Yuval Harari is right about useless classes. They're being graduated at Universities across the U.S. and the nation is suffering consequences that are an integral part of its controlled demolition.
This terrifies me. If any Good Citizens could offer me advice regarding my daughter who would like to go to college in two years, I’m open to hearing it. We live in a blue, east coast state and I’m not optimistic about the state colleges. But not sending her to college isn’t really an option as she’d feel like she’s being punished and I want her to be able to support herself comfortably with or without a husband. And the vocations that pay well are not quite the right fit for girly girls. Thanks! (p.s. we’re not rich so money is an object. )
Great comment and an important part that's missing from this piece - what to do? One of the authors of the books I recommend in the middle of this piece - Prof. Jonathan Haidt - started the heterodox academy for schools that declare a commitment to being the opposite of Portland State University - open to all ideas, views, beliefs, opinions etc. Those two books would also be good pre-college study for your daughter so she can identify these students when she encounters them, which she likely will at any university with the exception of a few private Christian institutions.
Thank you, GC! I’ve read the book and I also utilize the FIRE website that rates colleges on free speech, but somehow I missed Heterodox Academy and this list. Which private Christian universities are you referring to?
Then your goal is to get her strong enough for the challenge. Otherwise, you could ose her to the SJW's forever.
Which is exactly what the SJW's want.
I would bet that Hillsdale, fully aware of the challenges, could make some excellent suggestions. Additionally, Hillsdale has an excellent off-campus/non-accredited learning system available to all.
As far back as Socrates it has been recognized that stress puts people in a frame of mind that is open to change. Military boot camp uses this psychological trick to recreate recruits in the image they want. Part of the reason college is so good at reprogramming people is that for many kids going away to college is a stressful event, so they are put in that frame of mind which makes them more susceptible to reprogramming.
So I would recommend having your daughter do things that would make it so that moving away to college would not be a stressful event. Camping, perhaps a trip with friends where they stay at a hotel for a few nights, living with other relatives for a week, etc.. Things that are similar to moving away from home so as to acclimate her to such an experience, so that freshmen year doesn't induce stress in her.
"not sending her to college isn’t really an option as she’d feel like she’s being punished"
I can't imagine a punishment worse than GOING to college in this day and age!
(Okay, upon further thought, there are worse punishments: work, high school, middle school, elementary school, toddlerhood, infancy, and birth. But college is a close No. 8!)
I’m a millennial. My dad was a mechanic at the mines, I made more than his hourly rate when I started babysitting in high school. I went to college on a mostly paid scholarship. I studied premed, did postgrad work abroad, got accepted to med school, and ended up not going at the last minute. I’m in finance now. I didn’t take any business classes in college, and none of the securities licenses I have required a college degree. I scouted for an associate for a long time and met with a lot of people with a lot of degrees. The girl I finally hired hadn’t graduated college but got her ged. She’s on track to get her first securities license this year - no additional schooling, just competent and curious at her job. If I could offer a young girl advice, it would be: unless you know what you want to do with your life, don’t go to college yet - get a job, save money, and when it gets boring, think about what would be interesting and see if you can get a job or an unpaid internship exploring that. And if you know what you want to do with your life but it’s not stem/doctor/lawyer/something that requires a science degree, think very hard about racking up debt versus racking up real world experience in a lower paying job in that field because your competence will matter far more than your degree, and also because I can’t even imagine choosing to interview anyone for a job if they’re recently out of college regardless of what college or university it is.
The other advice I would offer a young girl is: if your female role models were anything like mine, and I hope they were, they really wanted the best for you and did their best to make sure you knew you deserved the same equal opportunity as everyone else. My role models hadn’t had that equal opportunity as a given, and I appreciated that they worked hard to make my experience different from theirs. It was. But as much as I enjoy what I do, I think that in their zeal to trailblaze a new path that sometimes they forgot to include the message
that if you want to be nothing more than an incredible mother, that’s just as good and valid as any other option you choose to pursue (if not better since those genetically gifted to be mothers is only halfish of the population).
I have a son and a daughter 14 months apart who just finished fresh(person) year at two separate state schools in TN. Son’s not going back next year: thinking about doing ‘The 18” Journey “ with Jonothan and Melissa Helser. Search Cagelessbirds.
Culinary Institute of America, the tasty CIA, in Poughkeepsie, NY used to be very good return on investment, with employers waiting.
Mike Rowe has an apprenticeship program. There was someone else like Rowe, but more simply matching people with interest to people who want NON-BA or BS degreed talent. Employers know what a crock of troubles those degrees from WOKE FORESTS represent.
Unfortunately, a woman doesn't find out if she's in that "gifted halfish" until after she's committed to birthing an unconsenting new soul into this inferno called "life".
As ill-advised and as ruinous as college is for most, it doesn't compare to the permanent calamity of having a child one is unfit or unprepared to raise, both emotionally and financially. A blunder on that account will harm the young mother, of course....but more importantly, it dooms an innocent child into a permanent and inescapable nightmare.
Hi Tess. Thanks for all the great advice. It seems the subjects she likes most are those in which she likes the teacher. Last year it was Latin and biology. This year it was Latin and business. She would like to be a doctor or PA but the plan is to start with nursing rather than premed because she’s not a straight A honor student, more A-B in a mix of advanced and honors, and unfortunately I don’t think her SAT scores will be high enough for med school.
She enjoys mock trial club, wrote for the school newspaper last year but there’s no print version so nobody reads it, loves to play volleyball but wasn’t good enough to make our highly competitive team, is not musical but has high social intelligence and loves being where there’s lots of people. She enjoys baking, working, and shopping. When she was younger, she followed the stocks of some favorite companies, including Ulta, and made some money when her aunt gave her half of the gain she made by buying Ulta on her advice (granted pretty much every stock was increasing in those days).
I’m also the daughter of a mechanic, and of a stay at home mom. Neither attended college. I had the smarts for it, but they didn’t have the understanding of how to guide me there and I have always been lazy unfortunately.
I myself have been a stay at home mom mostly, though by now I have become a pretty integral part of my husband’s landscape architecture practice. I feel I missed out by not going to college and know I could not have supported myself and my children had we ever divorced. I don’t want her to be in the same position. And when she’s asked at a party what she does for a living, I want her to have a respectable answer, even if it’s: I’m a stay at home mom, but I used to (fill in the blank).
I think she’d make a great recruiter of some type but neither of us has any real exposure to someone in that role.
I’m planning to have her take the meyers Briggs and the strong assessment to help us narrow down the career options.
If she’s interested in tech or coding at all, I think there are a few programs like this that prioritize students getting a job when they graduate. I realize part of why she wants is the full college experience and this would not fit that bill, but for affordability and function might be worth looking into.
I got my basic EMT license the summer after I graduated high school - this would be a great way for her to get her foot in the door in the medical field so she could decide if it’s something she really wants to pursue without the full college commitment up front. For me it was a 9 credit hour course that I did at the local community college - the ambulance ride alongs and hospital ER shifts will help her figure out fairly quickly whether or not it’s something she wants to pursue and, if so, give her a launchpad to get in the door and the skills for a related part-time job too.
It's truly a conundrum. If she stays at home and stays in conversation with you, you could off-set the indoctrination. Maybe. I used to watch TV with my kids and comment on the subtext, and how they were being given subliminal messages. It really helped keep them alert to programming. But they were kids, and they tend to stop listening to parents around 15-17, so not sure that would work in college. Paying for indoctrination is an insult of course, just like paying for our phones to spy on us. I don't know. But a college degree is really not necessary to supporting oneself - that is going away. Maybe if she has any ideas for her own business, you could support that instead of paying tuition? My bet is that's where we're going. Old model, dying.
Thanks, Kathleen. I’ve been trying to think of some kind of financial incentive to at least maybe encourage her to commute locally, but the Covid jab requirements here are a problem, and she really would love to have the old fashioned college experience, if that exists anymore.
Historically, Commies are vicious, violent, and inhuman, and only relent in the face of superior violent force. So the one saving grace about all of these Commies we now have is that they are a bunch of whiny vegan pansies. NBD, because we have beef, pork, and all of our AR-15's. But FJBrandon reminded us that's no big deal because he has F-15's and nukes. Does he have the balls to use them?
Your Vikings are playing football at my Alma Mater, SJSU, in September. Come on down, we'll drink beer, eat BBQ, not wear masks or socially distance, and watch young men try and bludgeon each into submission, as God intended. Might as well and enjoy it now, all these pantymelts are gonna go after contact sports, soon, because, THE FEELZ!
As God intended. lol. That's an enticing offer. Especially the beer and BBQ. The pantymelts appear to already have a pretty firm grasp on the NFL head office.
Just watched the video... the result of the video: buy more 00 shot shells, hide my children. Dont let them go to college. Move to the country. Feel pity for these kids. They will have miserable lives
One part of my post-pro football life was spent smoking Maui Wowie, chasing loose womyn, drinking pub Olympia draft, and volunteer coaching a young Neil Lomax for Mouse Davis at PSU.
Yes, I am that old.
Beautiful place in the 70's, that part of the Pacific Northwest. It wasn't weird yet, but you could definitely see it heading that direction.
Nice! We were probably at the same events. Portland Beavers with a cold Henry Weinhards, Neil Lomax, then Chris Crawford. Portland was pretty great back in the day. It's very sad to drive around the city these days. They legalized all drugs, urban camping, antifa terrorists, and it's all just a magnet for the dregs of the nation. Oregon is still a beautiful state aside from the cities. Just spent some time in central oregon fly fishing. More on that and Oregon in a piece soon.
As a renegade, I chose the WFL over the NFL, and played there---including a couple of games for the Portland Storm (which is how I came to know Portland)---until the league collapsed. I had a couple of cups of coffee with the Jets in the NFL before ending up somewhere between hurt, blackballed (curse of the WFL), and rejected. I was a QB/K.
Gravitated to Portland after my playing days were finished to hang with a college teammate/roommate from Eugene. Lived in Lake Oswego, had Ron Brewer as an upstairs neighbor, hung out with some of the old original Timbers. Enjoyed Bill Walton excellence and weirdness.
Learned to fly fish, climbed Mt. Hood and St. Helens one August, escaped winter gloom in Sunriver, played in a serious "rough touch" league in the city sponsored by the "No Dogs Allowed" tavern on Capital Hwy. Disco was a thing, and my crew hit all the hot spots in our flared denim and open-collared polyester finest, on the prowl for fair heifers needing "servicing".
Portland was my transition from a life of an athlete to becoming a Normal Human again. Two years of serious fun and debauchery with no curfews, cold whirlpools, and bed checks by coaches, sort of like my version of Rumspringa.
Then I woke up one day and said, "Time to grow up", and moved back home east to finish my degree and collect a couple of Master's, thanks to a stint as a football grad assistant at a big college program.
I would not trade my "lost years" in Portland for anything.
And to show you how life is indeed circular, I have an opportunity, in my "Golden Years", to be a volunteer coach at an excellent Catholic high school close to my old Florida stomping grounds.
The graybeard coach heard I may move back to the states and asked if I could give him a hand.
I visited them in April. When I arrived on campus, obviously an old dude, I asked a small group of clean-cut biracial young men where I could find Coach Xxxyyyzzz. The respect, verbal articulation, helpful nature, and sincerity they expressed made me think all was not lost.
Might be a fun way to spend the remainder of my years, helping young men become better men, and not just on the field. I had some influential oldsters in my life as a dumb, naïve young-un', so maybe this will be my "play it forward."
I've never heard pantymelt used that way before (and urban dictionary only has the one definition - stuff that causes a girls panties to melt off). Pantywaist, now - that I'm familiar with.
Thanks for this stack. I've enjoyed this gender conversation the culture is having. I think it's really interesting. I like that there is more freedom for men and women to be and express whatever they want without social condemnation. When women first wore pants, there was a big to do about crossing that gender box.
I'm genuinely curious about what people mean when they say they're gender fluid, or some other gender. I don't hear them describe what they're feeling, what their inner state is. I imagine it's variations we all have; our inner states, feelings and sense of ourselves are dynamic and change to some extent. I have a feeling they're still using variations of masculinity and femininity as something to be, or not to be. Yes, gender identity and gender expression are cultural constructions to some extent, as well as biological (especially the effect of hormones) and natural personality variations.
With all these distinctions, they are ignoring the distinction of biological sex.
I don't understand the point of it all though. I have a feeling it, in part, has to do with the state of the world they are growing up into. There's a lot of social instability, and more recognition of real societal harms born of history. I wonder if these young folks are trying to find some stability by over- identifying with inner states, which gives them a sense of inner stability. I wonder if they are coming to terms with real historical societal harm by over-identifying with people's hurt feelings.
It's a bit of a mystery as no studies will ever examine their choices. It's probably a mix of what you say, and just the general attributes of herd behavior - belonging, acceptance, need to feel a part of some bigger movement or experience at that age no matter how misguided, confused, ungrounded and cultish.
on some level I can understand where these kids are coming from. Im a white hetersexual male. I was raised in a conservative jewish home. I am 54 years old. Im a independent medical professional with a private business. I am comfortable with myself, my gender, my appearance, my life etc. I was raised by nurturing parents in a supportive environment. I was validated emotionally. About ten years ago my younger brother and only sibling committed suicide at 39 years of age. It was a major trauma for me. I went to therapy. I had a major depressive episode. Despite my support system it was a difficult time for me.
So I can understand how these social workers are talking about trans people who feel alienated and unvalidated might feel traumatized and stigmatized. Im saying that I have understanding and compassion and tolerance for people who struggle with their self image and self esteem. I have respect for people who are different than me. I have gay people as patients. I have married gay couples who come to me together for eye exams. Some of them I've even operated on. Everyone is an INDIVIDUAL. In the end there are only people. All this other collectivist stuff and identity stuff is imaginary!
But there has to be some kind of boundaries. Even though I understand that some of these trans people or that gender fluid girl in the video might have had a difficult time in their upbringing and are very confused, that doesnt give them an excuse to require that all of the rest of us walk on eggshells because of their emotional and identity problems.
I watched this thing and Im shaking my head in disbelief over what I intuitively sense as a form of insanity on the part of these therapists but then I think about it carefully and on some level , I can understand their perspective. Maybe the fundamental disagreement is over the idea that gender is a social construct. It is not. There is objective reality. One is either genetically male or female with rare exceptions. How people choose to express their identity culturally is entirely up to them. I am not obligated to change my perception of reality to suit their whims. Their insistence that I alter my perception of reality to suit their interpretations and misunderstanding or willful neglect of basic biology is a form of violence against ME! I think thats where the indignation comes from. These people think Im committing violence or aggression by not accepting or recognizing their reality but its really the exact opposite. They are denying reality and trying to force me to accept their worldview. Now thats aggression! Does that make sense? Could you comment at some point on this. Why are these students so ...wrong... or misguided... obviously they are closed minded but why? Whats in it for them? Nothing good can come of this stuff. There is no joy or satisfaction in denying reality... Its like that guy who is swimming as a girl. Whats in it for him? Everyone knows that he is an inferior swimmer. SO he gets satisfaction from beating girls? this seems like the most pernicious form of violence against women I can imagine. In the past homosexuality was deemed a crime. Gay people were persecuted and killed. Women who dressed in mens' clothing were arrested. There is some validity to the claims of these social workers that LBTGQ groups have been historically persecuted. But does that justify that I alter my understanding of reality to suit them? I dont think so. Why not just insist that everyone is treated as the individual that they are? Why does this movement have to be so self-righteous. I know Im rambling but Im really trying to understand. ALl the other things we talk about on this thread are very straightforward to me. Medical freedom, government tyranny, corruption, cultural marxism. But this trans movement is absolutely bizarre to me. I just dont understand whats in it for these people.
"I am not obligated to change my perception of reality to suit their whims. Their insistence that I alter my perception of reality to suit their interpretations and misunderstanding or willful neglect of basic biology is a form of violence against ME!"
I'm so sorry about your younger brothers suicide. That must have been so hard.. I imagine there is a particular type of aloneness losing a sibling that way. 💜
I really love what you've said here. That's so true, their insistence on others changing their reality is aggressive, bullying, and a form of violence especially when they go after people's jobs.
I'm mostly lesbian in my 50s and I think the more extreme elements of this trans and gender identity movement snuck up on us. Since a good chunk of gay and lesbian people don't fit into traditional gender roles and expression, we can relate to that part of the trans and gender movement. No one wants trans people beat up in public restrooms, so the push for single use bathrooms 5 or 6 years ago made a lot of sense.
But then it shifted to denying and erasing biological difference with troubling consequences for women and teens.
I think there's several social and psychological currents involved in their close-mindedness. 1) knee jerk defence because the T is at the end of LGB. It's seen as part of gay acceptance. Those within or sensitive to the gay movement have trouble telling the T portion "I accept some of what you want to be a full part of society, but not all." They are confusing and conflating it with what gay people went through when they heard "I accept/ tolerate/ love you as a person, but not the expression of your sexuality, a fundamental part of you." 2) they are carrying over some "muscle" from work with systemic racism and the me too movement. People don't always recognize unconscious bias and minor prejudices until there pressured to do so. I know I was surprised at what I found when I studied this in myself. In areas of race people have pushed hard for others to look at their own internal subtle culturally conditioned biases and prejudices, because subtle views widely held negatively affects black people. The me too movement has been forceful in confronting and removing some abusive men from power, which had been needed (and sometimes there's overreach). The trans and gender ideology extremists are using the same reasoning for why muscle and force is needed for acceptance. They think they're coming up against the same type of resistance of race work and the me too movement, but it's a different resistance based in biological reality. 3) people in the trans and gender extreme movement generally have felt like outcasts. They are relatively powerless in fixing this painful situation. They gain power by joining this extreme ideology, and then use the power of this minority in distorted, aggressive, and bullying ways. Society had the power to reject them, and as part of this minority they have the power to make some members of society pay for it.
My thought on “gender fluid” is that we are really talking about “masculine and feminine” traits. This talk of gender being assigned at birth, well no, our gender is determined at conception. The male sperm has either “x” or “y” (if you think about it, all males are trans gender as we have both “x” and “y” 🤣🤣). But we all fall on a masculine to feminine
spectrum, by nature and nurture. And we all are fluid on that spectrum, by nature and nurture (the toughest guy can cry and the sweetest lady can have nerves of steel).
You can be curious but you really don't want to get these people talking about themselves. You'll be there all day; they are professional narcissists and surprisingly uncurious about, well, anything.
I loved that video. It contains about every SJW bromide known to the SJW planet. It just shows how far The Great American Experiment has fallen.
Years ago, when I'd talk about The Frankfurt School and their singular goal of ushering in global Marxism by destroying "The American Man" with Critical Theory, folks would roll their eyes and had no idea what I was factually talking about.
And here we are today.
That video is a perfect barometric gauge of the social and moral collapse of Western Culture.
Ah, so this is why the new grads at work blather on about "micro-aggressions" while proudly displaying flags and pronouns in every communication. Now I've got the amazing chart of intersectionality/pinwheel of stupidity to help me make sense of it all. Brilliant! Thanks, TGC!
Still working up the nerve for the video, though. A bracing dose of Pulp Fiction might help.
1st of all, your 22 Points, were a tremendous "visual" in words alone.
I could see it. Feel it.
Now...for the video (at present, I stopped halfway through, just to maintain my sanity. I will watch the rest, after I recuperate).
The modern man within says simply, "They're insane." Wish them a good day, turn on my heels & get myself a cheeseburger.
Now for The Ancient within me.
It is a truly peculiar thing, if one is "lucky" enough to listen to, (written transcripts alone are sometimes granted), the "dialogue" that 'may' occur b/w priest/possessing spirit, during the ritual of Exorcism. I state this, as I heard this is so. And what I've been told, is this:
Firstly, the 'voice' will change dramatically, especially when Truth is stated by the priest.
Lancing invective, is the most common retort.
However, far more sinister, IMO, and which sometimes occurs, to a novice priest, or priest who makes the deadly mistake of going-too-deep with these types of spirits, is a soaring, confusing, confounding, puzzling, contradictory, pseudo intellectualism.
If you read it only (transcript), its dryness, appears very quickly.
However, since the Rite, is most substantially A Confrontation, of the Highest Order, one's presence there, & therefore "HEARING" said dialogue is a completely different ball of wax.
It's astonishing, how, one can get pulled into its Mind-of-Madness.
Or, so I've heard.
Anywho...
Fantastic Essay.
Fantastic psychological outline.
I really enjoyed it, even with the suffering video.
As I have slowly progressed through your essay, the tenor is deepening.
Tucker speaks of this very thing. The simple destruction, the forced-confusion, of natural male assertiveness. Not the type that injures anyone, & especially woman, but the simple promotion toward creating, & interacting with the world. This is both productive & protective toward family.
Jon Rappoport speaks about painting with too broad a brush, on so many issues Human. About the denial of The Individual, for the failing substance of The Group. Group dynamics are fine & dandy, but the Individual remains sacrosanct.
This terrifies me. If any Good Citizens could offer me advice regarding my daughter who would like to go to college in two years, I’m open to hearing it. We live in a blue, east coast state and I’m not optimistic about the state colleges. But not sending her to college isn’t really an option as she’d feel like she’s being punished and I want her to be able to support herself comfortably with or without a husband. And the vocations that pay well are not quite the right fit for girly girls. Thanks! (p.s. we’re not rich so money is an object. )
Great comment and an important part that's missing from this piece - what to do? One of the authors of the books I recommend in the middle of this piece - Prof. Jonathan Haidt - started the heterodox academy for schools that declare a commitment to being the opposite of Portland State University - open to all ideas, views, beliefs, opinions etc. Those two books would also be good pre-college study for your daughter so she can identify these students when she encounters them, which she likely will at any university with the exception of a few private Christian institutions.
https://heterodoxacademy.org/library/10-colleges-where-you-wont-have-to-walk-on-eggshells/
Thank you, GC! I’ve read the book and I also utilize the FIRE website that rates colleges on free speech, but somehow I missed Heterodox Academy and this list. Which private Christian universities are you referring to?
Hillsdale College.
Definitely Hillsdale.
Thank you. I would love that but I’m not sure she’s a strong enough student to get admitted.
Then your goal is to get her strong enough for the challenge. Otherwise, you could ose her to the SJW's forever.
Which is exactly what the SJW's want.
I would bet that Hillsdale, fully aware of the challenges, could make some excellent suggestions. Additionally, Hillsdale has an excellent off-campus/non-accredited learning system available to all.
Indeed. Youth learning to work hard toward a worthy goal ... priceless.
head south... and midwest. Clemsen, Iowa state . College of the Ozarks, Hillsdale college are both totally private and take no federal money.
Thank you! I’ll check them out.
As far back as Socrates it has been recognized that stress puts people in a frame of mind that is open to change. Military boot camp uses this psychological trick to recreate recruits in the image they want. Part of the reason college is so good at reprogramming people is that for many kids going away to college is a stressful event, so they are put in that frame of mind which makes them more susceptible to reprogramming.
So I would recommend having your daughter do things that would make it so that moving away to college would not be a stressful event. Camping, perhaps a trip with friends where they stay at a hotel for a few nights, living with other relatives for a week, etc.. Things that are similar to moving away from home so as to acclimate her to such an experience, so that freshmen year doesn't induce stress in her.
Wow. That really does make sense and was not on my radar. Thank you.
"not sending her to college isn’t really an option as she’d feel like she’s being punished"
I can't imagine a punishment worse than GOING to college in this day and age!
(Okay, upon further thought, there are worse punishments: work, high school, middle school, elementary school, toddlerhood, infancy, and birth. But college is a close No. 8!)
Direct entry midwife or plumber
Thanks! She might consider midwife.
Don't send her to college!
Save the DEBT you're about to waste and convert the paper-money into a proper INVESTMENT in a good SKILLS SET.
What is she good at, what school subjects does she enjoy, and what are her hobbies or activities that she enjoys outside of school setting?
I’m a millennial. My dad was a mechanic at the mines, I made more than his hourly rate when I started babysitting in high school. I went to college on a mostly paid scholarship. I studied premed, did postgrad work abroad, got accepted to med school, and ended up not going at the last minute. I’m in finance now. I didn’t take any business classes in college, and none of the securities licenses I have required a college degree. I scouted for an associate for a long time and met with a lot of people with a lot of degrees. The girl I finally hired hadn’t graduated college but got her ged. She’s on track to get her first securities license this year - no additional schooling, just competent and curious at her job. If I could offer a young girl advice, it would be: unless you know what you want to do with your life, don’t go to college yet - get a job, save money, and when it gets boring, think about what would be interesting and see if you can get a job or an unpaid internship exploring that. And if you know what you want to do with your life but it’s not stem/doctor/lawyer/something that requires a science degree, think very hard about racking up debt versus racking up real world experience in a lower paying job in that field because your competence will matter far more than your degree, and also because I can’t even imagine choosing to interview anyone for a job if they’re recently out of college regardless of what college or university it is.
The other advice I would offer a young girl is: if your female role models were anything like mine, and I hope they were, they really wanted the best for you and did their best to make sure you knew you deserved the same equal opportunity as everyone else. My role models hadn’t had that equal opportunity as a given, and I appreciated that they worked hard to make my experience different from theirs. It was. But as much as I enjoy what I do, I think that in their zeal to trailblaze a new path that sometimes they forgot to include the message
that if you want to be nothing more than an incredible mother, that’s just as good and valid as any other option you choose to pursue (if not better since those genetically gifted to be mothers is only halfish of the population).
Fantastic advice. 🙏
I have a son and a daughter 14 months apart who just finished fresh(person) year at two separate state schools in TN. Son’s not going back next year: thinking about doing ‘The 18” Journey “ with Jonothan and Melissa Helser. Search Cagelessbirds.
Culinary Institute of America, the tasty CIA, in Poughkeepsie, NY used to be very good return on investment, with employers waiting.
Mike Rowe has an apprenticeship program. There was someone else like Rowe, but more simply matching people with interest to people who want NON-BA or BS degreed talent. Employers know what a crock of troubles those degrees from WOKE FORESTS represent.
Unfortunately, a woman doesn't find out if she's in that "gifted halfish" until after she's committed to birthing an unconsenting new soul into this inferno called "life".
As ill-advised and as ruinous as college is for most, it doesn't compare to the permanent calamity of having a child one is unfit or unprepared to raise, both emotionally and financially. A blunder on that account will harm the young mother, of course....but more importantly, it dooms an innocent child into a permanent and inescapable nightmare.
Excellent.
Hi Tess. Thanks for all the great advice. It seems the subjects she likes most are those in which she likes the teacher. Last year it was Latin and biology. This year it was Latin and business. She would like to be a doctor or PA but the plan is to start with nursing rather than premed because she’s not a straight A honor student, more A-B in a mix of advanced and honors, and unfortunately I don’t think her SAT scores will be high enough for med school.
She enjoys mock trial club, wrote for the school newspaper last year but there’s no print version so nobody reads it, loves to play volleyball but wasn’t good enough to make our highly competitive team, is not musical but has high social intelligence and loves being where there’s lots of people. She enjoys baking, working, and shopping. When she was younger, she followed the stocks of some favorite companies, including Ulta, and made some money when her aunt gave her half of the gain she made by buying Ulta on her advice (granted pretty much every stock was increasing in those days).
I’m also the daughter of a mechanic, and of a stay at home mom. Neither attended college. I had the smarts for it, but they didn’t have the understanding of how to guide me there and I have always been lazy unfortunately.
I myself have been a stay at home mom mostly, though by now I have become a pretty integral part of my husband’s landscape architecture practice. I feel I missed out by not going to college and know I could not have supported myself and my children had we ever divorced. I don’t want her to be in the same position. And when she’s asked at a party what she does for a living, I want her to have a respectable answer, even if it’s: I’m a stay at home mom, but I used to (fill in the blank).
I think she’d make a great recruiter of some type but neither of us has any real exposure to someone in that role.
I’m planning to have her take the meyers Briggs and the strong assessment to help us narrow down the career options.
If she’s interested in tech or coding at all, I think there are a few programs like this that prioritize students getting a job when they graduate. I realize part of why she wants is the full college experience and this would not fit that bill, but for affordability and function might be worth looking into.
https://www.bloomtech.com
Thank you. I’ll check it out.
I got my basic EMT license the summer after I graduated high school - this would be a great way for her to get her foot in the door in the medical field so she could decide if it’s something she really wants to pursue without the full college commitment up front. For me it was a 9 credit hour course that I did at the local community college - the ambulance ride alongs and hospital ER shifts will help her figure out fairly quickly whether or not it’s something she wants to pursue and, if so, give her a launchpad to get in the door and the skills for a related part-time job too.
Great idea. Thanks!
It's truly a conundrum. If she stays at home and stays in conversation with you, you could off-set the indoctrination. Maybe. I used to watch TV with my kids and comment on the subtext, and how they were being given subliminal messages. It really helped keep them alert to programming. But they were kids, and they tend to stop listening to parents around 15-17, so not sure that would work in college. Paying for indoctrination is an insult of course, just like paying for our phones to spy on us. I don't know. But a college degree is really not necessary to supporting oneself - that is going away. Maybe if she has any ideas for her own business, you could support that instead of paying tuition? My bet is that's where we're going. Old model, dying.
Thanks, Kathleen. I’ve been trying to think of some kind of financial incentive to at least maybe encourage her to commute locally, but the Covid jab requirements here are a problem, and she really would love to have the old fashioned college experience, if that exists anymore.
I don't think it does really exist anymore, sadly. It's tough, my partner going through the same thing. Good luck.
Thanks! Good luck to you two as well!
😊
Historically, Commies are vicious, violent, and inhuman, and only relent in the face of superior violent force. So the one saving grace about all of these Commies we now have is that they are a bunch of whiny vegan pansies. NBD, because we have beef, pork, and all of our AR-15's. But FJBrandon reminded us that's no big deal because he has F-15's and nukes. Does he have the balls to use them?
To some degree parents are responsible for all the pantymelts. The Universities then make them professional pantymelts with degrees.
Your Vikings are playing football at my Alma Mater, SJSU, in September. Come on down, we'll drink beer, eat BBQ, not wear masks or socially distance, and watch young men try and bludgeon each into submission, as God intended. Might as well and enjoy it now, all these pantymelts are gonna go after contact sports, soon, because, THE FEELZ!
WTF.
As God intended. lol. That's an enticing offer. Especially the beer and BBQ. The pantymelts appear to already have a pretty firm grasp on the NFL head office.
Just watched the video... the result of the video: buy more 00 shot shells, hide my children. Dont let them go to college. Move to the country. Feel pity for these kids. They will have miserable lives
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I'm not even past the title & 1st picture.
Portland State, huh?
One part of my post-pro football life was spent smoking Maui Wowie, chasing loose womyn, drinking pub Olympia draft, and volunteer coaching a young Neil Lomax for Mouse Davis at PSU.
Yes, I am that old.
Beautiful place in the 70's, that part of the Pacific Northwest. It wasn't weird yet, but you could definitely see it heading that direction.
Nice! We were probably at the same events. Portland Beavers with a cold Henry Weinhards, Neil Lomax, then Chris Crawford. Portland was pretty great back in the day. It's very sad to drive around the city these days. They legalized all drugs, urban camping, antifa terrorists, and it's all just a magnet for the dregs of the nation. Oregon is still a beautiful state aside from the cities. Just spent some time in central oregon fly fishing. More on that and Oregon in a piece soon.
What position did you play as a pro? Where?
As a renegade, I chose the WFL over the NFL, and played there---including a couple of games for the Portland Storm (which is how I came to know Portland)---until the league collapsed. I had a couple of cups of coffee with the Jets in the NFL before ending up somewhere between hurt, blackballed (curse of the WFL), and rejected. I was a QB/K.
Gravitated to Portland after my playing days were finished to hang with a college teammate/roommate from Eugene. Lived in Lake Oswego, had Ron Brewer as an upstairs neighbor, hung out with some of the old original Timbers. Enjoyed Bill Walton excellence and weirdness.
Learned to fly fish, climbed Mt. Hood and St. Helens one August, escaped winter gloom in Sunriver, played in a serious "rough touch" league in the city sponsored by the "No Dogs Allowed" tavern on Capital Hwy. Disco was a thing, and my crew hit all the hot spots in our flared denim and open-collared polyester finest, on the prowl for fair heifers needing "servicing".
Portland was my transition from a life of an athlete to becoming a Normal Human again. Two years of serious fun and debauchery with no curfews, cold whirlpools, and bed checks by coaches, sort of like my version of Rumspringa.
Then I woke up one day and said, "Time to grow up", and moved back home east to finish my degree and collect a couple of Master's, thanks to a stint as a football grad assistant at a big college program.
I would not trade my "lost years" in Portland for anything.
And to show you how life is indeed circular, I have an opportunity, in my "Golden Years", to be a volunteer coach at an excellent Catholic high school close to my old Florida stomping grounds.
The graybeard coach heard I may move back to the states and asked if I could give him a hand.
I visited them in April. When I arrived on campus, obviously an old dude, I asked a small group of clean-cut biracial young men where I could find Coach Xxxyyyzzz. The respect, verbal articulation, helpful nature, and sincerity they expressed made me think all was not lost.
Might be a fun way to spend the remainder of my years, helping young men become better men, and not just on the field. I had some influential oldsters in my life as a dumb, naïve young-un', so maybe this will be my "play it forward."
Do it.
How useful is that non-STEM university degree? About as useful as the jab or the face diaper.
nah.....face condom
some folks get a sense of security when interacting with other folks whilst wearing one....
I've never heard pantymelt used that way before (and urban dictionary only has the one definition - stuff that causes a girls panties to melt off). Pantywaist, now - that I'm familiar with.
It's not common but should be. The combination is perfect.
About 15 years ago a friend and I backpacked in Belize where the national cocktail was a “panty ripper”
Thanks for this stack. I've enjoyed this gender conversation the culture is having. I think it's really interesting. I like that there is more freedom for men and women to be and express whatever they want without social condemnation. When women first wore pants, there was a big to do about crossing that gender box.
I'm genuinely curious about what people mean when they say they're gender fluid, or some other gender. I don't hear them describe what they're feeling, what their inner state is. I imagine it's variations we all have; our inner states, feelings and sense of ourselves are dynamic and change to some extent. I have a feeling they're still using variations of masculinity and femininity as something to be, or not to be. Yes, gender identity and gender expression are cultural constructions to some extent, as well as biological (especially the effect of hormones) and natural personality variations.
With all these distinctions, they are ignoring the distinction of biological sex.
I don't understand the point of it all though. I have a feeling it, in part, has to do with the state of the world they are growing up into. There's a lot of social instability, and more recognition of real societal harms born of history. I wonder if these young folks are trying to find some stability by over- identifying with inner states, which gives them a sense of inner stability. I wonder if they are coming to terms with real historical societal harm by over-identifying with people's hurt feelings.
It's a bit of a mystery as no studies will ever examine their choices. It's probably a mix of what you say, and just the general attributes of herd behavior - belonging, acceptance, need to feel a part of some bigger movement or experience at that age no matter how misguided, confused, ungrounded and cultish.
on some level I can understand where these kids are coming from. Im a white hetersexual male. I was raised in a conservative jewish home. I am 54 years old. Im a independent medical professional with a private business. I am comfortable with myself, my gender, my appearance, my life etc. I was raised by nurturing parents in a supportive environment. I was validated emotionally. About ten years ago my younger brother and only sibling committed suicide at 39 years of age. It was a major trauma for me. I went to therapy. I had a major depressive episode. Despite my support system it was a difficult time for me.
So I can understand how these social workers are talking about trans people who feel alienated and unvalidated might feel traumatized and stigmatized. Im saying that I have understanding and compassion and tolerance for people who struggle with their self image and self esteem. I have respect for people who are different than me. I have gay people as patients. I have married gay couples who come to me together for eye exams. Some of them I've even operated on. Everyone is an INDIVIDUAL. In the end there are only people. All this other collectivist stuff and identity stuff is imaginary!
But there has to be some kind of boundaries. Even though I understand that some of these trans people or that gender fluid girl in the video might have had a difficult time in their upbringing and are very confused, that doesnt give them an excuse to require that all of the rest of us walk on eggshells because of their emotional and identity problems.
I watched this thing and Im shaking my head in disbelief over what I intuitively sense as a form of insanity on the part of these therapists but then I think about it carefully and on some level , I can understand their perspective. Maybe the fundamental disagreement is over the idea that gender is a social construct. It is not. There is objective reality. One is either genetically male or female with rare exceptions. How people choose to express their identity culturally is entirely up to them. I am not obligated to change my perception of reality to suit their whims. Their insistence that I alter my perception of reality to suit their interpretations and misunderstanding or willful neglect of basic biology is a form of violence against ME! I think thats where the indignation comes from. These people think Im committing violence or aggression by not accepting or recognizing their reality but its really the exact opposite. They are denying reality and trying to force me to accept their worldview. Now thats aggression! Does that make sense? Could you comment at some point on this. Why are these students so ...wrong... or misguided... obviously they are closed minded but why? Whats in it for them? Nothing good can come of this stuff. There is no joy or satisfaction in denying reality... Its like that guy who is swimming as a girl. Whats in it for him? Everyone knows that he is an inferior swimmer. SO he gets satisfaction from beating girls? this seems like the most pernicious form of violence against women I can imagine. In the past homosexuality was deemed a crime. Gay people were persecuted and killed. Women who dressed in mens' clothing were arrested. There is some validity to the claims of these social workers that LBTGQ groups have been historically persecuted. But does that justify that I alter my understanding of reality to suit them? I dont think so. Why not just insist that everyone is treated as the individual that they are? Why does this movement have to be so self-righteous. I know Im rambling but Im really trying to understand. ALl the other things we talk about on this thread are very straightforward to me. Medical freedom, government tyranny, corruption, cultural marxism. But this trans movement is absolutely bizarre to me. I just dont understand whats in it for these people.
"I am not obligated to change my perception of reality to suit their whims. Their insistence that I alter my perception of reality to suit their interpretations and misunderstanding or willful neglect of basic biology is a form of violence against ME!"
Top of the mountain.
Sorry about your brother, Doc.
I'm so sorry about your younger brothers suicide. That must have been so hard.. I imagine there is a particular type of aloneness losing a sibling that way. 💜
I really love what you've said here. That's so true, their insistence on others changing their reality is aggressive, bullying, and a form of violence especially when they go after people's jobs.
I'm mostly lesbian in my 50s and I think the more extreme elements of this trans and gender identity movement snuck up on us. Since a good chunk of gay and lesbian people don't fit into traditional gender roles and expression, we can relate to that part of the trans and gender movement. No one wants trans people beat up in public restrooms, so the push for single use bathrooms 5 or 6 years ago made a lot of sense.
But then it shifted to denying and erasing biological difference with troubling consequences for women and teens.
I think there's several social and psychological currents involved in their close-mindedness. 1) knee jerk defence because the T is at the end of LGB. It's seen as part of gay acceptance. Those within or sensitive to the gay movement have trouble telling the T portion "I accept some of what you want to be a full part of society, but not all." They are confusing and conflating it with what gay people went through when they heard "I accept/ tolerate/ love you as a person, but not the expression of your sexuality, a fundamental part of you." 2) they are carrying over some "muscle" from work with systemic racism and the me too movement. People don't always recognize unconscious bias and minor prejudices until there pressured to do so. I know I was surprised at what I found when I studied this in myself. In areas of race people have pushed hard for others to look at their own internal subtle culturally conditioned biases and prejudices, because subtle views widely held negatively affects black people. The me too movement has been forceful in confronting and removing some abusive men from power, which had been needed (and sometimes there's overreach). The trans and gender ideology extremists are using the same reasoning for why muscle and force is needed for acceptance. They think they're coming up against the same type of resistance of race work and the me too movement, but it's a different resistance based in biological reality. 3) people in the trans and gender extreme movement generally have felt like outcasts. They are relatively powerless in fixing this painful situation. They gain power by joining this extreme ideology, and then use the power of this minority in distorted, aggressive, and bullying ways. Society had the power to reject them, and as part of this minority they have the power to make some members of society pay for it.
My thought on “gender fluid” is that we are really talking about “masculine and feminine” traits. This talk of gender being assigned at birth, well no, our gender is determined at conception. The male sperm has either “x” or “y” (if you think about it, all males are trans gender as we have both “x” and “y” 🤣🤣). But we all fall on a masculine to feminine
spectrum, by nature and nurture. And we all are fluid on that spectrum, by nature and nurture (the toughest guy can cry and the sweetest lady can have nerves of steel).
😅😅 💕
You can be curious but you really don't want to get these people talking about themselves. You'll be there all day; they are professional narcissists and surprisingly uncurious about, well, anything.
Triggers include human faces and other people's ability to breathe.
To The Gang @ TGC
https://gettr.com/post/p1ehz8d401f
Excellent meme. 🤣
I loved that video. It contains about every SJW bromide known to the SJW planet. It just shows how far The Great American Experiment has fallen.
Years ago, when I'd talk about The Frankfurt School and their singular goal of ushering in global Marxism by destroying "The American Man" with Critical Theory, folks would roll their eyes and had no idea what I was factually talking about.
And here we are today.
That video is a perfect barometric gauge of the social and moral collapse of Western Culture.
Ah, so this is why the new grads at work blather on about "micro-aggressions" while proudly displaying flags and pronouns in every communication. Now I've got the amazing chart of intersectionality/pinwheel of stupidity to help me make sense of it all. Brilliant! Thanks, TGC!
Still working up the nerve for the video, though. A bracing dose of Pulp Fiction might help.
1st of all, your 22 Points, were a tremendous "visual" in words alone.
I could see it. Feel it.
Now...for the video (at present, I stopped halfway through, just to maintain my sanity. I will watch the rest, after I recuperate).
The modern man within says simply, "They're insane." Wish them a good day, turn on my heels & get myself a cheeseburger.
Now for The Ancient within me.
It is a truly peculiar thing, if one is "lucky" enough to listen to, (written transcripts alone are sometimes granted), the "dialogue" that 'may' occur b/w priest/possessing spirit, during the ritual of Exorcism. I state this, as I heard this is so. And what I've been told, is this:
Firstly, the 'voice' will change dramatically, especially when Truth is stated by the priest.
Lancing invective, is the most common retort.
However, far more sinister, IMO, and which sometimes occurs, to a novice priest, or priest who makes the deadly mistake of going-too-deep with these types of spirits, is a soaring, confusing, confounding, puzzling, contradictory, pseudo intellectualism.
If you read it only (transcript), its dryness, appears very quickly.
However, since the Rite, is most substantially A Confrontation, of the Highest Order, one's presence there, & therefore "HEARING" said dialogue is a completely different ball of wax.
It's astonishing, how, one can get pulled into its Mind-of-Madness.
Or, so I've heard.
Anywho...
Fantastic Essay.
Fantastic psychological outline.
I really enjoyed it, even with the suffering video.
Funny thing. Your 22 Points were enough.
...same phenomenon.
Great comparison. Interesting angles to ponder.
It would be interesting to read a transcript of that video encounter.
As I have slowly progressed through your essay, the tenor is deepening.
Tucker speaks of this very thing. The simple destruction, the forced-confusion, of natural male assertiveness. Not the type that injures anyone, & especially woman, but the simple promotion toward creating, & interacting with the world. This is both productive & protective toward family.
Jon Rappoport speaks about painting with too broad a brush, on so many issues Human. About the denial of The Individual, for the failing substance of The Group. Group dynamics are fine & dandy, but the Individual remains sacrosanct.
I'm approaching the provided videos.
Really appreciate the 22 Points.