Society

Two days ago president Trump signed an executive order to ban trans people from competing in women’s sports. I’ve read that he mentioned Imane Khelif as an example of one who was assigned the male gender at birth competing in women’s sports, which is wrong and she was always a woman, but nevertheless this was a good order. (Edit: I stand corrected. I’ve read that new lab reports show Khalif is biologically male. I don’t know which report is correct, whether Imane Khalif is male or female, but if Khalif is male, competing in women’s sports is wrong and an injustice to women.)

I never liked Trump. I never liked his personality, I never liked how he talks, I never liked how he acts, and I believe he is corrupting everything he touches. I believe he is not suitable and qualified to run the president’s office but I gotta admit, he is hell of a man for doing what he’s doing.

Woke culture has gone too far and someone needs to stop it. As much as I hate Trump’s personality, he’s doing a good job on this matter. We need some order. No man should be able to compete in women’s sports. There shouldn’t be 100 genders to “choose” from. There’s a man and a woman and if this is how biology works, then this should be what we use to separate genders.

There shouldn’t be sexual material, in any way, in schools. No man with giant implanted breasts to teach underage kids, no drag queens telling stories and possibly confusing children. No life-changing choices for kids under 18 such as gender-affirming surgeries. If someone is not qualified to drive a car or drink alcohol, that person is not qualified to choose to cut his penis off or go through excessive hormone therapy which in many cases have irreversible effects.

I have no problem if someone wants to call himself a woman. I have no right to choose what a person does in his/her private and I have no interest in telling consenting adults to what to do with each other, but when it comes to public, and when it’s going to effect everyone’s lives, it’s not up to debate.

There can be 100 genders and I respect you if you choose any of them but if it’s sports, there’s only two sexes which have fundamental differences with each other. When it comes to public toilets, there’s only two sexes and each one only has right to enter one.

It’s not up to debate that only one sex can get pregnant. I shouldn’t be crucified if I call someone a man when that man was born with XY chromosomes, has male appearance, and was assigned the male sex at birth but he chose to be a woman after 30 years. I respect that man’s choice, I even will try to call him “She/Her” if he wants me to but that doesn’t change anything for me.

I’ve seen drag races in streets where some people are dressed as sexually revealing as possible and there are children watching. Children should be banned from these shows and their parents should be tried and punished for bringing them there.

Right-wingers are crazy as hell, I know, but the left is not helping. I understand how ridiculous is the Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law, but should we really make everything gay to fight it? Should we really put gay characters in every movie? I completely understand that they are a minority with a history of being excessively oppressed but I don’t think making everything gay everywhere is the solution to normalize them.

And I’m not a bigot. I don’t hate anyone and I respect everybody, but sometimes the ones on the opposite side make some good points and one of these good points is that the woke culture has gone too far. The cancel culture has gone too far. Not everyone is racist, not everyone is a bigot, not everyone is a sexual predator, not every feeling is valid, and we got to stop caring about everyone and start to put some sense in our lives.

I’m tired of respecting everyone’s feelings. I’m sorry if you’re hurt, I’m sorry if you’re angry, I’m sorry if you feel something I may never understand but you got to understand, I’m not the problem here. I didn’t invent you, I didn’t create your problems, and I certainly didn’t do some weird magic to make you queer, I respect whatever you are and I try to get better at interacting with you but if you have a penis, please get the hell out of my daughter’s bathroom and no matter how woke you are, no matter how much you assure me that you feel as a woman inside and your gender is different from your sex, man I can’t risk it.

If you’re not born as a woman, I think I have the right to know and choose if I still want to have a romantic relationship with you or not. It’s not that I think something is wrong with you, it’s just that I think I have the right to know what and who I’m dealing with.

The woke culture has gone too far. Too far that it made me accept and actually like one of Trump’s executive orders. I don’t know how many people agree with me, I don’t know how many people think the same, but I think there are a lot of them and Trump being re-elected into office just proves that.

I hate racial injustice, believe me, as a brown person who was regularly be called a sand-nigger on social networks I completely understand the pain but do we really need to bold the matter in every scene and episode of our movies?

I hate a sexist person. I hate a sexual predators, man or woman, but should we really believe every accusation against people? Should we cancel people based on people’s claims? And should I really be canceled because I listened to some music or watched a movie from someone who is believed to be a predator? I mean should we really disregard everything 100s of people did to make that movie only because one person did some evil stuff?

And why stop on these matters? How come woke culture cares about what Greta Thunberg says (I love her btw, since he roasted that Andrew Tate son of a bitch), but doesn’t care about thousands of sweat shops in East Asia that work for Tech Giants? How come nobody cares about Apple or Google’s evil policies regarding privacy, people’s rights and digital/non-digital freedoms, and many evil things they do regarding human decency?

How come nobody of these woke people care about how Nike or Adidas shoes they’re wearing are produced by children, literally children, in countries such as Vietnam, India, and China?

The way to win people over changes this. culture want is not what is currently happening. It’s but slowly and carefully explaining the reason behind what it’s trying to achieve to people and let them actually decide if they agree or not. Maybe there’s still chance to do good.

I’m very excited for the holiday season in West. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. Now I have only experienced it through movies and books and news, but it still makes me feel good. The videos and imagery of snow-covered streets combined with twinkling lights and families holding hands going shopping and stopping to take a picture with Santa make me excited.

The songs, movies, and everything we see on Internet and elsewhere are so good. It make me feel a sense of warmth comfort. I watched “Red One (2024)” few days ago, starring Chris Evans and Dwayne Johnson. Not my type of favorite movie but still made me laugh and feel joy.

We have so much good Persian traditions which I adore but they can’t stop me from wanting to experience the traditions of Western cultures. Everything I see sparks my curiosity. Many of the traditions aren’t even specific to Western cultures, such as exchanging gifts and visiting family members, they are some of the most-respected values we have in Persian culture, yet they seem somehow different in West.

The portrayal of these celebrations in Western media has painted a picture of unrealistic happiness in my brain which I know may be a lot different in real life yet I can’t control my desire to experience them.

Winter is my favorite season so you can understand how a holiday in the winter, which is always shown to me with specific pictures of snow-covered houses and decorations, can make me this much excited.

But the celebrations and festivities aren’t all I’m excited for. As a Middle Easterner, you surely can understand how the feelings of unity, happiness, goodwill, and celebration are carved in our DNA so I want them as well. It’s not just about the cold weather and good decoration, it’s about embracing deep feelings too.

Perhaps one day I find the opportunity to participate in these celebrations, to create memories and blend in with people who truly appreciate these traditions. Until then, I’ll continue enjoying movies and videos, pictures on Internet, reading good news about it, and talking to my friends. I can enjoy the season imagining I’m part of it as well.

If you’ve followed Middle East news in past weeks you surely know about the attacks exchanged between Israel and Iran(-backed forces). We’re know one step closer to full-blown war. We’re one step closer to a total war and nobody seems to care.

As a Middle Easterner, you get used to certain things in the region, and one of them is war. We’re born with it and many have died with it. It’s been here for thousands of years but modern conflicts date back to 1902. It’s always been here.

I don’t have a memory of a single day without war in the region, nor does my father, nor did my grandpa. We’ve always had war and years of experiencing and getting used to it made us numb.

For the past week I’ve seen my colleagues’ flights being canceled on fear of missile attack from Israel and the only thing I’ve heard from my co-workers is how much angry they are that they can’t go home (for their monthly rest). Nobody seems to care or be feared that if Israel attacks one of the petrochemical and refinery plants here, where we work, every single one of us would likely die.

Nobody seems to even fear that there will be war directly towards us and we most certainly will suffer the consequences. We’re so numb from the war that the only reaction I see from people is them making jokes. Pretty funny jokes actually, made me laugh hard sometimes.

I bet if there’s a threat against some European or American countries, people there would panic and get everything ready to combat the aftermath but it’s not like this here. War has lost its meaning here. I’ve seen people lining up in gas stations to get a full tank so they can flee the city in case of an attack but it was a really small group of people.

I was wondering what the hell is wrong with us here? We know what war can do to us, we’re seeing it every day, and yet we’re continuing life as nothing is happening. War is not funny, it’s not something that will ever become normal, yet it is in here.

I was reading about Brown v. Board of Education and there’s an interesting paragraph:

To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone. The effect of this separation on their educational opportunities was well stated by a finding in the Kansas case by a court which nevertheless felt compelled to rule against the Negro plaintiffs

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (USSC+)
Argued December 9, 1952
Reargued December 8, 1953
Decided May 17, 1954

The court ruled in favor of Oliver Brown (or to better put it, racial integration) partly because of the psychological impact on children. This is something we don’t consider much lately. There is physical harm and there is psychological and mental harm. When we treat our children and when we decide what’s good or bad, we mostly consider the physical harm, yet the mental impacts of our decisions may have a way more influence on our kids.

A child living in a household full of mental pressures is in risk of being damaged. A child living in poverty may take physical harm but there is also mental harm. The child would be in constant pressure and may feel less worthy, wronged, and unequal to others.

When we put children in an environment full of pressure to decide their genders or when unnecessarily give too much information about sex and gender, we’re putting harm on our children. I’m not against trans people, I have dear trans friends who have faced real issues in their lives and had to combat many troubles because of their bodies, and I understand their pain and fully support them but I still can’t agree that minors should be able to decide to physically harm their body or mutilate themselves.

Yet, the physical part may be possible to be undone but the mental damage they suffer from may never heal. They may overcome their physical pain but the damage done to their minds is permanent.

It’s wrong to let children decide if they’re a man or woman. If they’re too young to vote or drink alcohol or live by themselves, then they’re too young to decide to change their sex or decide what gender they’re in.

I think there’s only two sexes. You’re either a man or a woman. I also think that there are people who have been born in a wrong body. I think it should be legal to help those people change their identity and help them become what they truly are. It’s a human right and people should be able to enjoy their freedom to decide.

I’m not a doctor and I never studied biology, that being said, I think five thousand years from now if some alien people find our remaining, and they decide to categorize us, they would categorize us not in 10 genders but in two. They would put us either in the male section or female section. That’s my opinion and it may be wrong.

I believe we shouldn’t bring drag queens to schools and we certainly shouldn’t bring children to drag races. The same way we restrict pornography or R-rated movies, or are cautioned when it’s a PG-13 show, we should be cautioned about how we treat our children when it comes to sexuality.

And I don’t mean it’s only trans stuff that are harmful. When we surround our children with what is not suitable for their age, we’re doing harm to them. There’s also opposite of that. If we teach them that their sexual orientation should only align with what we believe, we’re doing harm to them. If we force them to repeat our belief, we’re doing harm to them.

I believe we should consider punishing those who put our children in danger and this danger is not only physical, but also mental. I believe we should take more care of our future generation.

I’m not a conservative, I frequently mock them and I disagree with most of their ideologies but I got to support them on this one. Well not completely, they’ve gone too far. I don’t support banning a book because it mentioned “gay”, or shutting down libraries because some dumb lady thinks her kid is reading Playboy magazines there, but I believe when it comes to sexuality, we should be a lot more careful.

I also don’t mean we should stop every sex education we have in schools, we certainly need them and I think we should even expand them to be more effective, but I also think that people like Kayla Lemieux should not be allowed in schools. I think we should normalize that people may have different sexual orientation and preference but it should be done when the child is in proper age.

In any situation, when we treat our kids in a way that we deprive them of the power of free will and thinking, we’re doing harm to them and it should be stopped immediately. It’s not that we may force children to do something but it’s that when we constantly repeat a certain thought to our children, we automatically induce them to follow that thought.

There’s a proper age for everything. If we don’t cell cigarettes to people unless they’re above a certain age, because it may harm their bodies, then we shouldn’t cell them certain information that may harm their minds. If we don’t let them sign hospital papers for surgeries such as appendectomy, then they certainly shouldn’t be able to decide for changing their sex.

And it’s not just sex. The sex thing was on top of my head. There are a lot of stuff happening. We surround our children with guns. A weapon to kill people should not be something normal in a household. I’m all for people’s rights to “bear Arms” but it shouldn’t be normal. We shouldn’t make it easy for our children to shoot a gun. We should teach them when they grow up, as the United States Constitution mentions it’s “being necessary to the security of a free State”, but that shouldn’t be normal for a child.

Technology can be lot harmful to children. Unsupervised use of internet is a lot harmful to our children. Internet material is not well-regulated, nor it should be, but children’s use of web and internet should be supervised and controlled by parents.

And hey, let me say this too, it’s not that children are in constant danger. They usually can think for themselves and decide correctly. No matter how much we restrict them, they can find a way to access material we forbade. It’s not much we can do. I know some minors who are active members of software communities and they’re really good programmers. They chose to use internet for something amazing and they’re learning a lot. That’s awesome. I bet if we restricted their internet, they wouldn’t learn as much as they have.

My point is that restriction is not the sole solution. Education is equally important. We should not treat our children as they don’t understand anything, we should treat them in a way that they can decide for themselves correctly and wisely. We should care about their mentality, and teach them how to decide and tell right and wrong. We should let them make mistakes yet protect them from the worst consequences.

We should let them take a controlled amount of harm so they can learn. If they don’t ever get punished, or face some consequences, then we have hurt them in another way. It’s like our body’s immune system. If it never contacts any virus or bacteria, then it will remain weak.

We should protect our children both physically and mentally. We should care a lot more about them and it should be done through a combination of controlled access to information, good education, and give them a say in their life, choices, and future.

Oh, am I legally bound to say these are just random opinions and I’m not an expert of psychology or children matters?