Category: Philosophy

Some days come with more pain than others.

Like Father’s Day.

On another Father’s Day, several years ago, I wrote about being The Unfather.

Throughout my post-transition life, I have met situations in which I have had to defend the fact that I wasn’t born female.   I have been told that I cannot ever really understand what it is to be a women because I didn’t grow up being a girl.  And, if the person I’m having the “discussion” with really wants to pour salt in the wound, I’ll be told about the experiences I can never have.

Most of you know that June is designated as LGBT Pride month because of the Stonewall Riots, which began on June 28, 1969.

At Wikipedia, one can find the following statement:

They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, and they have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

The only problem with the words above is that they are not quite true.  Almost three years before, there had been a blow struck for freedom on the other side of the country.

Howl louder. In grief.

Wolf was smart, but Fox was smarter. They lived in the same deep forest and chased the same animals for food. Fox and Wolf would nod as they passed each other on the animal paths but they stayed out of each other’s hunting grounds. Fox and Wolf were good neighbors but not good friends.

One winter the cold moved in like an enemy. Wind beat against the tree trunks, and snow swirled around the bare branches.

It was hard for Fox and Wolf to walk to their hunting grounds as the animal paths were filled with deep snow. The cold wind stung stung their eyes and made their noses ache. Fox and Wolf were hungry; all their usual food slept in the earth, warm and snug in mouse holes or chipmunk nests.

One dark, cold day Fox saw a Mohawk Indian man trudging through the forest pulling a sled behind him. The sled held two long strings of fish.

Off the top, let me acknowledge that there is disagreement between various factions on the importance of civility.  I hope that I have conveyed that I am in favor of it.  One of the purposes of this diary is to promote some civility, in a philosophical vein.

It may be that in my writing travels, travails, and educational efforts, I may have ignited or sparked the desire of someone else to write about trans issues.  If that has indeed happened, then part of my purpose in life has been served.

But I would be less than observant of the duties that purpose imposes if I did not include the caveats.

Every year about this time, I feel the need to write something about pride.  Or maybe I should capitalize that to Pride.  The first is more personally and the second describes the month, sort of officially.  But is there really any difference?

Isn’t…or shouldn’t it be that…Pride month is when we get a chance to review and proclaim the personal pride we have in who we are?

Over the years I have, of course, encountered different voices, with different views on pride…and Pride.

When I first transitioned, I encountered quite a few transpeople who believed that it made no sense to express pride in who we are…just like it makes no sense for people who are not trans to express pride in not being trans.

I disagree with that sentiment.  I have always been and shall constantly strive to remain proud of who I am and what I have accomplished.

About America of the past:

It could be cruel and unjust if you were poor, gay, a woman, or an immigrant, but there was hope it could be better. It was a country I loved and honored. It paid its workers wages envied around the world. It made sure these workers, thanks to labor unions and champions of the working class in the Democratic Party and the press, had health benefits and pensions….It honored basic democratic values and held in regard the rule of law, including international law, and respect for human rights.

—Chris Hedges

And today?

The country I live in today uses the same civic, patriotic, and historical language to describe itself, the same symbols and iconography, the same  national myths, but only the shell remains. The America we celebrate is an illusion. America, the country of my birth, the country that formed and shaped me, the country of my father, my father’s father, and his father’s father, stretching back to the generations of my family that were here for the country’s founding, is so diminished as to be unrecognizable.

—Chris Hedges

I use this poignant observation because it has a deep emotional resonance. Unlike me, Hedges has deep roots in this country. His life is far more deeply shaped by America than mine could ever be. I can tell when I see him on videos and hear him interviewed how much he is in pain. His last book is angry and bitter as he looks around him without flinching. When you’ve seen a lot of death–you don’t flinch so much. Once you decide to see things squarely, you can’t stop just because the thought of seeing your country being flushed down the toilet by fucking criminals haunts you. Worse, for Hedges (and me) is to see people who call themselves Americans degrade into a cowardly group of junkies living in fantasies.  

I don’t know how many of my readers followed LOST; I would hope many of you did. For those who did not, reading on will not lose you, this is not just a show review.  I really hope you do read this, and offer your thoughts on either the show, or my conclusions.

Many of my co-workers did not, in fact could not watch LOST. It was too “complex” for a people breast fed on Survivor, Idol and Dancing with the Criminals. I found it more amazing that so many did become addicted to the show. What this show did, has not been done in my memory in any format other than full length film, is offer a up parable. A deep moral story. It was all about decisions.

They created a grown up Aesop’s Fable, more than a nuanced mystery. Sure, there are people bemoaning “unanswered questions,” but I think the handling was sublime: they left it open enough to let people draw conclusions based on their own beliefs.  Then they reached deep into the psyche of “this can’t be happening – but its happening” and made you suspend those very beliefs without jumping the shark errr, polar bear. They added both silliness, and seriousness while employing quotes from sages spoken by those named after the philosophers. It was a veritable candy store for the deep thinker.

Springsteen may have pointed out years ago that Adam raised a Cain; we got to see what happened when Jacob and Esau lived out their lot. It had men of science, men of faith, and men who were a combination of the two. There were maddona/whore temptresses, battling warriors for what they believed to be penultimate truths, intellectual ‘deciders’ and a Buddha whose sanity was always in question.

Let me tell you what the story told me: that I am never lost.

Quite a few transwomen, if not all, have encountered the fear of other women when they transitioned.  Women-born women don’t feel safe with us using their restroom facilities.  At least the fear that is voiced is that somehow we are rapists or pedophiles, hunting victims in women’s bathrooms.

The reality is that nobody has ever provided an example of that ever happening.  And the reality is more along these lines:

On April 15, Colle Carpenter, a female-to-male transman, post chest-reconstruction surgery, who also happens to be a person with a disability and a graduate student at Cal State Long Beach, chose to use a men’s restroom at the university and encountered someone transphobic, who pulled Colle’s tshirt over his head and carved the word “IT” on Colle’s chest with an X-Acto knife.

Earlier this week, Caractacus ventured into the world of Michel Foucault.  It’s a world which with, although I am not a philosopher, I have become quite familiar.

We people of the trans variety have often had to deal with the concept of normativity, a concept which Foucault wrote about rather extensively.

If you have not read any Foucault, you probably should, though I should warn you that there will be heavy lifting.  After all, in 2007, Foucault was classified as the most cited intellectual in the humanities.

First off, let’s try to get a grip on the word “normativity”.  

In philosophy, normative statements affirm how things ought to be, how to value them, which things are good or bad, which actions are right or wrong.  Normative is usually contrasted with positive…  Positive statements are factual statements that attempt to describe reality.

Last night, voters rejected the Washington, DC, establishment, signaling an electorate eager to take out its anger on political insiders of both parties.  Channeling dissatisfaction with the nation’s capital has long been the meal ticket for candidates espousing a strong populist streak.  Such is the nature of this election cycle.  Having established that, I thought I might try to add my own perspective as to why Washington runs the way it does.  Close to a year spent here has given me ample opportunity to observe many of its idiosyncrasies and quirks.  While I have certainly not been privy to the private world of the federal government, I have experienced a multitude of other meetings, gatherings, and functions which have inadvertently or deliberately mirrored that of the seat of power.

While it is important to point out the inconsistencies and lies that are the hallmark of most of our public institutions we also need to start with some firm foundations to future essays and comments. I feel one of the first things we need to face is that the situation we face today is no longer a political struggle between conservatives and liberals or even reactionaries and progressives. As has been brought out by several people here at DD the struggle is between criminal entities (most large corporations, big banks, traditional organized crime, the military (yes I believe much though not all of the military has become a criminal enterprise), the covert ops part of the intel agencies, the MSM (the worst of the lot), the federal government and many state and local governments. No, it is not a matter of “incompetence” that has brought us to this situation but of what I consider criminal behavior.

There are two aspects of criminal behavior. The first, obviously, is the breaking of laws on the books–well, in this country with more laws (I’m sure) than any entity that has ever existed, it is pretty easy for anyone to break the law but still even if you look at major statutes the fact is that major corporations and the elites escape the law while the poor do not. The Federal government now no longer even pretends to follow the law, for example, the Geneva Conventions and protocols are routinely ignored despite the fact that they are the law. Of course, laws against fraud were ignored during and after the financial crisis. Disappearance of trillions from DOD elicited no action and no response from the media, criminal fraud by contractors in Iraq almost completely ignored by any agencies and, generally, underreported in the MSM. The list can go on and on and this blog has at one time or another reported on nearly all of them. These aren’t arguments over policy but clear criminality that, in a healthy society, would have been prosecuted. This criminality and corruption has rapidly increased in recent years.

The second aspect of criminal behavior I would like to describe as follows:

The deliberate attempt by private interests to undermine public welfare, public spaces, public health and the future of the species for financial gain.

This aspect of criminality is far worse than simply breaking particular laws. It is about the deliberate destruction of society and government itself. I suggest to you that this has been the conscious and deliberate intention of most (not all) of the ruling elite for the past few decades but particularly since the stolen election of 2000. I believe their intention was then and is now the looting of the entire world and the destruction of American society and any other society for the purpose of instituting a New World Order based on a global imperial system on the macro-level and various modes of neofeudal social arrangements at the local level with most of the population either expendable or in a state of serfdom. This system is not in place yet and can be stopped but this is the agenda of most of the power players.

As has been made abundantly clear on this blog, the Obama administration is only cosmetically different than the previous administration. The differences are largely cultural rather than political. We can mostly agree here that we are no longer fooled by the Kabuki of Obama and his allies in Congress. Obama simply is beside the point.