Elizabeth Warren Says, "Banning Men From Competing in Women’s Sports is ‘Cruel’" - My Thoughts

When has it gone too far? I got to thinking about transgenders and women's sports. I dug through a lot of information concerning the "Equality Act", "Title IX", Title VII", etc. I only wanted to look at women's sports as all the rest is very complicated.

I was considering why so many think there is not a problem with transgender women competing against biological women. I think the big mistake people make when this topic is discussed is stating the "obvious" reasons, assuming EVERYONE "knows" that they are obvious, without looking at WHY they are obvious. For most people, these things are obvious because that is what they have known their entire lives. It doesn't mean they are correct, it means that is what they were taught. So in this case, is "obvious" also "correct"?

So let's ask the question, "WHY do we have women's sports in the first place?" The actual answer is "biology". Women who want to play sports are at a disadvantage based on biology. Men tend to be physically larger, have more muscle mass, and some skeletal differences, along with a few other characteristics. These differences have always existed in order for the human race to survive. But BECAUSE they exist, men have a clear advantage when it comes to sports. So to create a fair and equitable playing field, men and women do not compete with one another in the area of sports.

Enter transgenders...

When a man identifies AS a woman, it does not reverse any of the biological factors that have always provided his advantages in sports. This is ONLY true once he has entered puberty. Prior to puberty, boys and girls are virtually identical in physique. But once puberty starts, boys and girls quickly move to being different. The argument is often made that treating prepubescent males with hormone therapy/surgery would keep them from taking on those masculine characteristics that give them the sports advantage. But let's think about that. Would providing such treatment not fall into "child abuse"?

We already have a famous case of a mother and father fighting in court over the gender identity of their son. The child wanted to be a girl and the mother was fully supportive while the father was not. The issue that was being fought was over whether or not the mother could "force" the father to dress their son as a girl, use his new name, start hormone therapy, etc. During the fight between parents, the child outgrew his "wanting to be a girl" phase and now wanted to go back to being a boy. IMO, making permanent, life altering changes to a child who has not reached an age of reason is child abuse. Let the child reach an age where they truly can make their own decision, and then let them do what they want.
So back to the topic, since post-pubescent transgender women have already gained the "male advantage", does allowing them to compete against biological women not destroy the very reason for having separate sports divisions?
Those who believe transgender women should be able to compete with biological women are now stating the case of a biological female athlete who DID beat a transgender woman in a race. My mind goes straight to: "She was obviously not good as a male athlete, and is STILL not a good female athlete." However judgmental that may sound, the data shows how much of an advantage men really do have over women in sports, and one outcome of a race does not change the facts seen since the beginning of sports.

Why would a girl ever aspire to compete in a sport when they know there is no chance for them to ever dominate that sport due to competition against transgenders who use their male advantages? Women who compete are dedicated and work extremely hard to achieve greatness. Why would we allow that to be taken away from them?

Capitalism - The Open Discussion

Many people rail against “the evils of capitalism”, but I find their complaints to be against "crony capitalism", not "true capitalism". I would like to challenge those ideas and PROVE that capitalism truly is moral and all outcomes are positive provided you participate in the system (i.e. if you don’t work, you don’t eat).

The biggest complaint I see is that capitalism breeds greed, always ends in monopolies, and the wealthy prey on the poor. My premise has always been that none of those things can happen without the helping hand of the government. 

I believe the following:

1) ALL monopolies have had a hand from government to become a monopoly, with only one exception. 

2) Greed (as the sole motivation) cannot survive in a capitalistic economy. 

3) Because the consumer always has the upper hand, the wealthy are at their mercy, not the other way around. 

In other words, if we remove government intervention from the economy, unbridled capitalism will fix the problems that arise within it.

So here is the premise we will be working with:

Government has only 2 functions.

    1) provide national security, both internal and external (i.e. police/military)

    2) protect the rights of its citizens, meaning it will prevent anyone from trampling on someone else’s rights as a citizen. "Rights" is defined as those things outlined in the Constitution.

All other functions of society operate within capitalism.

It is IMPORTANT to keep the above premise in mind for the discussion. We have been trained to think that the government is there to provide EVERYTHING for us, so we may tend to keep assigning responsibilities to it. I want to go back to the roots of limited government and see where we end up.

So tell me about your position on capitalism. Where do you have an issue with it. What is wrong with it. What is right about it? Why doesn't it work, etc.

Author's note - I am aware that I may regret this challenge based on the time required to answer any questions or statements made, but I think it is important that this sort of dialog occur. We need to block out what the media, politicians, and special interest groups are feeding us and just discuss (with an open mind) what capitalism truly is. I will welcome ALL comments and questions, provided it is done in a respectful manner. I will delete all vulgar/slanderous/hateful comments. I hope for this to be a learning experience for all who participate, including myself. I do not have any formal education in economics. All my knowledge (and ideas) come from my pursuit of entrepreneurship and reading of many leading economists.

Toxic People - My Thoughts

NOTE - Let me preface this piece by saying that I am NOT a Trump supporter. I think he would be far more effective if he stayed off social media and just stuck to doing his job. I state this because what you read in the following could easily make me "appear" to be one of his supporters. The subject matter circles around him. Now on to my thoughts...

I made a decision a few weeks ago to remove toxic people from my life. Toxic people are those who have nothing but negative things to say, people whose minds are so closed that it was often painful to have a discussion with them, people who put their own thoughts out there but refuse to listen to any opposing ideas, etc. What I found was that I removed NO ONE because I kept making excuses for their behavior and language. I WANTED to see the best in them.

So then the "kids from Covington" video happened. In case you don't know, there was a group of Catholic school boys who travelled from Covington, Kentucky to Washington D.C. to participate in the "March for Life". It is a protest against legalized abortion. Some of the boys were wearing MAGA hats (Make America Great Again), Donald Trump's signature statement. The video showed one of the boys, in particular, "confronting" a Native American Vietnam veteran, essentially mocking him and blocking him from leaving. This man also talked to reporters telling them how he "feared for his life" as he was surrounded by these "beasts".

Many of my Facebook friends condemned the boys and spewed their normal anti-Trump comments. No one got unfriended because I know where they stand on Trump. BUT, the next event was when the truth about the situation came out. A "full length" video (1 hour 45 minutes) appeared and showed that the boys not only DID NOT confront the man, but the man approached them as they were being harrassed by 4 black Israelites. The Black Israelites are a black supremacist group. When the Native American man got up in the face of the one boy who was the target of all the following hate, the boy never raised a hand, never moved, but simply stood still and smiled (some say "smirked", but that is a matter of opinion).

Some of my friends retracted their original statements, and I applaud them for that. But some others could not admit being wrong and doubled down. They found something, anything they could, to not have to admit that a Trump supporter might have one redeeming quality. I read things about how the boy was "disrespectful" to a tribal elder which is far worse than being disrespectful to other adults. His "smirk" brought back memories of "bullies" and "privileged white boys" they grew up with. To be fair some of the teenagers acted like teenagers (oh the horror!), so of course that also makes them a target for hate because they should have handled this with a much more "mature" attitude.

This showed me who these so called "friends" really are. I can no longer make excuses for them. I can no longer find a glimmer of hope that they are not actually toxic, where before, I would justify them with "that is just how they are". It is painful to think that all my discussions with them, when I thought they were actually hearing what I was saying, never added some sort of value to their lives. 

My friendship does not require and depend on you agreeing with me, but it does require that you hear me when I speak. I consider every conversation a precious gem that enhances my life in some way. Whether it be that we agree and find more commonality than we had before, maybe we disagree and it shows me a larger picture than I had considered, or even if it showed some ignorance on either of our sides, but we walk away as more informed or better people for having considered each other's ideas. But when you have so much HATE in your heart (toward Trump in this case) that you cannot hear the truth and accept it, then you have declared, loud and clear, "I AM A TOXIC PERSON!"

What hurts (and surprised me) the most, is that it was more than just one or two people. It hurts that I have been living under the idea that no one can truly be toxic. That there is always hope to somehow help them become a better person. I fooled myself into thinking that I would not be dragged down by them, but I could actually lift them up. And it hurts that I NEED to cut them out of my life. Apparently, our discussions were not discussions at all, they were shouting matches and my "friends" were wearing ear plugs. I am not just speaking about Facebook, but also face to face. I will continue to pray for them, but I cannot expose myself to their toxicity.

So my eyes are now wide open. I will see toxicity for what it really is. This past weekend, I was at a convention, and I heard a speaker say that traditional friendships are built on having a common past. That maybe the best friendships are actually built on having a common future. We hang on to friends because we somehow connect through past associations. But if your path is taking you to a dark place, somewhere that I don't want to go, I may need to let you go and find someone with a common destination who will help me get there. I prefer that you come with me, but YOU will have to choose that for yourself.

Should We Tax Wealthy People to Help Others? - My thoughts

I got involved in a conversation on Facebook that started with the above meme/twitter post. 

This got me to thinking. There are those who believe that if someone has a lot of money, it is reasonable to expect them to use it to help others. The meme also declares that we need to tax them in order to get the money, because they won’t do it voluntarily. In other words, it is OK to “force” people to help others because WE (not “they”) believe it is the right thing to do. Rephrasing once again, “I think YOU should help this situation, because YOU can afford it. YOU have way too much money to keep it to yourself.” 

(I think that makes for a fair paraphrase).

So here’s the part I started thinking about: If you make $2,138/year, you are in the top 50% of the world economy. If you are AT the poverty line in America, you are in the top 30% globally. The top 10% is around $61,000. So, based on this info, can people in far poorer conditions reasonably expect those with far more than THEY have, expect them to support the issues they live with? After all, that is what we are saying when we want to force wealthy people to support the issue WE believe they should help with. "YOU have so much more than ME, so YOU are responsible for fixing bad situations." 

Since the majority of Americans are far wealthier than the rest of the world, does the rest of the world have a right to demand the same of you and me, to fix bad situations? If YOU think the wealthy (defined as a comparison to your own financial situation) have the responsibility to spend their money on the issues YOU deem worthy, do far poorer people in the world have the right to think that YOU (being wealthy in their eyes) have the responsibility to spend YOUR money on the issues THEY deem worthy? And since YOU so firmly believe that YOU are right (about the wealthy in this country), will you put your money where your mouth is, and do just that? If not, do we need a “world tax”, (perhaps instituted by the U.N.) to get the money from YOU?

You can’t say that it is a different situation, because you have FAR more than most people on this planet. It’s all a matter of where you fall on the scale. You may not see yourself as “wealthy” because you make your comparison with those who have more than you. Try the comparison in the opposite direction with those who have far less than you. YOU ARE WEALTHY! And if you believe the wealthy are responsible for fixing bad situations, why don’t you do it?

When it comes right down to it, are we ALL racist, sexist, etc? - a philosophical discussion of my thoughts.

Time for a philosophical discussion on discrimination.

Yesterday, I watched an interesting video about racism within the LGBTQ community as if pertains to dating. The question that was posed dealt with someone in this community (that is considered a “minority” group of the population) and the idea that “I don’t date <insert race here>” is a “preference” versus a “racist” statement. So, for example, if you are gay, but your dating profile reads “Asians only” or “No Asians need apply”, are you being racist? According to this video, many in this community will state “I’m just not into black men (or any other race), that’s just my preference”. That those who say it, don’t feel they are being racist, it’s just how they “feel”.

My initial thought is that IS discrimination to feel this way.

So this got me wondering further about dating sites specifically, and then that was followed with society in general, and then finally people as a whole. The video was saying that if you refuse to date someone of a certain race, you are making your choice based on a “stereotype” or “general assumption” ABOUT that race. So if you refuse to date someone who is black, Asian, or even white, you are making a racist decision based on some preconceived idea about the entire race.

When I look around, MOST couples I know are made up of 2 people of the same race. I know several interracial couples, but the majority, are not.

We have laws that protect people of all races from being discriminated against. So why are dating sites allowed to ask for your race? Being that I have been married for 30+ years, I have no need for dating sites, and I met my wife LONG before websites even existed. But I remember the infamous “personal ads” found in newspapers of my day. “SWF” (Single White Female) was a common phrase that could be found in these ads, followed by specifics that were desired by the ad’s owner. From my understanding, this is still somewhat the format in use on dating sites today. So why are you allowed to advertise for these “racist” requirements?

To push this idea to the limit, why are you allowed to state your “gender” on these sites? Since gender is considered “separate” and “different” from your biological sex, is it not “sexist” to be looking for someone to date based on biological sex or gender?

I am not arguing to remove discrimination laws, or the protection of minority groups, but if we have dating “preferences” are we ourselves not “discriminating” against certain “groups”? I’ve read so many articles about racism, sexism, microaggressions, safe spaces, etc. I have been called a racist for disagreeing with an idea someone has because their race is different from mine, when in fact, my idea was simply different. I have been told that “because I am not part of a certain ‘group’, that my thoughts are therefore ‘invalid’.” So now I’m wondering if those who attacked me based on my race or sex being different, are the same people who have “preferences” in their dating lives. Do these “preferences” they have give me the right to respond with calling them “racist”, “sexist”, or whatever other name I can find for them?

Should the laws against discrimination be applied to dating websites that ask your “preferences” (a.k.a. ALL OF THEM)? Is much of what we call “discrimination” nothing more than a farce perpetuated by political agendas? Have we become so sensitive to our differences, and because we are now offended by every idea that is different than our own, that we look for some sort of discrimination to be the root cause of these differences?

When it comes to dating “by race”, are most people in fact “racist”? If men only want to date women, or women dating only men, are they being “sexist”? (I’m guessing that the question of being sexist will be answered with “what about having children as the goal?”). The video I watched ended with congratulating people who decide to change their dating profiles to reflect “no racial preference”.

So for this discussion, I want to ask, “is it ‘wrong’ to have a preference (race or even gender) in a dating partner?” Second, “are you someone who is offended by discrimination, but then discriminate against certain groups when dating?” “Does your dating partner offend you BECAUSE they discriminate whom they will date?” Finally, “has the envelope of discrimination been pushed so far that we can no longer tell where the problem begins and where it ends?”

Curing Racism - Thoughts (not my own)

I am not the author of this piece. A co-worker of my daughter wrote this as a Facebook post. My daughter sent it to me, thinking I would like it. I didn’t. I LOVED it! That author’s name is Christy Garrison Guise. Hope you all find it as thought provoking as I did! (Side note: I reformatted it for readability. Copying and pasting multiple times messed it up, so forgive me Christy if I didn't get it right!) She writes:

I need some help.

My brain is arguing with itself (again) It all started when I was brushing my teeth. I kept thinking about hindsight and how it is 20/20 and where that fits in with everything. I began to think about this notion of heritage and pride and how people keep asking how we can have pride for a heritage that stood for slavery and hate.

I started thinking about the people that these monuments represent and whether or not they were good people or bad people. I started thinking about how maybe they did the best they could at the time. About how the environment in which they were raised conditioned them in such a way that they thought they were doing the right thing. Or maybe it conditioned them to not think at all. No. They should have known better. And then I thought "where have I heard that before?" I tell myself that all the time- when I think back to my youth and all of the mistakes I have made and all of the times my flawed thinking sent my morals and my rationale askew. "I should have known better" I hear it when my parents shake their head at my parenting conundrums, as if I should know at 41 what they know at 70. "You should have known better" But mostly I hear it at school.

AND HERE IS WHERE MY BRAIN BEGAN ITS ARGUMENT.

I don't profess to know the solution as to how we rid this world of racism and intolerance. What I do know is that what is happening now is not moving us closer to that goal. In fact, it seems to be making it worse. The racial and cultural divide in this country has implored us to view systemic racism in a certain light and to analyze the ways in which white privilege and institutionalized oppression has created a cycle that has been detrimental to our black communities. How the crime and poverty are a direct result of this perpetual cycle that feeds into our communities and makes progress difficult to say the least. How the children in these communities get caught up in lifestyles that stem from institutionalized racism and our lack of understanding plus, our unwillingness to recognize these factors, perpetuates the cycle even more and catapults these students into adult lifestyles that are riddled with drugs, poverty and crime- where they get caught up in an unjust prison system that thinks harsher punishment and zero- tolerance is the cure. A system that needs serious reform. Reform. That's interesting. I'll come back to that.

Now I agree with all of the above. I see it day in and day out in the faces of my students. The day the school system recognized that punishment is not the only way to deal with these students and that we, as educators, need to recognize the effects of trauma and how their environment contributes to their behavior and their negative mindset- I jumped for joy.

Finally! A call for compassion that uses empathy versus criminality to help students break out of their cycle of poor behavior, low self-esteem, and overall disregard for their education. A recognition that screaming and yelling and judging these students (and adults) on their actions without considering the systemic, environmental, and institutional causes- is wrong. The idea that we need to approach their behavior from a place of empathy, compassion, and understanding- that is the key. Yes!

(And now my brain goes haywire)

Wait a minute? If one's environment plays such a role in their development and can contribute to their negative behavior, isn't the same true for those who practice both blatant and sub-conscious racism?

But racists aren't oppressed, they are the oppressor. Are we sure about that? I know many people (including myself) whose eyes have been opened to the existence of white privilege and systemic racism. I know multitudes of individuals who were raised to believe one thing but now believe another. I have sat at dinner parties where passive aggressive comments reek of racism and rolled my eyes at comments meant to bolster the status of white culture. "They aren't bad people, it's just how they were raised" A pathetic excuse for bad behavior. Or is it? Do I hate white supremacists and Neo-Nazis or do I feel sorry for them? Or can I do both? Do I desperately want to punish them? Or do I want to reform them? Can they be reformed from a life in which they senselessly torture and murder other human beings? Isn't that why we want to reform the prison system? Because we believe that breaking that cycle is possible? (Told you I'd come back to it)

Is it possible to only look at the impact institutionalized racism has had on the oppressed or do we also need to look at the impact it has had on everyone in our culture? Have the racists in our society been oppressed by the very culture in which they were raised? Is there not only a prison pipeline but also a racist pipeline that feeds otherwise innocent children into a life of racism and hatred from which they cannot escape without help? That's ridiculous. Their behavior is a choice. Their ability to tell right from wrong has nothing to do with their culture or upbringing.

But maybe we are all victims of this flawed and senseless thinking? Am I a victim of a subtle form of brainwashing that has conditioned me to view the world a certain way? Are racists victims of an environment that oppressed them into thinking that they are somehow superior? And if we are all victims, just in different forms, how can we purport to treat the actions and behavior of one set of victims with compassion and empathy and yet the other set deserves nothing but hatred and eradication? If we seek to eradicate the effects of institutionalized racism on the black community by using tolerance, empathy, and love on those who cannot help their behavior due to the trauma of their oppressed circumstances- shouldn't we seek to use those same tools to eradicate its effects on those who can't see their own racism due to the trauma of their own oppression?

If it has become clear that black children are still affected by the institutionalized racism brought on by slavery, are white kids subjected to those same affects just on the other side? I cannot and will not feel sorry for racists and those who seek to destroy human beings based on their race. Why not? I wonder what would happen if I took into account the oppressive nature of white culture.

(Here is where you sneer- at the notion that white culture could be oppressive to itself- but just like white culture can't profess to understand the black experience, I would encourage black culture not to profess to understand the white experience either. Just sayin.)

There are many that could tell you first hand about the pressures and expectations of white culture and how they directly affect your worldview. Those who are raised and conditioned to believe certain things, find it difficult to break out of that cycle. We know this. We also know that anger doesn't break people of that cycle. Prison time doesn't break people of that cycle. Protests don't break that cycle. Riots don't break that cycle. It doesn't work for one side, which might mean that punishment, or taking a "zero-tolerance" policy, won't work for the other side either. I will not compare experiences between white and black culture nor will I ever try to equate them. I would never ask people to forgive the behavior of white supremacists or to tolerate it. I just want to get rid of it.

The black experience and the white experience in this country are two totally different things. But there are many diseases that are completely different from one another but that have the same cure. There are many different types of addiction (some worse than others) but they all come from the same place and respond to the same treatment.

I am not trying to excuse anyone's behavior, I am simply trying to find a solution to correcting it. We don't need to rid the world of certain kinds of people, we need to rid certain kinds of people of their hate. And it is possible. Perhaps when any group of people people act out their circumstances in a negative way, the only solution is to counter it with empathy and compassion. Perhaps that is the foundation of "treat others the way you want to be treated". Maybe it also means "heal others the way you want to be healed". Because isn't that what we all want? To be healed? That is all.

(Thoughts and opinions are enormously welcome on this issue since it continues to baffle me, just don't misconstrue what I am saying by missing the point and thinking that I am equating victims. Or that I am saying "just be nice to white supremacists and everything will be fine". I'm not saying that and I didn't say the sicknesses were the same... just questioning the possibility that how we approach the "cures" is...)

Do White Supremacists have the Same Rights as You and Me? - My thoughts

Some really bad things went down this weekend. A white supremacists group was in Charlottesville, Virginia. They were met by counter-protesters and violence ensued. A man from Ohio drove his car into a group of counter-protesters killing a woman. Two police officers who were working security at the event were killed in a helicopter crash. Now the entire country is in an uproar over everything that has happened. And I believe rightly so.

I think this may be a very unpopular piece, and I debated for a long time on whether or not to pursue it, but here is why I’m writing today. On Facebook, pictures of some of the white supremacists have been posted with the caption, “Do you know me? Are you my employer? I was at a Nazi rally in Charlotte, VA.” This meme got me to thinking.

Let me first and very strongly say that I do not support anything this group of white supremacists believes. I think they are horrible for their beliefs. BUT, here’s the thing, do they have a right to believe anything they want? Do WE have the right to make their lives miserable because we disagree with them? Petitions have begun to have a University of Nevada man expelled from his school because he attended the rally. The meme that was posted on Facebook encourages employers to fire anyone who attended the rally. Death threats have been made against anyone who could be identified that attended.

My question is, “If we take these people’s rights away because we disagree with their beliefs, who is to say that OUR rights won’t one day be taken from us because someone disagreed with us?” The right to education. The right to holding down a job. The right to assemble. The right to believe anything we want to believe.

The rally organizers filed all the correct paperwork, attained the official permits to assemble, etc. The counter-protesters did none of these things. As much as most of us think their beliefs are disgusting and wrong, they do in fact, have the right to assemble. The organizers claim that the rally was going to be a peaceful protest, but when the counter-protesters showed up, the entire situation took a turn into violence. It may have been a peaceful demonstration, but now we will never know for sure. As long as the white nationalists caused no harm to anyone, they indeed have the right to do what they planned to do. Just because we don’t like what they planned, does not give us the right to stop them.

As wrong as I believe this group’s beliefs are, I also believe that their rights are not to be infringed upon. If they committed acts of violence, then they need to be charged and punished to the fullest extent of the law. But simply attending is not a violation of any laws. Your right to attend a rally of ANY sort is protected by our Constitution. The rights of white supremacists to attend a rally to promote “white power/heritage” is also protected by that same Constitution. YOU or I do NOT have the right to take that away from them.

If you pursue ways to keep them from holding a job, to attend college, to attend any rally they choose, YOU are in violation of the Constitution. I don’t agree with them either, but I do uphold everything the Constitution stands for. This country was founded on the principles of freedom and certain “inalienable” rights. No matter if we agree with them or not, their rights are protected by the same Constitution that allows YOU and I to believe whatever we want to believe too.