When my great niece was about two years old she was crawling around saying “I am two cats.” (True) So her parents immediately went out and bought two litter boxes.(Not true. Her parents are sensible people.)
Fortunately she grew out of it, in about three minutes.
The thing is, we can point out until the end of time the absurdity of thinking that children can know things they can’t possibly know, and our efforts will not be merely fruitless, we’ll actually be elevating the value of the social currency earned by those who claim to “believe trans kids”. The more clearly absurd the proposition, the more obviously a profession of belief represents a social sacrifice and a declaration of allegiance.
This shibboleth functions not on the unpronounceability of the word but rather on the implausibility of its meaning. Only a true believer would dare utter the clearly nonsensical. In this version, the major part of what’s being advertised to the group is one’s willingness to set aside reason and skepticism in favor of group doctrine, dogma, or revelation. It’s a demonstration of one’s commitment to and mastery of the type of thinking inculcated by the Party in Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Theron’s statement here is a profession of faith and demonstration that her mind is what the Party demands: utterly plastic, pliable, and compliant. It can be translated without any loss or alteration of meaning as, “I am your slave.”
The more clearly absurd the proposition, the more obviously a profession of belief represents a social sacrifice and a declaration of allegiance.
And don’t forget this particular belief involves being a Mommy – a sensitive, sympathetic, supportive Mommy. The parent creds go up when the child’s needs are harder to meet. YOU may have removed all sweets and fats and nuts and gluten from the family diet because of Dearest Child, but *I* force myself and others to deny their own perception in order to see my own Dearest Child the way Dearest Child sees themselves. That’s harder because it takes more love.
Sastra: You are, of course, 100% correct. The parental role, and especially that of the mother, adds extra weight to the choice. It amplifies the significance of abandoning good sense. The sacrifice is no longer just the self. It includes the offspring, which is something so profound in the human psyche that entire religions can be built on an unfinished sacrifice. People like Charlize represent something an order of magnitude or two greater than Abraham. And that’s both impressive and utterly horrifying.
Credulity is the essence of virtue. So it is, and so it always has been.
In religious circles, that is.
When my great niece was about two years old she was crawling around saying “I am two cats.” (True) So her parents immediately went out and bought two litter boxes.(Not true. Her parents are sensible people.)
Fortunately she grew out of it, in about three minutes.
I know, from personal experience, quite a few toddlers who were Choo Choo Trains. Their pronouns were ooo/woo.
Theron just went down in my estimation.
I don’t know why you’re sceptical of this three year old underachiever. When I was three, I was an astronaut already.
The thing is, we can point out until the end of time the absurdity of thinking that children can know things they can’t possibly know, and our efforts will not be merely fruitless, we’ll actually be elevating the value of the social currency earned by those who claim to “believe trans kids”. The more clearly absurd the proposition, the more obviously a profession of belief represents a social sacrifice and a declaration of allegiance.
This shibboleth functions not on the unpronounceability of the word but rather on the implausibility of its meaning. Only a true believer would dare utter the clearly nonsensical. In this version, the major part of what’s being advertised to the group is one’s willingness to set aside reason and skepticism in favor of group doctrine, dogma, or revelation. It’s a demonstration of one’s commitment to and mastery of the type of thinking inculcated by the Party in Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Theron’s statement here is a profession of faith and demonstration that her mind is what the Party demands: utterly plastic, pliable, and compliant. It can be translated without any loss or alteration of meaning as, “I am your slave.”
NIV wrote:
And don’t forget this particular belief involves being a Mommy – a sensitive, sympathetic, supportive Mommy. The parent creds go up when the child’s needs are harder to meet. YOU may have removed all sweets and fats and nuts and gluten from the family diet because of Dearest Child, but *I* force myself and others to deny their own perception in order to see my own Dearest Child the way Dearest Child sees themselves. That’s harder because it takes more love.
Charlize wins.
Sastra: You are, of course, 100% correct. The parental role, and especially that of the mother, adds extra weight to the choice. It amplifies the significance of abandoning good sense. The sacrifice is no longer just the self. It includes the offspring, which is something so profound in the human psyche that entire religions can be built on an unfinished sacrifice. People like Charlize represent something an order of magnitude or two greater than Abraham. And that’s both impressive and utterly horrifying.