What adjective is associated with British humor—or humour, to spell it more appropriately? Surely, the answer is ‘dry,’ though other than saying that one knows it when one hears it, I’m not sure what the technical definition of dry humor is.
However you describe it, my husband is a master at it. For this reason I don’t get surprised when a rather large percentage of listeners to his podcast don’t recognize when his broadcast is in parody mode. Our children and I have had our turns of belatedly realizing that our legs were being pulled with such craftsmanship that we had no idea we were participating in a parody.
Like many Jews, our family has just concluded a month full of holydays. We have spent an amazing amount of time praying, eating and enjoying the company of relatives and friends. The days between the holydays were filled with preparation for the next special day as well as trying to keep up with ministry and business on a three-day-workweek schedule. Between not wanting the external world to intrude on these festive days and not having enough hours for everything I needed to do on regular days, I spent much less time than usual following the news.
This led to a feeling that my computer had been taken over by the Babylon Bee (a satirical website) when I once again began looking at email newsletters from conservative sites. Either that or my husband had gotten into my email account and was playing an elaborate hoax. Could Always® brand of feminine products actually be removing a female symbol from their packaging to be more inclusive? Could a jury in Texas (Texas!) actually have rejected the claim of a father to save his very young child from life-altering gender transitioning being pushed by his ex-wife? Could intelligent, seemingly rational people actually be championing the end of women’s sports by insisting that biology is irrelevant in deciding whether one can compete in a girls’ or women’s event?
There was a third possible explanation for what I was reading. In their desperate quest for eyeballs, websites were producing inaccurate and misleading headlines. So, I did a bit of searching. That hope collapsed when USA Today, certainly not a bastion of conservative propaganda, reported, “Procter & Gamble brand Always® is removing the Venus symbol, commonly used to designate “female,” from the packaging around its sanitary pads in an effort to be more inclusive.” No sarcasm, no witty satire, just a company that for decades has marketed feminine hygiene products now making a business decision in a world gone mad.
As for the Texas jury, I tried to find the story on CNN websites and couldn’t. I then searched Fox News’ website and didn’t find it there either. Either the story isn’t as clear-cut as reported or child abuse in the name of progressive ideas has become so normative that it isn’t news. I don’t know what the full story on this one is.
When it comes to girls being set up for failure in sports, I’m afraid that story is already so old that I know it to be true. Reading these accounts in the news after a hiatus simply hit like a blast of cold wind after I had spent a month treasuring and enjoying days full of warm spiritual and physical truths.
A story is told of a far-off land where the king and prime minister realize that all their country’s water sources have been contaminated with elements that will cause everyone to go insane. The prime minister suggests to the king that they each paint a blue circle on their foreheads.
“How will that keep us from going crazy?” asks the king.
“It won’t,” replies the prime minister, “but at least when we see the dots on our foreheads they will remind us that we actually are crazy.”
Is it time to purchase pots of blue paint?
You can find the stories by using search terms of ” 7 year old trans mother father Texas court”. The write – up you find can be biased.
The judge is female. The mother is a pediatrician. The judge has issued a gag order. That is a discussion in and of itself. The eggs were donated to the mother, and the father also is not the biological father allegedly.
You can find a Youtube video that the father Jeff Younger made of his son James Younger when he was 3, which is a few minutes long with the title:
“Watch: James Younger “Mom Tells Me I’m A Girl” Transgender Court Battle Over 7-Year-Old” on YouTube.
I could give the e-addresses but I don’t know if it is ok to do so here.
The boy wears dresses to school and goes by a female name when at school when living with his mother, and wears masculine clothing and answers to his male name when with with his father.
There are laws in California and in New York about the power of social workers to take over decision making from parents, and it is ok to withhold info from parents regarding gender identity issues of their child at school, but give the parents the bill. First amendment rights arise because Calif. passed rules telling professionals (and parents, I think) that they could not tell a child that in most cases children grow out of confusing feelings. In England, the Left is far more extreme on the issue. A private school for autistic girls has a. 50% of the class thinking they are trans, with surgeons willing to cut off healthy tissue of breasts of teen agers. The girls can fit into a social group if they say they are trans. They are told that all their social problems will go away if they have surgery.
Some trans have had surgery are getting old enough to regret the decisions. There is a book out about various people. The people say that they were rubber stamped, that there was a lot stressors taking place in their lives, depression, that could have been revealed if the doctors had talked to them. Some doctors are starting to say it is experimentation on children and should be illegal. The drugs are very serious, can cause cancer, can shorten life, can result in weak bones. It neuters the children. If surgery is done when they are young, they will never be able to have physical sex lives because of the size of their organs when surgery was done or hormones blocked or started.
It is all based on “feelings” regarding boys saying they feel like a girl to enter championship games that have a shot at a college scholarships at stake, which is life – changing for the winner, and life – changing for the girls who would have won without the entrance of the person with the male body into the contest.
It is affecting schools where boys based only on feelings can enter girls’ bathrooms upsetting the girls.
Different cases keep coming up.
In Canada, a man who identified as a woman wanted a waxing of hair in the genital region. When women refused to give it to him because he had male genitalia, he sued them for discrimination. He lost the case.
Another person sued a porn film maker because he/she had the wrong sex organs. It got to be confusing as to what the film maker wanted, but whatever the applicant was did not fit what the film maker was looking for.
Colleges have adopted policies like each person can self- identify and put down how they would like to be addressed and the professor had to call them that. Some students had a very good sense of humor with that.
There was a law about people in nursing homes taking care of elderly trans, and addressing them.
Trans feel they are being discriminated against when people don’t want to date them based on their self – perceived gender.
Google offers a choice of 71 genders since 2018 for self-identification, up from 51, and then 58 then 63, male, female, and custom.
Jordan B Peterson was introduced to the world when he argued, on freedom of speech grounds, against having to use government created pronouns, working as a psychologist and as a professor at a subsidized university.
The Trans issue feels to me like hysteria similar to the cases that happened about child abuse at daycare centers a few decades ago.
The Democrat party, and Democrat dominated states, are certainly running with it.
Susan,
I must admit the Always package change confused me for a short moment. I thought, “That doesn’t make any sense. Men can’t have any possible reason for needing them.” The realization of why they would do that quickly came into my mind; the product being inclusive to women who would buy them that now identify as not a woman. That still is a strange concept to my mind, and I am a 27 year old woman that grew up in a secular home.
Recently, I have seen a video ad referred to as “Thinx MENstruation Commercial” showing some experiences that females go through when experiencing a menstrual cycle; such as the first appearance, not being prepared on arrival, and other more inconvenient experiences. It’s slogan being something like, “It would be so uncomfortable if everyone experienced it.” Even though most women can identify with most of the examples in the video, I suspect it would make them feel very uncomfortable watching men “experience” the situations. My husband turned away. It is so uncomfortable; quite the opposite of their slogans mission. It is also very unattractive to see men though that lens.
It’s hard to express all the thoughts this and modern feminism bring up, but it makes me feel so defensive and protective over my two young daughters (3&6). I’m sure you completely understand why.
If it isn’t clear by my comment, I want to let you know you have two listeners that are married (celebrating our 10th anniversary on my 28th birthday, he is 30), raising two daughters to be Bible-believing, and long time listeners that are so very grateful to your ministry.
With hopes of good health and more,
Paige F.
Paige, your daughters are very lucky that you and your husband feel defensive and protective. The world is going through a very strange phase. I’m so glad that you told me something about you. Stay strong!
Susan and my Rabbi, when I look at our present day Judges, 2 Chronicles 19:6 comes to mind and when I look at some of our politicians I think of Proverbs 6:16-19. i love both of you for what you do!
Seems to sum it up quite well, Mark.
Neweverymoment, Deb:
Oh, Lord, Susan! Thanks again for your refreshing perspective, even if the Rabbi has a mischievous streak!
All these broad-based vested-interest power plays are so scary, censoring more and more of the truth. Conservatives (trying to conserve what is good from the past) seem to be the best path at the moment, and comments from others encourage me to believe that the American population as a whole has its heads firmly screwed on. Please hang on with your overall point of view.
Deb, I think that the very fact that the media is suppressing so many stories is because they know that most Americans are not where they are on these issues. I hope that Republicans force these issues into the forefront instead of running scared from them.
I am glad someone else told you about LifeSite. I am a Texan and active in politics. I am realizing more and more that I can take nothing for granted and I cannot relax my vigilance for a nano-second. I can see that I will need to lobby for laws to deal with what was unthinkable as recently as 5 years ago.
Gerry, what is going on is truly unbelievable and does need constant vigilance as you say.
This level of stupidity has consequences. Important that we remember the left is not going to leave others freedom of choice. Every bizarre or harmful idea that was once tolerated is becoming a mainstream tend. Trends that are protected by lockstep thinking and legislative & judicial dictatorship. At no point has the left shown a desire for dialog or compromise. At no point was their a willingness to learn from the OBVIOUSLY harmful results of imposing leftist rules on society. Rather they ratcheted up the name calling,vilification, deception and incitements.
I’m afraid that you are right, James. It is rather scary how businesses are capitulating so quickly without realizing that they are drawing a noose around their own throats.
For this you can thank millennials who have taken jobs in marketing, advertising and PR. They believe that the only “good” corporation is one that advocates the intolerance they’ve been taught is “tolerance” and the bigotry they’ve been conditioned to believe is “inclusiveness.” Unlike their predecessors, they don’t get that their job is to sell the company’s products and services (that’s so 1980s, ya’ know.) Moreover, because many are employed by Fortune 500 companies, they also own stock, and are now flooding those annual meetings with cockamamie recommendations that are counterproductive to good business practices AND to the benefit of both corporation and its customers. SJW “thinking” is becoming the new normal in the US; it’s no wonder China has become one of our fiercest competitors in the marketplace.
Susan, all of the examples you gave are exactly illustrations of the incredible lesson you taught: misplaced compassion. When you explained that concept in a post last year everything just fell into place. Misplaced Compassion seems to sum up the majority of problems I am observing on the left. Thank you, as usual, for helping me understand the world.
Oh dear, Judith. I did a quick search and can’t find the Musing you referenced. I’ll keep looking. Shabbat Shalom.
Great hearing from you Judith–
We hope you are doing fine now and have YK behind you.
Warmly
RDL
Long, long ago, I watched something on the ‘news’, and thought that this should be a Monty Python sketch. Or, a bad Monty Python sketch. I have to wonder about so many of the people in modern ‘news’ stories; have they no sense of dignity?!
I think dignity is a word that many college students wouldn’t recognize, CK.
Only 3 news agencies covered trial. One is Russian.
Do search for LifeSite news. Very good over view.
I tried to paste link to their article, but was not allowed.
Texas Governor was planning to try to intervene, but Judge changed to both parents have to agree…will see if works.
I saw it on LifeSite news, Lenore. And the publicity does seem to have had an effect. But, isn’t it amazing that this is not on the major media? Suppressing stories like this is one of the ways media influences the news. Something the overwhelming majority of Americans would be upset about that is a Leftist idea? We won’t tell you about it.
Here is a link to a more conventional source: (link to National Review)
No matter where you read about it, is a sign of sanity in a world seemingly going insane
Carl, isn’t it interesting that this is still a conservative site. Doesn’t seem like most of those in control of mainstream media want people to hear about this.
MSM seems to ignore, but this note from Gary Bauer seems to sum it all up:
A disturbing divorce and child custody battle has been making headlines this week. Initially I hesitated to comment because it’s hard to know all the facts in a messy divorce. But this has ramifications far beyond divorce law.
The case involves twin boys, one of whom allegedly claims to be transgender. The mother wants to begin the process of medically transitioning her son while the father objects. Monday, a Dallas jury decided in the mother’s favor.
Wednesday night, Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted, “FYI the matter of 7 year old James Younger is being looked into by the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.” And yesterday the judge in the case ruled that Jeff Younger, James’s father, will have some say in his son’s future development.
I am glad the governor is seeking a review and I think this issue deserves more public debate. Every parent knows that children go through phases in life. Some kids say they want to be a dinosaur when they grow up. How do you “affirm” that?
But attempting to change a child’s gender is life-altering and comes with serious medical issues. There is virtually no evidence to support gender reassignment. Suicide rates are not reduced by these drastic procedures. And many young people come to regret it later in life.
I do not believe that gender reassignment is the best option for adults. But I recognize society’s libertarian impulses to allow adults to make their own choices.
Children, however, do not have the capacity to fully comprehend such choices and the severe consequences that come with them.
Rather than embracing this radical concept that defies basic science (our gender is genetically determined, not assigned at birth), it would be wise for society to hit the pause button and fully debate the ramifications of what this means for children.
Thank you for sharing this, Carl. Hard to believe that anyone doesn’t see that this is basic common sense that, unfortunately, is not as common as it should be.
On Facebook, the circle of blue paint has been replaced by someone trying to look cute by superimposing animal parts on their face. When Rabbi Lapin spoke at our church about the insidiousness of children being taught to pretend to be animals and quoted Genesis, my eyes were suddenly opened! ❤️ We were made in the image of God and that is no longer taught. We are becoming the animals that we pretend to be.
Bonny, I’m not positive what you’re referencing. I must be out of date on something.
Susan, I think Bonny is referring to those Snapchat filters where you can add animal features to pictures of your face. It’s usually just the basics like the nose and ears and the 3 animals I see most often are dogs, cats and bunny rabbits. I thought it was cute at first (several years ago) and is cute for girls under 10 yrs. old. It is super creepy though to see grown men in their 20s and 30s posting photos of themselves with cartoon animal features on dating sites!
I could be wrong that this is what Bonny is referring to and hope she will correct me if she comes back on here.
~ Becky
What you’re saying sounds right, Becky. I have seen those.
The film, “Galaxy Quest” starring Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver is a parody of the Television series “Star Trek”; but it’s a very clever parody to my family and me. The film makes fun of the “Trekkies” or fans of the “Star Trek” series, but then it weaves a few fans into its story. The movie has a lot of humorous ideas in it and a number of scenes directly hit at the “acting” profession generally. It’s really a shame that these dumb headlines are not “Babylon Bee” ones. This brings me to better memories.
My family and I were descending from The Grand Canyon in Arizona on Wednesday, November 9, 2016. (We’d stayed there for a few days.) It was difficult to get our rental car’s radio to come in clear to find out who won the presidential election. It was 2 PM by the time we got to Interstate 40 and then we finally found out who had won. The following days, while on a road trip and attending a Marine Corps Tank group’s reunion (for my husband and his fellow Tankers in the First Gulf War), were amazingly joyful for us because it was a wonderful trip and because Hillary Clinton wasn’t the president. We were bracing ourselves for her reign because why would the media lie to us?
I often still marvel, at all of the efforts to remove this president by the Democrats, that we haven’t yet lost this political battle completely. Hopefully, good sense and reality will rise from the hearts of men before the culture destroys us. It does take dedicated leaders to train children about real history as opposed to fake history.
I say that we hold off on the blue paint purchase for now!
And make sure people that you know are not shopping at Target, JC Penny, Macys, Nordstrom, and other stores caving into transgender dressing rooms.
LJ, we haven’t lost the battle yet, but we have certainly, at least temporarily, lost the media battle. Thanks for the story – you must have been on tenterhooks.