Mr. Kay makes some astute observations in this fine summary of the WWE leap from the top ropes counter attack by trans allies.
There certainly won’t be any revision of the trans gender politics or policies in Ottawa until Justin Trudeau finds a new job. Also, watch in the coming days for a pledge from Trudeau that commits a new slush fund of yours and my $$$ to “combat transphobia”. It will magically find its way to high profile LGBTQ organizations that like courtroom wrestling.
Also, it is curious that MSM media outlets can find any number of trans “allies” to be instant experts to denounce Premier Smith but unable to balance the narrative with an expert who supports the Alberta initiative. That’s a serious flaw in responsible journalism in my opinion.
Finally, why can’t we as a mature society find the courage to look at statistics and wonder why? Why is there such a huge spike in adolescent confusion around puberty and gender dysphoria? Could the deep entrenchment of LGBTQ awareness in the school system be the root problem?
It's not only the gender dysphoria that's become en vogue among the young'uns. If you look at mental health TikTok, we now have self-diagnosing teens and adults (yes, even adults) who identify has having DID ("systems"). The goal of people in this community is not to be relieved of DID (already a controversial diagnosis) but to live with it so they can "switch" at will.
A lot of the current issues seem to be propagating via social media as a form of social contagion or mass hysteria (see: TikTok Tics).
But I do agree that the school system (and every other institution) taking the affirmation model as gospel is exacerbating the problem a great deal, as is the current therapeutic culture which encourages constant rumination, self-diagnosis, and comparison.
The now tiresome pattern of MSM stubbornly defending the indefensible carries its own consequences. Rational parents who are quietly applauding Ms. Smith's policies cannot fail to notice the disparity with media coverage. More nails in the credibility coffin.
I like Mr. Kay’s suggestion. The Liberals should run HARD on affirming transgender care for adolescents, based upon children’s surety of their situation, and that parents are not entitled to know anything without the kids consent.
Want to know who else goes out of their way to keep secrets from a kid's parents? Child molesters. They should all be in jail, where they would get what they deserve.
I can't say I agree with this policy in its entirely, but I think that most of it is reasonable. But I'm an American so what do I know?
What I think, though, is that these policies are useful because they put the gender ideologues in the position of having to defend their--let's not mince words--weird, quasi-spiritual beliefs. They don't get to stand pat; they have to explain to a judge or panel of judges just what a gendersoul is, and how puberty requires consent, and the rest of the woo-woo they cherish as dogma. That's favorable ground for the gender-critical.
What Premier Smith is struggling against are "luxury beliefs". These are beliefs held by the "elites" (like Minister Ien) who are quite happy to see other people's families destroyed, but I would be very surprised if people like her would tolerate this type of behaviour within their own family. I agree with Mr Kay that if in fact these beliefs are so germane to the Liberal's beliefs, they should have the courage of their convictions and make these beliefs the main priority in their election platform when the writ is next dropped. However, I'm not holding my breath.
Thank God for some clarity and common sense. We need to push back on these extremist policies before our society is destroyed. Jonathan Kay is one of the most courageous and profound journalist writing today.
I rarely if ever agree with Alberta's premier, but here I fully agree with her. She is showing a lot of good sense to protect youth who are not mature enough to make life altering decisions they may live to regret as adults. So good on you Alberta.
Or this guy LOL. He wishes those conservatives would explain why this is bad! If only he had a Twitter account and big audience he would do it for sure!!!!!
Danielle Smith has done the necessary thing: forced the people who hustled these policies thru with no discussion to publicly articulate a defense of them. “Why we need to dissolve children’s bone density, damage their brain development, and line them up for cardiac issues in future”. “Why teachers need to keep special secrets about sex with students”.
I have already seen one usual suspect (Tim Caulfield) conspicuously choosing to spend the day tweeting about other stuff
We will see how much of an appetite there is for being a trans ally when it means explaining why Smith’s mild and sensible measures are unreasonable.
We are certainly living through confusing times. I have always been a person who could see both sides of an issue, but I drew the line at conspiracy theories. I am now in my 70s and I have closely observed the incompetance and corruption in all our Western institutions over the last five to ten years. I no longer dismiss most conspiracy theories outright. I now believe that almost anything is possible. I look into "outrageous" claims, file them away and wait to see what happens. I want to know as many true things as possible.
I recently looked back at some emails I wrote in 2019 through 2022 that were dismissed as "kooky" by family and friends at the time. Back then, my husband and I had some serious differences of opinion. He eventually temporarily blocked me on his email (LOL!) so I couldn't send him stuff; which was counter-productive because he was trapped with me in the house through the early years of the Pandemic. As time unfolded he gradually came to see that I had a point. A few others have told me the same thing. The "kooky" group is growing. We might even be right!
It should worry us all that Titania McGrath and the Babylon Bee have turned out to be tragically accurate prophets. (I haven't been following The Onion lately.)
Yes, it seems the "conspiracy theorists" were right about more than one thing. If there is one good personal outcome from the pandemic, it's that it lifted the blinders I didn't know I had on.
Great article Jon, I was wondering what to think of all this when CBC “expert” Naheed Nenshi (usually a voice of sanity) proclaimed on CBC P&P last night that Danielle screwed this pooch (okay, I paraphrase). Thank you for discussing this rationally. I bet there’s a great Truther book for when Canada has its Tavistock Moment.
Ok, I have to say I am with Paul Gottfried on this. The Left is Woke. The conservative right is ... less woke. To be clear, all gender transition surgery MUST BE BANNED. If not, you are woke... like two people floating down the Niagara river towards the falls. They are more woke, so they go over first. But you will be next if you don't get out of the water.
Sensible article, Jon. I see some rather woolly thinking going on in that tweet from Stacey Brotzel, somehow coming to the conclusion that only 1% of Albertans would approve of the new policy. She must know it is a large majority of people who want their children protected against rash decisions made at an age when they cannot legally get a tattoo, or use a sunbed. I wish my province would do something similar.
You said it so well Jonathan. I AM an Albertan and very troubled by the idea of supporting the Fountain of Kooky (aka Smith). Then I realize that the alternative here is the party of Notley (or her replacement) which would mean supporting the politics of Guilbeault, Thunberg and Kendi with the thoughtful insights of Kayla Lemieux. Can’t do it. Smith got this one right.
I hope everyone reads today's article at Reality's Last Stand:
https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/i-pretended-to-be-nonbinary-to-expose
Mr. Kay makes some astute observations in this fine summary of the WWE leap from the top ropes counter attack by trans allies.
There certainly won’t be any revision of the trans gender politics or policies in Ottawa until Justin Trudeau finds a new job. Also, watch in the coming days for a pledge from Trudeau that commits a new slush fund of yours and my $$$ to “combat transphobia”. It will magically find its way to high profile LGBTQ organizations that like courtroom wrestling.
Also, it is curious that MSM media outlets can find any number of trans “allies” to be instant experts to denounce Premier Smith but unable to balance the narrative with an expert who supports the Alberta initiative. That’s a serious flaw in responsible journalism in my opinion.
Finally, why can’t we as a mature society find the courage to look at statistics and wonder why? Why is there such a huge spike in adolescent confusion around puberty and gender dysphoria? Could the deep entrenchment of LGBTQ awareness in the school system be the root problem?
It's not only the gender dysphoria that's become en vogue among the young'uns. If you look at mental health TikTok, we now have self-diagnosing teens and adults (yes, even adults) who identify has having DID ("systems"). The goal of people in this community is not to be relieved of DID (already a controversial diagnosis) but to live with it so they can "switch" at will.
A lot of the current issues seem to be propagating via social media as a form of social contagion or mass hysteria (see: TikTok Tics).
But I do agree that the school system (and every other institution) taking the affirmation model as gospel is exacerbating the problem a great deal, as is the current therapeutic culture which encourages constant rumination, self-diagnosis, and comparison.
The now tiresome pattern of MSM stubbornly defending the indefensible carries its own consequences. Rational parents who are quietly applauding Ms. Smith's policies cannot fail to notice the disparity with media coverage. More nails in the credibility coffin.
I like Mr. Kay’s suggestion. The Liberals should run HARD on affirming transgender care for adolescents, based upon children’s surety of their situation, and that parents are not entitled to know anything without the kids consent.
Want to know who else goes out of their way to keep secrets from a kid's parents? Child molesters. They should all be in jail, where they would get what they deserve.
Arm in arm with the CBC.
I can't say I agree with this policy in its entirely, but I think that most of it is reasonable. But I'm an American so what do I know?
What I think, though, is that these policies are useful because they put the gender ideologues in the position of having to defend their--let's not mince words--weird, quasi-spiritual beliefs. They don't get to stand pat; they have to explain to a judge or panel of judges just what a gendersoul is, and how puberty requires consent, and the rest of the woo-woo they cherish as dogma. That's favorable ground for the gender-critical.
What Premier Smith is struggling against are "luxury beliefs". These are beliefs held by the "elites" (like Minister Ien) who are quite happy to see other people's families destroyed, but I would be very surprised if people like her would tolerate this type of behaviour within their own family. I agree with Mr Kay that if in fact these beliefs are so germane to the Liberal's beliefs, they should have the courage of their convictions and make these beliefs the main priority in their election platform when the writ is next dropped. However, I'm not holding my breath.
Thank God for some clarity and common sense. We need to push back on these extremist policies before our society is destroyed. Jonathan Kay is one of the most courageous and profound journalist writing today.
I rarely if ever agree with Alberta's premier, but here I fully agree with her. She is showing a lot of good sense to protect youth who are not mature enough to make life altering decisions they may live to regret as adults. So good on you Alberta.
Or this guy LOL. He wishes those conservatives would explain why this is bad! If only he had a Twitter account and big audience he would do it for sure!!!!!
https://x.com/UbakaOgbogu/status/1753041925509382602?s=20
Danielle Smith has done the necessary thing: forced the people who hustled these policies thru with no discussion to publicly articulate a defense of them. “Why we need to dissolve children’s bone density, damage their brain development, and line them up for cardiac issues in future”. “Why teachers need to keep special secrets about sex with students”.
I have already seen one usual suspect (Tim Caulfield) conspicuously choosing to spend the day tweeting about other stuff
We will see how much of an appetite there is for being a trans ally when it means explaining why Smith’s mild and sensible measures are unreasonable.
We are certainly living through confusing times. I have always been a person who could see both sides of an issue, but I drew the line at conspiracy theories. I am now in my 70s and I have closely observed the incompetance and corruption in all our Western institutions over the last five to ten years. I no longer dismiss most conspiracy theories outright. I now believe that almost anything is possible. I look into "outrageous" claims, file them away and wait to see what happens. I want to know as many true things as possible.
I recently looked back at some emails I wrote in 2019 through 2022 that were dismissed as "kooky" by family and friends at the time. Back then, my husband and I had some serious differences of opinion. He eventually temporarily blocked me on his email (LOL!) so I couldn't send him stuff; which was counter-productive because he was trapped with me in the house through the early years of the Pandemic. As time unfolded he gradually came to see that I had a point. A few others have told me the same thing. The "kooky" group is growing. We might even be right!
It should worry us all that Titania McGrath and the Babylon Bee have turned out to be tragically accurate prophets. (I haven't been following The Onion lately.)
Yes, it seems the "conspiracy theorists" were right about more than one thing. If there is one good personal outcome from the pandemic, it's that it lifted the blinders I didn't know I had on.
Great article Jon, I was wondering what to think of all this when CBC “expert” Naheed Nenshi (usually a voice of sanity) proclaimed on CBC P&P last night that Danielle screwed this pooch (okay, I paraphrase). Thank you for discussing this rationally. I bet there’s a great Truther book for when Canada has its Tavistock Moment.
Ok, I have to say I am with Paul Gottfried on this. The Left is Woke. The conservative right is ... less woke. To be clear, all gender transition surgery MUST BE BANNED. If not, you are woke... like two people floating down the Niagara river towards the falls. They are more woke, so they go over first. But you will be next if you don't get out of the water.
Sensible article, Jon. I see some rather woolly thinking going on in that tweet from Stacey Brotzel, somehow coming to the conclusion that only 1% of Albertans would approve of the new policy. She must know it is a large majority of people who want their children protected against rash decisions made at an age when they cannot legally get a tattoo, or use a sunbed. I wish my province would do something similar.
Eby blocked me on Twitter for asking him about puberty blockers in kids. He is despicable.
You said it so well Jonathan. I AM an Albertan and very troubled by the idea of supporting the Fountain of Kooky (aka Smith). Then I realize that the alternative here is the party of Notley (or her replacement) which would mean supporting the politics of Guilbeault, Thunberg and Kendi with the thoughtful insights of Kayla Lemieux. Can’t do it. Smith got this one right.
You have to admit, it has been a pretty good decade for "conspiracy theories," though, Jonny.
More like “Spoiler Alert” these days it seems…
Thanks for this, Jon. Some data driven, sane centre is really needed.