In my heart, I can't understand ignorance.

 

In my heart, I can't understand ignorance.  Maybe it's that I have a desire to understand as much as I can?  Who knows?  But as I write this, MAGA is denying that the Orange Snowflake's birthday parade was hardly attended, while 11 million people attended No Kings protests across the nation.

One of my Facebook friends, a TG person who doesn't want to acknowledge the truth that only photographs can show, is caught up in the false narrative that there weren't that many people attending the protests.  But then, she hasn't seen the "Gender Correction" letter being sent out for passport renewals.

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Ignorance is either a lack of opportunity to see an objective truth, or a choice to ignore an objective truth.  If one sees the objective truth and recognizes it as such, then the person is rational.  Choosing to ignore an objective truth is something else.  I'm not sure of what to call this.  Yet, who defines "Objective Truth?"  Years ago, broadcast TV had something known as the "Fairness Doctrine."  Sadly, Ronald Reagan killed that off, and along with it died objective news casting. Today, people pick their "news" sources based on their prejudices, and never hear opposing points of view that would test their views of reality.

Sadly, news organizations without a Fairness Doctrine will slant the news to serve the wishes of their owners.  All too often people on both sides of the political divide claim that the other side is reporting falsehoods. This has resulted in the political divide we have today - to such an extent that rational people should be thinking: Should we split up the United States along its political divides and limit the harm done to people on both sides of the divide?  Or, should we put guardrails on the 1st amendment to the constitution, and somehow make all organizations claiming to report the news report it objectively.

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I have a transgender acquaintance who still yearns for some of the conveniences of her biologically male past, such as being able to pee standing up.  Another transgender acquaintance I met through a (former?) reader of this blog is obviously TG.  That shouldn't be a problem, but this person moved to the back woods of Upstate NY and was rejected by her conservative church.  They both have the same flaw - they think that their (political) tribal membership card will continue to be accepted after transition.  I'm reminded of the Jews who supported Hitler, thinking that he'd take care of ALL who supported him.  Yes, they were taken care of, but not in the way they thought.

The above two people are choosing to be ignorant.  I expect that reality will soon hit them in the face.  It's a shame, as us aware people understand the consequences of the actions of people like those two, and we hate the upcoming suffering that their type is causing to happen.  As for me, I will try to get out of the way and report what is going on objectively as long as I can.
 

I'll have what they're having - but should I?

It's been a long time since I've been to Katz's deli.  Almost everything they serve there is scrumptious. Too bad that the place is so far away for me.  It's been ages since I've had a really good pastrami sandwich, and I could go for one again.

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The older I get, the more I find that the less people know what they are talking about.  Recently, I met with a financial planner - and she gave me advice appropriate for a person with 10x my assets.  (I'm not knocking her.  But she overlooked one key thing, and that bothered me.)  Other people make the mistake of using anecdotal evidence instead of empirical evidence to form their opinions.  This wouldn't be so bad, save that most people want to reinforce their views of the world and not challenge them.  Of course, we have the conspiracy theorists who have a desperate need to "know" things that others don't know, so that they can share their "prophesies" to people who will listen.

Before you think that I'm ranting about people as a whole, I include myself in the group who feels they know more than they do.  For example, I didn't know how many people are caught crossing the border from Mexico this past year, nor did I know what is happening to them after apprehension by "La Migra".  We are all influenced by the media we watch (or do not watch), and I have been mostly influenced by media that leans towards the left.  Others are influenced by right leaning media, believing that their opinion issuers are telling the truth. Given what we now about January 6, 2001 and the Trump inspired insurrection, people like Hannity were trying to reach Trump to call off his rioters, while saying that it was a "peaceful protest" on their shows.  It's hard to know what resembles truth anymore without knowing the biases of the people delivering both news and opinions.

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Why am I concerned about all of this?

Recently, a school district has banned Maus, the graphic novel about the holocaust by Art Spiegelman. Although I have not read the book, I strongly support the need for youngsters to read it, so that they have an idea of how to understand what went on in the 1930's.  In itself, I'm concerned about the "right's" attempt to sanitize history for its ends.  But I'm even more shocked when someone posted a picture of Nazi book burning, noting that these books came from the Institute for Sexology. Seems like Fascists of any era like to deny people from the LGBTIQ communities their rights to even exist - something that should worry us all.

The Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute of Sexology) was way ahead of its time.  Sadly, the challenges it faced are the same issues we face today - people who need simplistic explanation for what's wrong in their lives will sacrifice the lives of others for a false certainty of "truth".  Like the Jews and their millennia of  being dispersed, Transgender people have a lot to worry about when persecution takes place.  It is up to us to prepare for a future where we are at great risk.  And in this case, I will not have what they're having - I will have an objective truth....