mdk

The Topic of Homosexuality, Gender Identity, and So forth

Everything that makes you you is locked tightly within your DNA. Your life experiences and the way you were reared have little to do with how you turn out.

@ASTA

I disagree heartily with that. I mean we taught monkeys to communicate via sign language -- that's not locked in their DNA, that's something we taught and they learned.

Though I guess the more obvious example is, genetics say I should have two legs, but here I am with one, because of 'life experiences.' If that can affect my body then why not my mind, too? What we experience has everything to do with who we become. We're not done being made the instant we're born -- we're growing until the day we die.

The Confederate Flag, and Charleston

Making this about racism or popular perception thereof is just running down a rabbit's hole, I think. This isn't and shouldn't be about how the rest of America views the confederate flag. It should be about whether South Carolina wants the flag to represent them. We should be listening to what they think right now, not what we (provided we are not south carolinans) think.

@RIGHTEOUSwench

*slow clap*

In light of recent events in the US, someone decided to make a flag that could offend everybody at once.

I meant like a regular right-side-up cross, or maybe a white jesus.

The Topic of Homosexuality, Gender Identity, and So forth

My problems with the whole 'born with it' argument:

1. It establishes a permanent victim-status for a whole lot of people. Like a disability almost. 'He can't help it if he likes wieners!' 'Her legs don't work and she shows up to school anyway!' 'She likes guys, and THAT'S NOT HER FAULT!!' It's useful for shaming bullies, which is worth doing I guess, but once you get out of high school all you're doing is arguing that you're powerless and you need to be protected. The opposite of a strong position.

2. It can't be accurate for everybody -- there's gotta be at least one dude out there who struck out with the ladies so much that he tried being gay, and figured 'this is working I guess.' That guy, in my mind, deserves just as much respect as everyone else, but he wasn't 'born with it,' so he's not REALLY gay! He just made a choice!

3. It promotes this idea that conditions from birth can't be opposed -- BUT EVERYTHING ELSE TOTALLY CAN! Genetics are off-limits, but you should hate people who choose to grow up in a christian house, or people who choose to inherit lots of money from their parents, or people who choose to be Muslim. Screw that. Nevermind for a moment that your 'nature' is bigger than your genetics (there are so many other factors that your genes are almost negligible) -- take a guy who woke up one day at age 45 and decided he was Buddhist from now on. I'd rather hate the person who never chose anything in their life -- who did literally nothing but exist in the most comfortable way possible. When did genetic lotteries become more admirable than meaningful decisions? If someone chooses to be gay, they're a lot braver than the person who just started that way.

4. It's fatalistic. That kid has X gene, therefore he's gonna grow up to be a gay plumber and everyone will hate him and the psychological scars from that one thing in school will prevent him from succeeding and now he's basically a lost cause and isn't that sad? Screw that. Screw ALL of that. You can do anything you want to do, including porking other men when you've got the straight gene. It's like people have forgotten how to drive a car -- we got in and the wheels were pointing left, so I guess we're going left in circles today, right? NO! Take the wheel and drive.

5. In this specific case, does it make sense? I mean..... we're talking about a gene that would prevent reproduction, up until the late 90s. how many billions of years of evolution does it theoretically take for that to select itself right out of the pool? If that's truly the only factor, then gay people only exist because for literally billions of years, social pressures have bullied them into screwing the opposite sex. I don't buy that.

Probably some other stuff that I'm forgetting.

In light of recent events in the US, someone decided to make a flag that could offend everybody at once.

Still needs a cross.

RPGC #3 -- THE COSMOS

Three if I count mine, which isn't finished... Generally we have 8-9 before the final weekend starts, and the rest roll in over the last couple of days (and those last days produce a lot of entries). So this might be no issue at all; but I figured I'd give everyone a heads-up just in case.

Roster for filling up MDK's fucking pony avatar thread.

awwww, he loves me

If this thread overtakes the MLP game, I'll wear a Brony avatar and sig for a year.

You fools are losing ground. Even when you spend half an hour doing solo-shitposts against the cooldown, you still aren't catching up. You should throw in the towel -- it's never gonna happen.

share something about yourself!

My leg falls off sometimes.

RPGC #3 -- THE COSMOS

Well I won't lie -- we're a little behind the normal pace for entries this time around. I'm willing to stretch the deadline if and only if it's totally necessary -- I very much prefer we get it done on time, especially in light of @Terminal's cooperation on the schedule. Try to get things done (even if they're short and sweet) by the end of the month -- if we simply don't have enough entries to proceed at that point, we may have to add some days.

Again -- don't anybody count on getting extra time. At this point the plan is to cut off at the end of the 30th, and people should treat it that way. We're only moving it if it's literally impossible to have a vote otherwise.