📘 2+2=4 Vol. 8: Making waves
From BDSM for four-year olds to trans widows whose ex-husbands are now ex-wives: at least, the current avalanche of madness is making waves on the internet.
Clear turquoise waters, a warm summer breeze, the sound of seagulls. There is nothing more calming than a walk on the beach and a dip in the water on a hot summer day. I have always loved the water or, more specifically, the sea. There is something profoundly majestic about the vastness of the ocean that always instills a feeling of humbleness and gratitude in me.
Looking at what is going on in the world, it seems like those two qualities – humbleness and gratitude – are painfully lacking today. Instead, a deep-seated narcissism and sense of entitlement has taken hold. We can see this in many of this week’s stories: Men who destroy their families to pursue their dream of “becoming a woman”; parents who put their careers before their children1; men who compete in female sports and enjoy “winning” against women; a black female diversity coach who takes great relish in bullying a white male course participant; gender ideologues who want to validate themselves by pushing their worldview on children; trans activists who feel entitled to call everyone who doesn’t agree with them a bigot. We are in deep water right now.
But while society seems intent on destroying itself, the fact that more and more of these stories are actually being reported on in big (albeit “alternative”) media outlets give hope that the tide might be turning. So far, mainstream media has been conspicuously silent about many of these matters. But as cases of blatant injustices, psychological terror and flat-out craziness amount and as people are better informed and outraged by what is going on (and rightly so), hopefully, things will change.
In the meantime, I will enjoy my strolls along the coast. A good way to keep your sanity intact.
#1 Michael & the Trans Widow | Tracy Shannon
by Michael Knowles (The Michael Knowles Show, published on August 12, 2023)
As transgenderism is causing a desastrous ripple effect of destruction in many families, communities and Western society as a whole, more and more stories of people who have been affected by this ideology are coming to light. A few months ago, I had recommended an episode from the Jordan Peterson Podcast in which Peterson talks to Dr. Miriam Grossman about the immense suffering of parents who have to deal with a transitioning child. In this episode from yet another conservative2 podcaster from The Daily Wire called Michael Knowles, a so-called “trans widow” gets to talk about her experience of having been married to a man who would later transition to a woman and leave her and their three children. Tracy Shannon’s story is one of disillusionment, deceit and distress; it’s quite unsettling to realize that the state has become openly anti-family in the attempt to accommodate trans people at all costs, while the wives and children left behind are vilified. I really recommend you listen to Shannon’s testimony: it is powerful and important.
#2 Universal Early Childhood Daycare Has Been Proven to Damage the Children Who Have Been Through It
by Laura Wiley Haynes (Year Zero, published on August 13, 2023)
Haynes’ essay for Year Zero on the potential harm of universal early childhood daycare delves into a highly controversial topic that barely anyone dares to touch. Might universal daycare, praised by feminists and politicians throughout the past decades as liberating and wonderful, actually be detrimental to our children’s development? Haynes forces us to look at the facts as she points out step by step how declining mental health correlates with the rising rates of children put into universal daycare, presenting arguments that hint not only at a correlation but a causal relationship between the two. And it makes perfect sense: State daycare cannot replace the 24/7 care of a parent, especially a mother. Little human beings are not wired to be left to strangers and until very recently, humans have never put their babies into the care of an unknown person who has to tend to a handful of unknown babies at the same time. Our outsourcing of baby care might indeed be at the heart of today’s mental health crisis.
#3 How the Lia Thomas scandal could save women’s sports
by Jo Bartosch (spiked online, published on August 4, 2023)
While the trans lobby continues to shout from the rooftops that “transwomen are women” (i.e. “men are women”), female athletes all over the world have had to endure incredible injustices as biological men have entered women’s sports under the guise of “identifying as women”. In her newest column, Jo Bartosch, writing with her usual refreshing clarity, reflects on the infamous Lia Thomas scandal3 and concludes that, while it has of course deprived many female athletes of the chance at athletic success (most famously Riley Gaines), it has also opened the eyes of many who up till then might have gone along with trans-identifying males competing in women’s sports. Several international sports federations have since then made an effort to officially limit their female categories to, well, females. Hopefully, Bartosch argues, step by step, as cases of broad-shouldered men towering on the podiums of women’s sporting events continue to make waves, people will realize that not only must we keep women’s sport for women but also women’s spaces.
#4 A Racist Smear. A Tarnished Career. And the Suicide of Richard Bilkszto.
by Rupa Subramanya and Ari Blaff (The Free Press, published on August 3, 2023)
As someone who lives in continental Europe, I am both amazed at and afraid of what will certainly spill over from the Anglosphere soon: “diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings” or “DEI” trainings to supposedly raise awareness among employees for potentially racist, sexist and other discriminatory behavior. While this might sound good on paper, the reality is nothing but reversed racism, sexism and discrimination. The tragic case of Richard Bilkszto – a respected teacher and vice-principal who was publicly shamed at DEI trainings to a degree that it destroyed his reputation and made him commit suicide – is a harrowing example of how extreme anti-white (and anti-men) bullying has become. Make no mistake: “DEI” is toxic, it is inhumane, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
#5 Listen, BDSM is not for four-year-olds
by Brendan O’Neill (spiked online, published on August 23, 2023)
I must admit that I have come to enjoy Brendan O’Neill’s sharp-witted and sarcastic writing quite a bit. Commenting on yet another case of wildly inappropriate reading material at a pre-school in England that includes half-naked men in studded leather, O’Neill skillfully connects the dots between the Left’s obsession to infuse little children with ideas about BDSM and the simultaneous push for censoring classics of English literature for supposedly being “politically incorrect”. Shakespeare and Steinbeck are out, sexual fetishes are in. O’Neill’s warning at the end couldn’t be any more urgent: “It might start with a book about an old fella in leather chaps, but it doesn’t end there.”
#6 How can we have a proper debate when we no longer speak the same language?
by Richard Dawkins (Evening Standard, published on August 15, 2023)
Richard Dawkins is a renowned British evolutionary biologist who, like most scientists who refuse to deny biological reality, has found himself a target of trans activists. With empathy and reason – clearly two qualities that trans activists do not possess – Dawkins lays out how any debate about the topic of sex and gender has become impossible because in the current climate of hypersensitivity words have lost their meaning. Asking for a solid counter-argument is now “hate”, using a “wrong” pronoun is now “violent”, and God forbid you make a satirical remark about gender ideology. And then, of course, you now read things like “with her penis” in news reports about rape incidents. It really cannot become any more Orwellian than that.
#7 My Beautiful Friend
by Grazie Sophia Christie (The Point, published on July 19, 2023)
Christie’s essay on the strange nature of female envy is an intriguing read that combines a very personal story with literary examples of female characters who are either blessed with beauty or cursed with mediocre looks. Whether we like it or not, beauty does open some doors to those women who possess it, while the “plain girls”, as Christie calls them, must find another way to open them. Whether we like it or not, when we see a stunningly beautiful person, we tend to not only admire but also, deep down, envy them. Whether we like it or not, as we get older, our beauty fades away and then, hopefully, so will envy. As she reflects on the relationship with her beautiful friend K, Christie tries to navigate the different shades of envy, bitterness and resentment to, in the end, find some peace.
I am not referring to parents who both need to work in order to make ends meet.
It is mostly conservatives who are willing to give these people a platform.
Lia Thomas aka Will Thomas is the first openly transgender athlete (read: male) who has crushed several women’s swimming records in the NCAA Division I.
Long, long ago, my Dad joined the Navy to serve in WWII. Mom was left with we two brothers. And no money, no savings, no nothing so she had to work. And we went to stay with a woman we knew as Mom Mender. I was less than three and Ted was about 15 months. That lasted until 1946 when Dad came home. Yes, there were issues. We saw on a weekend day. We must have entertained ourselves. We didn’t have other kids to play with until I got to go to Kindergarten. I wouldn’t advise it and I don’t blame Mom.