part-time nerd full-time dork

“It’s not that wet” 

It wasn't a ridiculous idea, but it seems to have been proven wrong. A generation later, antisemitism is once again the next big thing, and it is hard to go to these museums today without feeling that something profound has shifted.

[...]

No, what I'm wondering about is the purpose of my knowing all of these obscene facts, in such granular detail.

I already know the official answer of course: Everyone must learn the depths to which humanity can sink. Those who do not study history are bound to repeat it. I attended public middle school; I have been taught these things. But as I read the endless wall texts describing the specific quantities of poison used to murder 90 percent of Europe's Jewish children, something else occurred to me. Perhaps presenting all these facts has the opposite effect from what we think. Perhaps we are giving people ideas.

I don't mean giving people ideas about how to murder Jews. there is no shortage of ideas like that, going back to Pharaoh's decree in the Book of Exodus about drowning Hebrew baby boys in the Nile. I mean, rather, that perhaps we are giving people ideas about our standards. Yes, everyone must learn about the Holocaust so as to not repeat it. But this has come to mean that anything short of the Holocaust is, well, not the Holocaust. The bar is rather high.

Shooting people in a synagogue in San Diego or Pittsburgh isn't "systemic"; it's an act of a "lone wolf." And it's not the Holocaust. The same is true for arson attacks against two different Boston-area synagogues, followed by similar simultaneous attacks on Jewish institutions in Chicago a few days later, along with physical assaults on religious Jews on the streets of New York—all of which happened within a week of my visit to the Auschwitz show.

Lobbing missiles at sleeping children in Israel's Kiryat Gat, where my husband's cousins spent the week of my museum visit dragging their kids to bomb shelters, isn't an attempt to bring "Death to the Jews," no matter how frequently the people lobbing the missiles broadcast those very words; the wily Jews there figured out how to prevent their children from dying in large piles, so it is clearly no big deal.

Doxxing Jewish journalists is definitely not the Holocaust. Harassing Jewish college students is also not the Holocaust. Trolling Jews on social media is not the Holocaust either, even when it involves photoshopping them into gas chambers. (Give the trolls credit: They have definitely heard of Auschwitz.) Even hounding ancient Jewish communities out of entire countries and seizing all their assets—which happened in a dozen Muslim nations whose Jewish communities predated the Islamic conquest, countries that are now all almost entirely Judenrein—is emphatically not the Holocaust. It is quite amazing how many things are not the Holocaust.

The day of my visit to the museum, the rabbi of my synagogue attended a meeting arranged by police for local clergy, including him and seven Christian ministers and priests. The topic of the meeting was security. Even before the Pittsburgh massacre, membership dues at my synagogue included security fees. But apparently these local churches do not charge their congregants security fees, or avail themselves of government funds for this purpose. The rabbi later told me how he sat in stunned silence as church officials discussed whether to put a lock on a church door. "A lock on the door," the rabbi said to me afterward, stupefied.

[...]

I feel the need to apologize here, to acknowledge that yes, this rabbi and I both know that many non-Jewish houses of worship in other places also require rent-a-cops, to announce that yes, we both know that other groups have been persecuted too—and this degrading need to recite these middle-school-obvious facts is itself an illustration of the problem, which is that dead Jews are only worth discussing if they are part of something bigger, something more. Some other people might go to Holocaust museums to feel sad, and then to feel proud of themselves for feeling sad. They will have learned something officially important, discovered a fancy metaphor for the limits of Western civilization. The problem is that for us, dead Jews aren't a metaphor, but rather actual people that we do not want our children to become.

I rushed these earlier this year to print some stickers in answer to a clown that was running for president in my country.

Plenty of trans kids come from conservative families (the Nashville shooter, for example, was raised in a conservative christian household and school. They were also the ONLY shooter confirmed to be specifically trans, so you can stop what you were about to type).

We know many come from conservative families because so many of them abuse or throw their LGBT kids onto the streets. 40% of homeless youth are LGBT, and it's overwhelmingly due to family conflict.

Trans kids are are actually overrepresented in foster care, for much the same reasons.

THIS IS WHY PEOPLE STARTED SAYING "PROTECT TRANS KIDS" IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Before I go further, I should address a few things that too many folks get painfully wrong.

Being trans is not a "mental illness", as many like to claim. Mental illnesses are psychiatric, while being trans is a neurological condition in which a person's brain does not recognize them as their assigned/perceived biological sex. It cannot be "fixed" with just psychiatry or psychology--it's part of the brain.

Many spread the lie that "kids are being mutilated" (emotionally manipulative choice of wording). The truth is, no children are being operated on--just older teens (who we trust to operate motor vehicles and hold jobs), and it's VERY rare.

No one can legally get bottom surgery before 18, and--fun fact--the majority of trans people statistically never even opt for bottom surgery.

As for puberty blockers, notice how they're still being used on cis kids (typically those with precocious puberty) without any concerns.

"These kids will grow out of it!"

Yes--most kids questioning themselves will. That's why thorough counselling that goes over all potential consequences and effects is the most effective and recommended. It identifies those who may need further treatment to improve their overall well-being, and those who are simply figuring themselves out.

A friendly reminder, though: It typically requires the agreement between every physician and counselor a patient sees--plus the parents--before anything beyond counselling is even considered. Kinda casts doubt on the idea that the parents could even make that decision for themselves.

"But so many more kids call themselves trans now! It must be a social contagion!"

The case of David Reimer proves that you cannot force or "learn" gender. His creep of a doctor botched his circumcision, and suggested raising David as a girl (note--this attempt is being made immediately from leaving the hospital after birth). David always knew he was not a girl (in fact, it was forcing him to be one that resulted in dysphoria, and his eventual suicide).

Even more damning to the claim of "social contagion" is the prevalence of left-handed people over time. Children even used to be punished for writing with their left hand in schools. Notice what happened when being left-handed stopped being stigmatized.

"But what about the ones that detransition???"

Generally, around 97%-99% of trans people live happier after transitioning.

Surveys found that 94% who've transitioned specifically in America are happier for it.

Of the remaining percentage, it is--at MOST--2% that detransition. Many of those only do so because they're being pressured, and later retransition, which brings the number closer to less than 1%.

The "Cass Report" that people love to trot out (Yale put out a 30-page .pdf report pointing out it's many flaws, for those interested) put it at 0.5%.

"But a lot of them commit suicide, even after transitioning!"

Know why that might be? I'll give you a few hints.

Epidemic levels of hate crime:

https://reports.hrc.org/an-epidemic-of-violence-2024

Health, social, and economic disparities:

No laws protecting them from educational, employment, and housing discrimination:

Overall, suicide rates have more to do with whether they have people who support them, and how they're generally treated.

I have personally witnessed hundreds of total strangers--grown adults--going into threads on twitter made to mourn murdered trans kids just to disrespect their identity, or otherwise leave hateful comments.

AND YET PEOPLE WONDER WHY THEY HAVE A HIGH SUICIDE RATE.

Oh, and before you whine about how "this stuff is shoved in our faces!", conservatives post more about trans people than the entire LGBT community. Some even create and/or follow accounts dedicated to stalking LGBT people looking for things to repost just to upset themselves. Sounds kinda fucked up, doesn't it?

The real irony, though...all those things that ruffle conservative panties like Pride Month? They never would've existed if people actually treated others how they'd wish to be treated in the first place (the "Golden Rule" of the bible, for those who pretend to live by it).

Speaking of the bible, trans people have been recorded in history since 2000 B.C. They were here before Jesus. If anyone thinks an executive order means that trans people are "over", thousands of years of oppression didn't stop them from existing. Four more years isn't going to, either.

Now, to get back on track...what happens when these kids DO have support? Is it "enabling" them? "Feeding their delusion"?

Well, providing them with gender-affirming care (which can be as little as simply letting them dress how they want and using their preferred names/pronouns) reduces suicide rates in trans teens by 73%.

This trans paranoia, however, is killing them.

In reality, folks like you are not only making these kids want to die, but you harass more women in bathrooms than any trans women,

y'oull even stoop to HARASSING CHILDREN,

and this crap has even caused two cis people to be KILLED.

All because you're so terrified of LESS THAN 1% OF THE POPULATION.

You can isolate your kids completely and show them nothing but "christian" programming. Homeschool them, and never let them read anything you don't approve of. Completely keep them from going online.

Some of them will still be trans.

It isn't a choice. It is not something you can prevent.

horseshit is false, unreliable, and horses are very reliable. bullshit is also false, but carries an additional implication of trickery, while bulls are extremely straightforward and guileless.

the concept of star-eating microbes causing a crisis and the solution being the introduction of space wolves to space yellowstone to control the space elk population. i love a good trophic cascade

dr ryland grace immediately pitching "turn the spaceship into a giant centrifuge to generate gravity" and then not balancing his actual centrifuge later on

the entire "life is reason" scene really

grace forgetting to open the mystery alien container in a fume hood AND immediately sticking his nose in it. if we did this in chemistry lab we were executed on the spot

academia drama being one of the cornerstones of grace's character

grace switching through every spectrum setting on the microscope to try to see into the astrophages and not being able to (relatable)

also: the astrophage dying and grace going "ohhh it died..." (very relatable)

grace having his not-scientist buddy Carl to give him frank solutions when he's overthinking. yes, often the solution is just to put the box in another box

copious duct tape usage

just sticking a filter into the path of the petrova line to collect astrophage goop

eva going "so it's alive" when grace tells them the astrophage are moving, and him being like "WELL ok that could be for a lot of reasons" in the tone of someone who doesn't even know where to start explaining why that's a hasty assumption

grace referring to the first new astrophage as his and carl's baby multiple times (HIGHLY relatable)

Been waiting for someone to ask about meerkats!!

Phan as Meerkats!

Individuals:

Grace will never stop talking