What's up with all the "pronoun" stuff?

[Alex]

To me they/them suggests multiple people rather than a single person, not to mention that when I was a kid calling someone "them" was the height of rudeness.

[RCMerchant]

I couldn't care less what people call themselves.
Just don't call me late for dinner!

[ER]

There is a certain rudeness in deviating from the norm and then expecting others to go along with the choice you have made in defining yourself, if that definition differs from what so many people would argue is reality. You have to admit, at the very least one person's declaration of innate gender is something others cannot themselves experience, as the situation is occurring inside someone else's mind and body, not within the testimony of the senses of those perceiving the transgendered person. I respect it is possible for a person born with male sex organs to claim he feels female. I also respect that science would say that feelings aside, that person has the DNA of a male. So asking people to play a game when they don't want to comes down to your rights end where another's begin.

Should society have the right to tell a person born a male that he cannot identify as female? No. Should that person then ask others to call him female, even when another person might sincerely feel that forces him to lie? No. At least that's my feeling.

And so is this: Live your life, leave others alone, and in the process, try to do no harm. If you're minding your own business and not hurting anyone else, then it's no one else's business what you do or what you call yourself. Now when you try to force others to join in using words that other people aren't comfortable using, that's when east meets west and you become tyrannical. Do you have the right to be just about whatever you want to be, gender-wise? Sure. I say be happy and good luck to you. Do you have the right to expect others to accept your choice? There is where the question mark comes in. Shouldn't all other people have the same right to freedom of conscience that transgendered do? If so, shouldn't that freedom extend to deciding for themselves their own interpretation of biology and psychology?  Even if it doesn't match what a transgendered individual thinks about himself or herself? That's what freedom is about, right?

And as Alex said, "them" is plural. "They" is plural. Those are poor word choices for a single person. Confusing, irritating, non-grammatical. And like RC said, so many more important issues exist to worry about. Honestly, there are two sexes, it is a binary issue, and so perhaps someone using he and she is not addressing gender, only biological sex, and gender shouldn't have to be addressed any more than race should. What do you think about that? Making a pronoun match sex, not gender? Seems simple enough and no one should be offended. "My sex is female but my gender is male." OK< good for you. I salute your courage in making that determination. Now leave Mr. Jones there alone if he chooses to differ. If I'm not mistaken, that great trans-phobe Caitlyn Jenner is more or less saying the same thing, right?

Truthfully it's been a long time since I've seen a sillier issue get as much attention as this pronoun thing.

[ralfy]

^ The thing is, people should be concerned about REAL issues in this country, like gun violence, and not petty s**t like this.

I remember Moore's documentary Columbine, and he pointed out that various countries have less gun violence, with or without a proliferation of firearms. He believes that the reason has to do with fear brought about by mainstream media in news and even reality shows.

I also recall various surveys that reveal that most Americans know very little about their country or the world. In light of that, the military has been conducting several studies because it's been experiencing low recruitment levels and found out that most (77 pct, at least) U.S. youth are not fit to serve and are not even qualified for many careers due to one or more of the ff. problems: obesity, poor health, mental illness, drug abuse, alcoholism, vices like gambling, unwanted pregnancies, low test scores, and criminal records.

Meanwhile, not only authorities but even corporations (via powerful asset management corporations like BlackRock) have been pushing for regulations involving gender and race.

[ralfy]

Agreed: here by me the corruption is scary, we have water and electricity supply issues and the government thinks only about themselves, not us. ☹️

I read that the U.S. faces infrastructure falling apart, high prices, high unemployment mitigated by low-wage jobs, banks falling apart, and now real estate problems. Meanwhile, more are calling to send more military aid to other countries.

[ralfy]

In a nutshell:
Male/masculine identifying people use he/him
Female/feminine identifying people use she/her
Non binary (think of the third gender) mainly use they/them, occasionally you'll see it/it's, but it's a bit rare as it/it's is a bit dehumanizing.
Now what's newer are demimen and demiwomen. Demimen use both he/him and they/them, demiwomen use both she/her and they/them. If you're wondering why that is I just like to think of it as punk move to be nonconforming.
If you see someone using all three then that person is probably genderfluid, which generally means that the person doesn't care how you gender them.

They're coming up with more, like xe/xem, ze/zim, sie/hir, etc.

https://www.them.us/story/gender-neutral-pronouns-101-they-them-xe-xem

There are a few more here:

https://intercultural.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/Neopronouns-Explained-UNCG-Intercultural-Engagement.pdf

[ralfy]

I couldn't care less what people call themselves.
Just don't call me late for dinner!

More places are now turning it into law, together with others, and refusing to follow means various penalties, including fines and even jail time.

[ralfy]

There is a certain rudeness in deviating from the norm and then expecting others to go along with the choice you have made in defining yourself, if that definition differs from what so many people would argue is reality. You have to admit, at the very least one person's declaration of innate gender is something others cannot themselves experience, as the situation is occurring inside someone else's mind and body, not within the testimony of the senses of those perceiving the transgendered person. I respect it is possible for a person born with male sex organs to claim he feels female. I also respect that science would say that feelings aside, that person has the DNA of a male. So asking people to play a game when they don't want to comes down to your rights end where another's begin.

Should society have the right to tell a person born a male that he cannot identify as female? No. Should that person then ask others to call him female, even when another person might sincerely feel that forces him to lie? No. At least that's my feeling.

And so is this: Live your life, leave others alone, and in the process, try to do no harm. If you're minding your own business and not hurting anyone else, then it's no one else's business what you do or what you call yourself. Now when you try to force others to join in using words that other people aren't comfortable using, that's when east meets west and you become tyrannical. Do you have the right to be just about whatever you want to be, gender-wise? Sure. I say be happy and good luck to you. Do you have the right to expect others to accept your choice? There is where the question mark comes in. Shouldn't all other people have the same right to freedom of conscience that transgendered do? If so, shouldn't that freedom extend to deciding for themselves their own interpretation of biology and psychology?  Even if it doesn't match what a transgendered individual thinks about himself or herself? That's what freedom is about, right?

And as Alex said, "them" is plural. "They" is plural. Those are poor word choices for a single person. Confusing, irritating, non-grammatical. And like RC said, so many more important issues exist to worry about. Honestly, there are two sexes, it is a binary issue, and so perhaps someone using he and she is not addressing gender, only biological sex, and gender shouldn't have to be addressed any more than race should. What do you think about that? Making a pronoun match sex, not gender? Seems simple enough and no one should be offended. "My sex is female but my gender is male." OK< good for you. I salute your courage in making that determination. Now leave Mr. Jones there alone if he chooses to differ. If I'm not mistaken, that great trans-phobe Caitlyn Jenner is more or less saying the same thing, right?

Truthfully it's been a long time since I've seen a sillier issue get as much attention as this pronoun thing.

It might have to do with increasing acceptance of diversity. For example, same-sex marriage in the U.S. rose from 27 pct in 1997 to 70 pct as of 2021:

https://news.gallup.com/poll/350486/record-high-support-same-sex-marriage.aspx

I believe that other related matters, like gender identities, should follow. And with that comes laws and regulations related to them.

In light of other matters, here's one example:

https://twitter.com/JebraFaushay/status/1648441141099122689

Background but another issue:

https://nypost.com/2023/02/26/nyc-teacher-tells-kids-that-nintendo-characters-have-sexual-gender-identities/

A teacher employed by New York City Department of Education presented to middle-school students that Nintendo characters have different sexual and gender identities.

Remy Elliott, who is certified under the name Jeremy William Elliott, posts public videos on her TikTok account describing her approach to teaching. She currently teaches 9th grade English at the DOE, but previously taught younger grades. After Fox News Digital reached out for comment, Elliott deleted the videos in question and put her account on private.

For those outside the states, 9th grade students are around 14-15 years old.

[RCMerchant]

[ralfy]

https://twitter.com/ClownWorld_/status/1649462650529792002

[Allhallowsday]