sober view of American society. No offense to sane Americans, it’s not only Trump, he is merely a symptom of broader social problems and an inability to tackle corruption and the cultural influence of oligarchs on the American psyche.

P.S. I am not American, but I have lived there and have close friends who live there.

Let me take a step back for a second.

We are not discussing the strategies used by the far right to demonize trans folk (or anyone else). We are discussing something completely different that has no bearing on the strategies used by the far right. What will me moving away from what you call “my ideal” change in this world?

Let’s say we have some deus ex machina method to close the discussion around the nature of sex and make everyone believe that sex is a spectrum.

Do you really think this will magically get rid of transphobia? I would even go as far as saying a lot of the people who claim to be concerned about “trans issues” don’t actually care about them and they are simply being led by oligarch propaganda. And oligarch propaganda will leverage anything that they think will have an impact.

So how will me rejecting my understanding of genetic bio-chemical reproduction (as is proven by hundreds of millions of years of life on earth and the a reproductive framework that span millions of species) change anything?

Do you see what I am getting at?

I strongly disagree. I am only happy for people to be the best version of themselves and to feel comfortable in their skin.

Changes in legal or morphological sex is not relevant. This is not what we are discussing.

I already mentioned that there are edge cases. Edge cases do not discredit foundational frameworks that define reality.

The bio-chemistry of terrestrial life is built upon a binary sex framework. This has been true for hundreds of millions of years. There is no such things as a triple helix or quadruple helix in terms of reproduction. Even trees and plants have a binary sex.

You claim that this is something I want to be true. I would argue the same (on a vice versa basis) for you and that you’re framing the discussion using irrelevant examples (how is a morphological change in sex even relevant to what we are discussing).

It’s far closer to a binary distribution than a bi-modal distribution. You can be pedantic, but that’s not a real arguement. I admitted there are edge cases.

This is not tied to pure outcomes and is derived from actual earth bio-chemistry.

There is no triple helix or quadruple helix as a foundational system of genetic bio-chemical reproduction.

When you flip a coin, there is a chance that it will land on the side, yet we still use a coin flip for a 50:50 probability scenario because it is close enough.

With all due respect, sex is not a spectrum.

It’s a clearly a binary. Yes, there are many exceptions and edge cases, but they are all based around a universal binary biological structure.

You don’t have say three distinct sexes required for reproduction outside of sci-fi. It is a binary with some edge cases and variations in how exactly the two parts of the binary interact.

Reminds me of the russians.

They should have done this in 2008 when the russians invaded Georgia.

Instead Merkel kept promoting and enabling russian genocidal imperialism.

This is a damning result for Israeli society.

I have minimal knowledge of sociological research in Israel/Palestine, but if this result is an accurate representation of the views of Israeli Jews, then we can with confidence say that an overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews support genocidal colonialism.

As someone who has lived in the US earlier in my life, it was a bit of a cultural shock to hear how much Americans engage in repetition of what I call “freedom polemics” and references to the constitution and so on.

My initial reaction almost mildly combative, I did not find the locals’ commitment to freedom or alleged understanding of constitutional governance to be convincing. There was an element of farce around the whole thing and it got on my nerves.

It was clear that Americans weren’t actually committed to freedom or had any understanding of the complexities, nuances and painful, scary choices that are inherent to acting on your belief in human freedoms.

I very quickly learned to tune out the everpresent “freedom polemics” mini-rants and just go with the flow. When you are living in (or even visiting) a new country, you need leave your expectations behind to appreciate the good things about a given region/country.

Mind you, I don’t think it’s fair to expect some sort of super-human commitment from Americans to fight for freedom, we are all human with both strengths and flaws. That being said, people in other countries do not regularly go on mini rants about how they believe in freedom (even those that actually make massive sacrifices and put themselves at risk because of their beliefs in fundamental human freedoms).

and don’t get me started back in the days when every fandom had a dozen sites which all hated each other for vague and extremely personal reasons.

Oh man, this brings me back.

Remember the time in the late 90s and early 2000s when even a niche topics had like 3-4 large community sites with active forums. More popular topics could easily have like 10-20 communities.

And there was a lot of drama both within and between communities.

It’s kind sad that we lost this, although lemmy is a solid modern alternative, just needs much more users. Enough users for even niche topics to have multiple active communities with their own spin/focus on a given topics.

On the plus side, I am glad I got to experience the early pre-corporate internet. It was good times.

If there are no guarantees around security, there is no point in signing a deal with the Americans.

Then of course there is the issue that the US cannot be trusted in principle…

I lived in russia for many years (as a minor), while I speak fluent russian and have an understanding of local culture, I and my family (everyone speaks russian) constantly got harassed by security goons, including some almost comical situations where their reflexive racism almost made the outcomes worse for the cops/security. There was also some really mean-spirited stuff; a completely wasted cop aggressively harassing me on a major street without any reason at all other than me walking by, I was in my pre-teens, it got to the point where his colleague had to drag him away and tell me to leave.

But it seems that the Americans (no disrespect to sane Americans) have decided to enter in a competition with the russians. Week long interment without any real reason? This is insane.

The funny thing is that I’ve also lived in the US and travelled there a lot when I moved to Canada; while there was a lot of what I call “cowboy roleplay”, it never got this bad.

This is some super fucked up shit.

Americans, you’ll need make sacrifices and deal with very difficult and scary choices if you want to deal with this and everything else that is happening in your country. Freedom isn’t a mere polemic.

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The US is such a corrupt country. This was basically a kangaroo court, but with typical American-style pomp and self-absorption.

I wouldn’t call it buyer’s remorse.

Let me share a hot take based on my experience of living in the US, Ukraine and Russia (and closely following politics).

There are two factors that are likely driving Roberts’ behaviour:

1. They need an alibi. They need something that can differentiate them from the current oligarch regime in the US. While the US is a pretty conformist country (not saying the most conformist there is, but far more conformist than the popularity of recital of freedom polemics would suggest), you always have the possibility of black swan type events. One example would be Trump and his close associates being taken down in a forceful and public manner. The judicial wing of the oligarchic regime wants a failsafe, something that would allow them to say “we are not oligarch shills, we were just following a conservative judicial philosophy, it is not our fault that it was exploited by bad actors!” They are smart enough to know that if black swan type events do happen, they often take a life of their own and all bets are off. They want an exit strategy.
2. Judicial independence. I don’t mean this in the American sense of the term. I am talking about different power centres within an oligarchic regime. Let’s take russia for example. Even though it’s a highly centralized regime, it still has different power centres. The russian central bank has a modicum of independence. Different cliques in the power structures (and there are many cliques) have their own agenda and capabilities. Regional warlords (Kadyrov being the most well know, but he is not the only one) do have some manner of leverage in the system. The oligarchs, while being banned from politics, do have freedom in how they run their businesses. The one notable example without any leverage is the russian judicial system. They are little more than rubber stamp goons with no independent power. Roberts does not want to turn into Judge Ivan of Govnogorsk. He needs to show the other power centres in America’s oligarch regime that cooperation has a price and that other thugs need to show him respect.