Unpopular Opinions

[Lovely Mixture]

Israel should get out of Palestine and be transported to Mars where they won't bother people.

Ignoring the possibility of argument here. I was going to post the opposite, that is: "Israel has the right to land as much as everyone else (though extremists on both sides are making things difficult)" which I thought was the unpopular opinion.

OT: I'm a feminist. Thats a pretty flipping unpopular opinion to have on this site.

It depends what you mean by feminist, because most people these days (or at least the people around me) can only associate feminist with "ultra-feminist who hates any form of women depicted sexually in videogames/films/books etc and decides that censorship is the right method of combating perceived wrong doing."

By the strictest definition of feminist, I am also one. I support rights and equal wages for women.

 

[thelustyargoniandude]

I did not enjoy The Godfather. Just couldn't get into it.

 

[xXTheParadoxXx]

I think there should be an IQ test designed by the federal government, available to all, and that a person who chooses to take it and achieves a high score should have the weight of their vote increased.

wouldn't that help to further imbalance the political system since many of those who are in the top 1% got there by being intelligent? so as well as having financial sway over politicians they would also then be able to cast more votes for their chosen candidate/ puppet to get them into office?

 

[Relish in Chaos]

Then why change it? Or maybe it does contribute to it.

This is where my original post came from. They change what they can (appearance, hormones etc) and then belittle people who say sex is determined by genetics ie the thing they can't change. Instead of engaging in rational debate many just resort to cries of bigotry and saying "it doesn't matter".

Well if genetics doesn't matter then why do any of the characteristics (hormones, genitals etc) matter?

Not all of them change it, but numerous transgender people are physically disgusted with their genitalia, something which they have to look down and see every single day. Also, obviously, sexual intercourse.

But perhaps someone better informed on the subject or an actual transgender person themself can tell you more about it.

I dont have a lot of time, but yes, looking into the mirror and seeing.. "that" down there makes me ill, disgusted, and depressed. It's a mind/body transformation for most of us. Change the exterior... fine, but the hormones do a LOT as well for our insides.

Exactly. I don't know why this is so hard for some people to get.

---

Just remembered another one. I didn't like Inception. I found it too confusing to enjoy it, and no, I'm not one of those dummies who only watch a film for the action. I'll probably have to watch it again, though, just to gauge a more informed opinion.

And the book Twilight actually got half-decent towards the end, mainly because the plot finally went somewhere and relaxed considerably on the angst.

 

[Kennetic]

I believe in God and while I believe that evolution is possibly outside of my areas of knowledge/research/experience, I find it unlikely given my (woefully inadequate) research on the subject.

I think Abortion is killing a living (innocent) being and should be illegal.

I believe that freedom is preferable to safety.

I believe Zero Punctuation was better in the "old days".

The only truly OP champ was release Xin Zhao.

I think Pot should be legal.

I think homosexuality is a dangerous lifestyle, and while it should be free and protected, it is not natural.

I believe nurture is more powerful than nature.

I like Ron Paul for president.

I believe that the benefits of firearms outweigh the deaths of children that have taken place in America. (Wow, now I'm just being inflammatory.)

I believe that every person needs to be loved, and to show love to all others all the time in accordance to their personal levels of love, joy, and patience.

Skyrim was meh.

Kids are awesome, and having eight of them would not bother me in the least!

Edit: Oh, and anyone living in America who rages to ANY DEGREE about the "1%". They piss me off! "Rah rah, 1% is evil rah rah, I live better than KINGS of the past. I have nature bent to my will. In summer I am cool, in winter I am warm. I am part of the 1% historically, and right now I'm part of the top 5% alive." UGH!!! Hate that! Who CARES if someone has more money than you! Who CARES what they are doing with it, because when it comes down to it you are just as selfish as those people! Seriously, how many of those same people gave to a charity or non-profit that week? The month? My money is on most of them being hypocritical douche bags!

Whew, that rant was fun.

You basically listed everything I agree on its nice to find someone like me. I will debate the abortion part however. I think it should be allowed in special circumstances such as rape. Other than that, high five!

 

[Arakasi]

I don't like Steam.
Is this unpopular?

 

[Relish in Chaos]

Then why change it? Or maybe it does contribute to it.

This is where my original post came from. They change what they can (appearance, hormones etc) and then belittle people who say sex is determined by genetics ie the thing they can't change. Instead of engaging in rational debate many just resort to cries of bigotry and saying "it doesn't matter".

Well if genetics doesn't matter then why do any of the characteristics (hormones, genitals etc) matter?

Not all of them change it, but numerous transgender people are physically disgusted with their genitalia, something which they have to look down and see every single day. Also, obviously, sexual intercourse.

But perhaps someone better informed on the subject or an actual transgender person themself can tell you more about it.

I dont have a lot of time, but yes, looking into the mirror and seeing.. "that" down there makes me ill, disgusted, and depressed. It's a mind/body transformation for most of us. Change the exterior... fine, but the hormones do a LOT as well for our insides.

Exactly. I don't know why this is so hard for some people to get.

So the whole reason behind changing their legal status is just so they feel better?

Once they recieve the hormone replacement therapy and/or get sex reassignment surgery, their sex has been reassigned. It doesn't get much simpler than that.

 

[Rai^3]

I liked Deus Ex: Invisible War.

I think people should be sterilized at birth and only made able to reproduce once they've taken and passed both an IQ test and a parenting course. Or, at least that we should sterilize stupid people.

 

[orangeban]

Then why change it? Or maybe it does contribute to it.

This is where my original post came from. They change what they can (appearance, hormones etc) and then belittle people who say sex is determined by genetics ie the thing they can't change. Instead of engaging in rational debate many just resort to cries of bigotry and saying "it doesn't matter".

Well if genetics doesn't matter then why do any of the characteristics (hormones, genitals etc) matter?

Not all of them change it, but numerous transgender people are physically disgusted with their genitalia, something which they have to look down and see every single day. Also, obviously, sexual intercourse.

But perhaps someone better informed on the subject or an actual transgender person themself can tell you more about it.

I dont have a lot of time, but yes, looking into the mirror and seeing.. "that" down there makes me ill, disgusted, and depressed. It's a mind/body transformation for most of us. Change the exterior... fine, but the hormones do a LOT as well for our insides.

Exactly. I don't know why this is so hard for some people to get.

So the whole reason behind changing their legal status is just so they feel better?

Well, to put it very, very simply, yes. It's about wanting society to accept you as your actual gender, and being able to properly live your life without fear of being outed because you've had to give someone your passport or whatever.

To put it a bit more in depth, I've always seen transitioning as fixing my body. My body is "wrong" in that I have the wrong sex-gender pair up. By transitioning gender you can fix this mis-match. And, if you ask me, no, the actual characteristics (the hormones, the genitals, etc.) don't really matter, not on their own. It's more about how society treats you. If you look like a man, society treats you like a man, and the hormones and surgery and legal status changes are required in order to make society treat you like who you actually are.

Also, to be honest, I'm not sure what other reason there would be for legally changing your gender other than so you feel better. I mean, that's one of the major reasons we do anything, surely? I'm certainly not going to transition gender for anyone elses benefit.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

I think people should be sterilized at birth and only made able to reproduce once they've taken and passed both an IQ test and a parenting course. Or, at least that we should sterilize stupid people.

Except that IQ tests are a grossly inaccurate way of measuring a person's intelligence (I have this same gripe with exams that try to restrict your aptitude in a certain subject in one little number or grade, obtained under regulated "exam conditions" that can cause stress or otherwise for many and, thus, affect their performance) and many tend to be biased.

 

[Aiedail256]

I think there should be an IQ test designed by the federal government, available to all, and that a person who chooses to take it and achieves a high score should have the weight of their vote increased.

wouldn't that help to further imbalance the political system since many of those who are in the top 1% got there by being intelligent? so as well as having financial sway over politicians they would also then be able to cast more votes for their chosen candidate/ puppet to get them into office?

Not so. As pointed out by Cracked.com, the truly successful are very smart and very driven and very lucky. Add in the fact that "Republican" has basically become synonymous with "pandering to idiots," and I'm confident that the net effect would be positive.

 

[orangeban]

Then why change it? Or maybe it does contribute to it.

This is where my original post came from. They change what they can (appearance, hormones etc) and then belittle people who say sex is determined by genetics ie the thing they can't change. Instead of engaging in rational debate many just resort to cries of bigotry and saying "it doesn't matter".

Well if genetics doesn't matter then why do any of the characteristics (hormones, genitals etc) matter?

Not all of them change it, but numerous transgender people are physically disgusted with their genitalia, something which they have to look down and see every single day. Also, obviously, sexual intercourse.

But perhaps someone better informed on the subject or an actual transgender person themself can tell you more about it.

I dont have a lot of time, but yes, looking into the mirror and seeing.. "that" down there makes me ill, disgusted, and depressed. It's a mind/body transformation for most of us. Change the exterior... fine, but the hormones do a LOT as well for our insides.

Exactly. I don't know why this is so hard for some people to get.

So the whole reason behind changing their legal status is just so they feel better?

Once they recieve the hormones and/or get sex reassignment surgery, their sex has been reassigned. It's not much more complicated than that.

How? Just because it looks like the organ and they have the hormones it doesn't mean they truly have changed sex. Changing the appearance does not change what it is.

A MTF (for example) doesn't have working ovaries, has no eggs and still has XY chromosomes.

You get sterile women, they're still women aren't they? You get women who have XX chromosomes, or various other combinations, but we still see them as women don't we?

 

[orangeban]

Then why change it? Or maybe it does contribute to it.

This is where my original post came from. They change what they can (appearance, hormones etc) and then belittle people who say sex is determined by genetics ie the thing they can't change. Instead of engaging in rational debate many just resort to cries of bigotry and saying "it doesn't matter".

Well if genetics doesn't matter then why do any of the characteristics (hormones, genitals etc) matter?

Not all of them change it, but numerous transgender people are physically disgusted with their genitalia, something which they have to look down and see every single day. Also, obviously, sexual intercourse.

But perhaps someone better informed on the subject or an actual transgender person themself can tell you more about it.

I dont have a lot of time, but yes, looking into the mirror and seeing.. "that" down there makes me ill, disgusted, and depressed. It's a mind/body transformation for most of us. Change the exterior... fine, but the hormones do a LOT as well for our insides.

Exactly. I don't know why this is so hard for some people to get.

So the whole reason behind changing their legal status is just so they feel better?

Well, to put it very, very simply, yes. It's about wanting society to accept you as your actual gender, and being able to properly live your life without fear of being outed because you've had to give someone your passport or whatever.

To put it a bit more in depth, I've always seen transitioning as fixing my body. My body is "wrong" in that I have the wrong sex-gender pair up. By transitioning gender you can fix this mis-match. And, if you ask me, no, the actual characteristics (the hormones, the genitals, etc.) don't really matter, not on their own. It's more about how society treats you. If you look like a man, society treats you like a man, and the hormones and surgery and legal status changes are required in order to make society treat you like who you actually are.

Also, to be honest, I'm not sure what other reason there would be for legally changing your gender other than so you feel better. I mean, that's one of the major reasons we do anything, surely? I'm certainly not going to transition gender for anyone elses benefit.

I'm just trying to view things in terms of facts. I think unless you conclusively change yourself to a new gender you shouldn't be able to change your legal gender.

The problem with that stance is it opens up a whole new can of worms. What do people call a proper transition? I would say it would be the possession of properly formed sex organs, along with hormone therapy and the change of chromosomes. I think in the future all those things may be possible, though I think they may be quite a while off. Others may say if you think you are the gender you should be it.

I do not think (in the case of MTF) that simply feeling like a woman and looking like one is enough, I think the body must properly transition which cannot be done right now.

What I hate about this topic is it is so gray, so much is uncertain.

My personal opinion is that if you want to change your gender, you should be allowed to do it. No questions asked, no prerequisites required. I believe it's cruel to demand people have serious surgery, take drugs for several years and be diagnosed with a mental illness by a doctor before you're allowed to actually be recognised as who you are.

Luckily I live in Britain, which is one of the best countries in terms of legally changing your gender. You don't need the genital surgery, you just need to have lived full-time as your preferred gender for a time and to have been diagnosed by a doctor with gender dysphoria. This is much better than most countries, even some of the more liberal countries (like Sweden until very recently) demand that you be sterilised before you can change gender!

 

[orangeban]

Then why change it? Or maybe it does contribute to it.

This is where my original post came from. They change what they can (appearance, hormones etc) and then belittle people who say sex is determined by genetics ie the thing they can't change. Instead of engaging in rational debate many just resort to cries of bigotry and saying "it doesn't matter".

Well if genetics doesn't matter then why do any of the characteristics (hormones, genitals etc) matter?

Not all of them change it, but numerous transgender people are physically disgusted with their genitalia, something which they have to look down and see every single day. Also, obviously, sexual intercourse.

But perhaps someone better informed on the subject or an actual transgender person themself can tell you more about it.

I dont have a lot of time, but yes, looking into the mirror and seeing.. "that" down there makes me ill, disgusted, and depressed. It's a mind/body transformation for most of us. Change the exterior... fine, but the hormones do a LOT as well for our insides.

Exactly. I don't know why this is so hard for some people to get.

So the whole reason behind changing their legal status is just so they feel better?

Once they recieve the hormones and/or get sex reassignment surgery, their sex has been reassigned. It's not much more complicated than that.

How? Just because it looks like the organ and they have the hormones it doesn't mean they truly have changed sex. Changing the appearance does not change what it is.

A MTF (for example) doesn't have working ovaries, has no eggs and still has XY chromosomes.

You get sterile women, they're still women aren't they? You get women who have XX chromosomes, or various other combinations, but we still see them as women don't we?

I changed the wording for the other persons post. I mean properly formed organs, not working organs. I should have been clearer.

"You get women who have XX chromosomes"

Yes, pretty much all of them hence why I said if you still have XY then I don't think you can say you have fully transitioned.

Crap, messed that up. I meant to say that you get women who have XY chromosomes (as in, they are born with vaginas and have a female gender and female secondary sexual characteristics, they just have XY chromosomes)).

Edit: Oh, and what would you classify a, say, post-op transwoman as in terms of gender? If you don't think they meet your standards for being a woman, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't meet your standards for being a man either. What do they put on their passports?