If you are in your 50s plus…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As far as gender identity goes we just used different words

Tomboy
Tom girl or sweet
Butch
Lipstick lesbian
Flaming
Etc

None of these people tried to convince other people that they actually WERE the opposite sex, however. That is what is disturbingly different now.

Why do you care what other people do/think? Their genders don’t affect you.

Great! If it doesn’t affect me, then stop telling me I have to accept that a man is a woman! No problem with that one.

How does acknowledging someone’s gender one way or another affect you?

Because I don’t like to lie, either to myself or other people. But especially to myself

The world will be a better place in 20-30 years when some people like you are no longer in it.

Ha! Would it shock you to learn that I’m 29?

Yes, considering this is a thread for 50+.

An illiterate bigot. Life must be tough for you.

You demonstrate as an embittered elderly Karen- definitely 50+ - but because I am far less judgmental I won’t presume that Fair?

Correction. An illiterate, delusional bigot. Yeah, must be tough.

[Anonymous]

PP, thorough, articulate and accurate observations. I would add incivility online to the last paragraph.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am 65. All these issues were here long before now, but access information has changed. If you are over 65, you saw the normalization of sexual diversity happen while you were an adult, as opposed to being a child..it was there but hidden in most cases or pushed off into groups, but you may be unfamiliar with gender issues. All you knew about was cross dressing, maybe. So, basically, this group had a big learning curve and needed to adjust the route and plane, even, while in flight. Now, what matters is that you are doing it or not. Make an effort.


Religion and social templates dictated our lives, marriages, careers, choices, and families. Families look very different now, relationships are defined differently. Sexuality, period, is entirely out in the open. It's been removed from some religious sanctity, (and from behind closed doors), and yes, misogyny. It's hard to imagine how much those social institutions informed how we did everything, even if we weren't religious. Our generation was the bridge that led us to new constructs today, and I wish millennials would give young boomers credit for that. We paved a lot of roads.

Access to information is better, comprehensive. Technology has transformed the way we do everything. We've literally had to adjust our brains to imbibe so much information and apply it to so much in our lives. But, let's not forget- we developed this-- not younger generations. They used what we developed, and there are problems. Access to information doesn't mean it's all valid. Or appropriate. Children access concepts of sexuality and other things far too early before they are able to understand context. They have access to things they shouldn't- sex, violence, fetishism- and it has a neurological effect, and may be exacerbating or fueling more mental illness than we think. Having said that, we have come a long way from what was considered "normal" and what was considered "crazy." We understand more about mental health- and that is good. Advances in science have helped in areas of disease and nutrition. We've normalized all types of spirituality and we are trying to climb out of a white, Christian, male dominated template. I'm not saying being a Christian is no longer valid or OK, but I'm saying it shouldn't dominate our laws, education, relationships, or health. It really has up until recently, and there are those who are trying to go backwards.

What's bad now? Violence, increased racism, zenophobia (so odd since most of us are from an immigrant background) climate issues, education programming still stuck in another generation, lack of health care for so many, food insecurity, explosion of addictive drugs, lack of community, unfettered and massive amounts of information all the time 24/7, working/ career paradigms for families, lack of support for families in general informing poor parenting in many cases, widespread poverty in the face of massive wealth, exponential consumerism and status, and lack of empathy.

Thorough, articulate and accurate observations. I would add incivility online to the last paragraph

[Anonymous]

Mostly no. I am concerned with the proliferation of gun culture, with white nationalism, and with climate change. The other things - mental illness, LGBTQ issues - have always been there, and now they are discussed more openly, which is good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am 65. All these issues were here long before now, but access information has changed. If you are over 65, you saw the normalization of sexual diversity happen while you were an adult, as opposed to being a child..it was there but hidden in most cases or pushed off into groups, but you may be unfamiliar with gender issues. All you knew about was cross dressing, maybe. So, basically, this group had a big learning curve and needed to adjust the route and plane, even, while in flight. Now, what matters is that you are doing it or not. Make an effort.


Religion and social templates dictated our lives, marriages, careers, choices, and families. Families look very different now, relationships are defined differently. Sexuality, period, is entirely out in the open. It's been removed from some religious sanctity, (and from behind closed doors), and yes, misogyny. It's hard to imagine how much those social institutions informed how we did everything, even if we weren't religious. Our generation was the bridge that led us to new constructs today, and I wish millennials would give young boomers credit for that. We paved a lot of roads.

Access to information is better, comprehensive. Technology has transformed the way we do everything. We've literally had to adjust our brains to imbibe so much information and apply it to so much in our lives. But, let's not forget- we developed this-- not younger generations. They used what we developed, and there are problems. Access to information doesn't mean it's all valid. Or appropriate. Children access concepts of sexuality and other things far too early before they are able to understand context. They have access to things they shouldn't- sex, violence, fetishism- and it has a neurological effect, and may be exacerbating or fueling more mental illness than we think. Having said that, we have come a long way from what was considered "normal" and what was considered "crazy." We understand more about mental health- and that is good. Advances in science have helped in areas of disease and nutrition. We've normalized all types of spirituality and we are trying to climb out of a white, Christian, male dominated template. I'm not saying being a Christian is no longer valid or OK, but I'm saying it shouldn't dominate our laws, education, relationships, or health. It really has up until recently, and there are those who are trying to go backwards.

What's bad now? Violence, increased racism, zenophobia (so odd since most of us are from an immigrant background) climate issues, education programming still stuck in another generation, lack of health care for so many, food insecurity, explosion of addictive drugs, lack of community, unfettered and massive amounts of information all the time 24/7, working/ career paradigms for families, lack of support for families in general informing poor parenting in many cases, widespread poverty in the face of massive wealth, exponential consumerism and status, and lack of empathy.

Thorough, articulate and accurate observations. I would add incivility online to the last paragraph

Yes, the screen of "relative" anonymity unleashes contempt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you look at the explosion of various sexual identities, rampant mental Heath issues including ADHD, depression, Autism and Anxiety, violent crimes including school shootings but too numerous and disturbing to list individually, and think WTF is happening and why?

Yes, I do, but I don't wonder why it's happening. I think I know why, and so do most of us in the 50+ category, who came of age in the relatively normal 70s - 80s - early 90s, if we really dig deep enough.

Because Big Pharma needs to hook some patients for life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you look at the explosion of various sexual identities, rampant mental Heath issues including ADHD, depression, Autism and Anxiety, violent crimes including school shootings but too numerous and disturbing to list individually, and think WTF is happening and why?

Yes, I do, but I don't wonder why it's happening. I think I know why, and so do most of us in the 50+ category, who came of age in the relatively normal 70s - 80s - early 90s, if we really dig deep enough.

Because Big Pharma needs to hook some patients for life?

Definitely part of it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you look at the explosion of various sexual identities, rampant mental Heath issues including ADHD, depression, Autism and Anxiety, violent crimes including school shootings but too numerous and disturbing to list individually, and think WTF is happening and why?

Yes, I do, but I don't wonder why it's happening. I think I know why, and so do most of us in the 50+ category, who came of age in the relatively normal 70s - 80s - early 90s, if we really dig deep enough.

Why do you think?

Well a combination of factors obviously, but...

- The continuing erosion of the nuclear family, most specifically that there are too many homes in which a father is not present, or known, or around to guide his kids in moral development
- The loss of the common belief in God and the general societal understanding that we can know truth and good/ bad, as God alone has revealed to us
- A vision of the world to replace God - promoted in large part by schools - that the world is plagued by systemic injustices and an emphasis on identity-based differences, rather than harmony, repentance and forgiveness, and unity
- Sheer laziness, manifested in communication with other humans via social media, etc, rather than human presence
- The emphasis on the need to be entertained and "happy" at all cost, with any emotion contradicting that being unacceptable and something to be medicated or dealt with in some other artificial way

I could go on, but that's the general gist of it. All of us, again, who came of age before these profound changes in society know at level that this is true.

THere is a lot wrong with what you wrote, but I am going to primarily address the bolded and leave your God bullsh1t for others. Plenty of places don't believe in your God and manage to have a great moral compass.

Post WW2, huge numbers of men all across Europe never came back. My mother was one of the only kids in her class to have a living father. Not the only, but they were rare--and those that were not suffering from PTSD were even more rare. Yet somehow they all grew up with a moral compass. Your statement reeks of ignorance and misogyny.

I agree with the PP and nowhere did she state "her God". The fact that you got so triggered and rude over her post seems to show you are part of society gone bad. You claim to be accepting but you really arent.

[Anonymous]

Social media is the cause of so many problems. It started as a nice way to keep in touch or interact with your people but has grown to be quite evil.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you look at the explosion of various sexual identities, rampant mental Heath issues including ADHD, depression, Autism and Anxiety, violent crimes including school shootings but too numerous and disturbing to list individually, and think WTF is happening and why?

Yes, I do, but I don't wonder why it's happening. I think I know why, and so do most of us in the 50+ category, who came of age in the relatively normal 70s - 80s - early 90s, if we really dig deep enough.

Why do you think?

Well a combination of factors obviously, but...

- The continuing erosion of the nuclear family, most specifically that there are too many homes in which a father is not present, or known, or around to guide his kids in moral development
- The loss of the common belief in God and the general societal understanding that we can know truth and good/ bad, as God alone has revealed to us
- A vision of the world to replace God - promoted in large part by schools - that the world is plagued by systemic injustices and an emphasis on identity-based differences, rather than harmony, repentance and forgiveness, and unity
- Sheer laziness, manifested in communication with other humans via social media, etc, rather than human presence
- The emphasis on the need to be entertained and "happy" at all cost, with any emotion contradicting that being unacceptable and something to be medicated or dealt with in some other artificial way

I could go on, but that's the general gist of it. All of us, again, who came of age before these profound changes in society know at level that this is true.

THere is a lot wrong with what you wrote, but I am going to primarily address the bolded and leave your God bullsh1t for others. Plenty of places don't believe in your God and manage to have a great moral compass.

Post WW2, huge numbers of men all across Europe never came back. My mother was one of the only kids in her class to have a living father. Not the only, but they were rare--and those that were not suffering from PTSD were even more rare. Yet somehow they all grew up with a moral compass. Your statement reeks of ignorance and misogyny.

I agree with the PP and nowhere did she state "her God". The fact that you got so triggered and rude over her post seems to show you are part of society gone bad. You claim to be accepting but you really arent.

Well 1st poster here, let's discuss ignorance. If you think the explosion of sexuality issues has to do with the lack of religion, you are sadly mistaken. There were gay, non binary, cross dressing, transexual, and bi people since the dawn of time. This is well documented in history, but, in fact, it is actually religion that sublimated it. Not allowing it to be, or pretending it doesn't exist, and outlawing it doesn't mean it is not there.

So, you think the nuclear family is missing(?), and by your definition- a man and women married for life. Until recently in history, women moved up quite a slow trajectory in terms of any freedom. They couldn't own property, they couldn't be educated. They couldn't have careers, they couldn't do much. They were expected to marry. My mother's generation..married in 1954, could surface level date but was expected to marry by her early 20s. She wasn't likely educated. If she was ethnic or black, she wouldn't have even be eligible for a scholarship to go to college, as even her male counterparts in these categories couldn't go to college- there were ethnic quotas. She couldn't have her own money. No credit card in her name, she couldn't own a home. If she got pregnant before marriage, that child would have been put up for adoption. This behavior fueled and still
fuels the largest human trafficking behavior there ever was. All dictated by religion and men. She would have been in a maternity home for up to 6 months- tucked away with the shame of having intercourse before marriage. Men went on with their lives- no labeling, no shame. There was really also no such thing as rape. It was men being men. It was your boss, your pastor, a neighbor, your friend's father. Women who did work before marriage made pennies on the dollar before men, because they were not considered breadwinners. Birth control, other than a condom was a practice in failure.
Divorce was shameful and impractical. It was a woman's only economic lifeline, leaving an unhappy marriage was not something that anyone could do. So you think there were all these happy nuclear families ? Society made that appear so, not choice. Plenty, and I mean plenty of those spouses were also gay because no one could be gay. There was depression, alcoholism, anxiety, spousal abuse- all unlabeled and untreated. PMS was treated as a mental illness. Post partum depression was never addressed. What looked like happy nuclear families to you often were not.

In my childhood we lived in neighborhoods that were homogenous. Long after the Civil Rights Act, there still were no black people in my neighborhood, and few in my suburban school. It was an unspoken rule to never sell to a black family. Many of these neighborhoods had actual racial and ethnic covenants.

Ah yes, so cute the holy communion, with the white dress and flowers, Sunday school and the alter boys, all receiving the sacrament. We now know the vast, methodical, overwhelmingly catastrophically enabled pedophilia consuming Catholic parish after parish. Not just here, but all over the world. Children were entrusted into their religious leaders hands, because, of course, we have to have religion- but were instead sexually, psychologically, and physically abused. When I was 16, there were many girls my age enduring this abuse in a private Catholic school in Baltimore...just 10 miles away from my public high school where my peers dated, engaged in Viet Nam protests, wore "hippy" clothes, did pot, etc., but no adult had that much control over us in a systematic way. It is stunning how these girls, at my same age, thought this was something that was expected of them by a priest. Watch the documentary, The Keepers. Oh yeah, murder, too.

And it wasn't just the Catholic Church. Religion of all types hid many abuses of women and children, as did other wholesome activities sponsored by religious and upstanding civic organizations-Boy Scouts, camps, etc. So you think all we need is religion, is that right?

Patriotic veterans, huh? More Viet Nam vets didn't return than in WW2, and those that did came back with life long PTSD and mental health issues that this country never addressed, and they were sent to Viet Nam in the first place based on lies. So don't discuss patriotic hubris.

School shootings? We live in gun culture perpetuated by those such as yourself who take pride in false flags and pseudo patriotism, all the while the corrupt NRA collects funds from complicit and corrupt politicians that you support. "Don't take away my guns and my religion!"That's why there are school shootings.

You have your head in a place where you cannot see clearly- and I think we both know where that is. Society didn't change- information changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Social media is the cause of so many problems. It started as a nice way to keep in touch or interact with your people but has grown to be quite evil.

Social media isn't the problem, it's how it's used. Social media just amplifies what is there.

[Anonymous]

I find it hard to relate to gender issues. I understand fluid sexuality, however not identifying as a female or male is very hard for me to relate to. I say this because we have organs which make us male/female. just saying you aren't that is just you saying it, it doesn't make it so. If you feel more masculine or don't enjoy being feminine that is what we used to call a tomboy. Identifying as male when you are a female to me is like an anorexic that identifies as being fat and sees themselves as being fat when in fact they are malnourished. It's interesting to me that in today's age we are suppose to accept the gender issues but see anorexia as a mental illness.

To show how crazy it is getting a person riding a motorcycle entered a bike race (somewhere can't remember where) because they identified their motorcycle as a pushbike. It was allowed and amazingly (sarcasm) the motorcycle rider won the race. This to me is insane. It is the same in sport, which is happening and of course we all know who is winning but a male identifying as a female is not fair, they simply have more testosterone and strength, of course they will win.

I think drug use is going to cause chaos in future generations, I believe there will be more violence and mental illness associated with drug use.

On the positives I think it's great that people can live in a more sexually fluid way and it's acceptable. It doesn't have to be the husband and wife and two kid scenario. I think it's great that mental illness is addressed now and treated. There are many positives but I feel like we still have a long way to go.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I wanted to add on the gender issue, we have always had transvestites so I get that some people like to dress up or act like the opposite sex however they seemed to understand what gender they originally were.

Today's gender issues are going beyond that and I don't understand this part of it all. Even people wanting to be called they/them and not identifying as any gender. I just can't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here. I wanted to add on the gender issue, we have always had transvestites so I get that some people like to dress up or act like the opposite sex however they seemed to understand what gender they originally were.

Today's gender issues are going beyond that and I don't understand this part of it all. Even people wanting to be called they/them and not identifying as any gender. I just can't get it.

It's fine that you don't understand it. The reason you don't is because of socioreligious norms that have been in place here in our culture. There are other cultures that have long the embraced gender fluid aspect for centuries. Sociological mandates are powerful and the white western world dictates much of how we think, even if we don't realize it. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2017/11/181624/gender-fluid-examples-history

What you do need to do is make an effort to leave the comfort zone in your head and go from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here. I wanted to add on the gender issue, we have always had transvestites so I get that some people like to dress up or act like the opposite sex however they seemed to understand what gender they originally were.

Today's gender issues are going beyond that and I don't understand this part of it all. Even people wanting to be called they/them and not identifying as any gender. I just can't get it.

Sexual perversions were never promoted so openly, let alone endorsed by schools to emotionally vulnerable children. That alone is a big difference

They aren't perversions.
They aren't "promoted."
Nothing is being "endorsed" by schools.

Sexualy diversity has ALWAYS existed. We just aren't lying about it anymore.