If you tell Americans outside cosmopolitan cities they must declare themselves publicly as "cis het" or else they're a bigot (I caricature but only slightly), then you should expect to lose elections.
And American elections tend to affect other people in the world. That's why lots of us wish you would let up a bit on this nonsense.
That's an interesting take. Declaring one's pronouns as a way to announce one's presence (or not) in a dating pool. Okay, but personally I doubt that's the main driver. After all, in the internet era, finding one's tribe is as easy as two taps on a screen. Gay guys can now have as much sex as they want without any third party even knowing, as you must be aware. I certainly am, indeed I speak from experience. So this phenomenon of needing to wear jargon and pronouns on one's sleeve, I think it has other causes, mainly.
You seem like a likeable person who's trying to the do the right thing.
Personally, I would prefer a world where people did not feel obliged by social pressure to announce such details about the minutiae of their private lives. I would prefer that individuals saw themselves first and foremost as individuals and not as representatives of this or that group of (supposed) oppressor or (supposed) victim. This whole situation looks to me transparently like the result of overreach by an advocacy class that needed to find a problem that it could solve. IMO most people are not, and never have been, bigots. They're usually nice folks trying to do the right thing, like you. And it feels to me like they are being manipulated.
I'm hearing lots to vituperation and, well, anger but no actual plans about how to solve any of this. If you're advocating a bloody revolution, then fine, but that will be the end of this conversation. Otherwise you have no choice but to engage in the democratic process. And that will mean a choice between compromising with your fellow citizens or losing elections. There is no alternative. If you keep asking for what they don't want, and they are in the majority, then you will keep losing. It's that simple.
Agreed. Much better to introduce new jargon than to insidiously repurpose existing language. This is the point Orwell made.
But it's jargon nonetheless. It's exclusionary by definition.
This is called a counsel of despair. Or nihilism. With this attitude you are going to achieve precisely nothing - or, rather, you are going to make things worse by ceding control of your government to your avowed enemies.
In a democracy, there is no way forward except compromise. And the alternative to democracy is even worse. Much worse.
On a screen only, in epub format. 10 books or so per year. Almost entirely non-fiction. In theory a chapter at a time. Often in the hour before eating, when I'm most awake and able to concentrate.
As to how I get hold of the book, first I check the Open Library on the Internet Archive. If it's not there (often the case) then I pirate it in about 3 clicks from the usual places.
BUT: if the book is recent and the author is still active, then I will also pay for the book on Amazon or wherever it's cheapest. While reading the epub I pirated earlier. That's only fair. The last time I did this was literally yesterday.
I'll try a different tack. Because after all, we seem to want the same result.
In my analysis (which, as someone who follows this pretty closely, I maintain is much better supported by the evidence than yours), I have to suck it up and talk to people I don't like and maybe even accept policies I don't like.
In yours, you get to feel great about being in the right, with no need to question any of your prejudices much less make any compromises.
If you were a neutral observer watching this conversation, who would you believe?
And you at firing off empty zingers.
like I do every fucking election
Good. That gives you the right to whine (which you seem pretty good at).
The Obama presidency produced some decent outcomes. In democracy you never get everything you want. I agree that the bank-bailout moment was a terrible wasted opportunity.
I'm European who votes green. I want the Democrats to win because that is better for the world. If only you did too.
In polls and focus groups, the voters themselves say otherwise.