i wanna bleed the tone

Source

"Testosterone causes dominance and aggression."

"Not all men, but we can't tell which men so we must assume all men are predators."

"Even men you know could secretly be predators."

"We don't want men in women's restrooms."

"It's unfair for AMAB people to compete in women's sports, they have a physical advantage."

These are all relatively accepted points among central and even liberal circles of women. They sound like they are logically sound and only concerned with protecting women from harm.

Until...

Testosterone does not cause aggression. That's bioessentialism, which is bad science.

Fear mongering works to separate you and "others" into groups; us vs them, you're put on the defensive. Assumptions about gender essentialism are shown to widen the gap in so-called gender-based behaviors. Not only that, they actively increase hostility towards trans individuals.

Men are not slaves to their biochemistry or gender identities. Studies show that young boys given education on relationships and consent don't go on to be perpetrators of DV and sexual assault.

Additionally, intimate partner violence is reciprocal far more often than reported due to the fact that men are unlikely to report abuse. DV is not a problem of gender--it is a learned behavior.

Arguments about "men" in women's spaces is not about cis men--it is a dogwhistle for transphobia.

Trans feminine individuals on HRT experience a decrease in Hgb/HCT levels to equal that of cisgender women, as well as lose muscle mass, which steadily declines beyond 3 years on HRT. They also show no difference in V02 peak to cis women.

Additionally, there is no rationale behind using trans people as a whipping dog in discussions of gender.

"Almost half of all transgender people have been discriminated against in hiring or firing decisions and more than 40 percent have experienced workplace harassment because they are transgender." This is comparable to rates of sexism that cis women experience in the workplace.

Trans women were paid 60 cents for every $1 earned by the average American worker, compared to the 84 cents earned by cis women.

Trans people face significant barriers to accessing sexual, reproductive, and general healthcare.

Lasers have a lot of uses! Measuring things, heating things, cutting things, entertaining cats, particle physics. Lasers are pretty cool. Very versatile, very useful, potential to be very powerful.

Someone shows up one day and says "I have developed a never before seen technology! I call it a Death Star."

And it's a 3.4mW laser. Well no, we haven't seen this exact size of laser much since that's not really standard, but that's a bit of a misnomer, and I wouldn't call it new -

"HOLY SHIT GUYS! This Death Star is so entertaining! My cat loves it and it has such a nice color!" The Death Star becomes a viral novelty, and is mildly entertaining, as laser pointers often are.

Somehow, seemingly overnight, this leads to mania. "Lets stick lasers in EVERYTHING! The public loves them!"

More companies make 3.4mW lasers to jump on the bandwagon. Everyone that makes anything vaguely mechanical starts sticking lasers into their designs.

Everyone is calling them Death Stars. Any time there is a "Death Star innovation", it is just that they made a bigger laser.

Ford's next truck comes out and it has "Death Star integrated headlights", where they have just stuck giant lasers in place of their previously functional headlights.

An electric toothbrush is now "Powered by Death Stars" and shoots a laser at the tooth its cleaning. You think that maybe this could have actual applications as a sanitizing device if you're being generous, but when you actually look at the product, its laser has no purpose but to point at the tooth and drain the battery.

Mechanical products across the board get noticeably worse as everyone starts stuffing lasers in places where lasers have no right to be.

The lamp business gets in on it. "Here's a Death Star powered lamp!" These guys haven't even tried to stick a laser in their damn lamps. They've just started calling their light bulbs Death Stars and hoped you bought it before you could tell the difference. You at least appreciate that they haven't ruined their lamp about it.

Death Stars are lauded as the solution to all the world's problems. If it's not working, you should stick a laser in it! That'll fix it, everyone says. Once in a blue moon, it's even true! Weather prediction is really good now. But most things are garbage. Like "Death Star powered washing machines". What the fuck does that even mean?

Meanwhile, since all functioning mechanisms are being replaced with lasers, problems start showing up. All mirrors now cost $1000+ dollars, because the whole supply is being used up to make more lasers. The earth heats up, because everyone's blasting lasers at everything. People keep going blind, on account of all the lasers.

You, in fact, study optical mechanics. You know what a laser is, and how it works, and that it was invented many years before any of this nonsense actually started. People keep asking you about Death Stars, since surely you must know so much about them.

You explain that this is not really what lasers are for, except you have to call them Death Stars now, and that they're causing a lot of harm, so you don't like them much.

"Oh, but they're still such new tech!" they reply. "They'll figure out how to make Death Stars that don't burn your eyes out soon, and then it won't be an issue anymore!"

Somewhere, deep and buried, you remember lasers being used in particle accelerators, or in telescopes, or in laser cutters, or funny cat videos. They are, in fact, still interesting. Still cool.

But by this point they have replaced roads with "Death Star Powered Pathways", which are just laser pointers propped up on tooth picks pointing vaguely through the forests.

And you think you are going mad.

And they are still just FUCKING LASERS.

do not taste plants if you don't know what they are

do not identify a fruit as edible just because it tastes sweet

hope you didn't eat any fucking seeds, bro

I saw the photo in my feed and went ohh, dude, no, we do not handle yellow rocks with our bare hands until we know for sure what they are. And I know that orange...

In comments, they continue:

and that's where I started cussing at the computer monitor. But someone else had got there first: