It Is Not the Same

This week a so-called news reporter at MSNBC presented an opinion piece purporting to be fact. I know, it isn’t the first time and it isn’t just MSNBC.  Fiction and opinion being reported as factual and as news is everywhere.

This hack did a segment on how inconsistent Republicans and Ron DeSantis are for passing a law in Florida preventing “gender affirming care” by parents who want to change their child’s gender.

He (or maybe she, it’s hard to tell these days) pontificated that DeSantis and Republicans spoke out for parental choice regarding the (alleged) vaccines.  Now, he says they are opposing parental choice by passing a law that prevents parents from surgical intervention on children’s gender.

I, not he, added the alleged. After all, a vaccine prevents a disease according to every source, and the COVID-19 vaccine clearly didn’t prevent anything.

This is just another case of sloppy mental processes, political hackery and demagoguery.

I am going to go out on a limb here and state that castrating your son, regardless of the child’s wishes, regardless of political opinion, regardless of medical advice (excluding testicular cancer) is wrong.

In the first place, while it may appear the Republicans changed their position SO DID THIS GUY and the rest of the anti-Republican left.

THEY supported forcing children to take an untested (vaccine?) AGAINST the parents of those children’s wishes. Now they are taking the other side and demanding parent’s opinions are more valuable than governmental mandates.  Make up your minds.

In reality, there is a huge difference between the Republican and Democrat stances. That is the difference between the government mandating actions and the government preventing actions.

Government forcing parents to do something is the opposite from preventing parents from doing something.

Our government has the right and duty to protect people from other people.  The government has no right to force people to do anything.

They do not have the right to force me to take a vaccine. They do not have the right to force me to do anything.

The government has the right to require me to do certain things IF I want to do certain things to protect others. This includes passing a test before getting a driver’s license, practicing medicine, or any other situation where other people rely on my ability.

Parents can be “forced” to provide a certain level of care of their minor children, to educate them and to meet their basic needs. Beyond that, any attempt to force a parent to do anything is wrong.

As beneficial as it may be parents cannot be forced to give their children extracurricular activities.

Parents should be prevented from physically and mentally damaging their children.    

If I attempted to decorate my prepubescent child’s face with tattoos I would be charged with child abuse. If I attempted to remove one of his or her ears because I or the child found it unattractive I would be charged with child abuse.

However, if I decide to castrate my son or give my daughter a hysterectomy there are people who believe I have that right.

What that child decides to do as an adult is another issue.  I still believe that certain permanent medical elective surgeries should require complete information and have a waiting period before the procedure.

In the past, no competent doctor would have ever performed a vasectomy or hysterectomy on a minor without serious medical reasons.

In fact, in the past an adult getting a vasectomy required a consultation with the wife before the procedure.

Tattoos

Today, tattoos are everywhere. That is your choice. However, as with many things, times have changed. When I was a teenager almost every person I knew with a tattoo had the same story: “I got drunk and the next morning I found a tattoo” or “I was in jail and bored.”

Now many people plan their tattoos.

I’m not opposing the tattoos, your choice, but I do think permanent body art should never be done under the influence of anything.

In any case, it is an adult decision not something that should be done to children.

Don’t Say Gay

The so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida doesn’t say “Don’t Say Gay,” it just prohibited discussing sex with children in school before the fourth grade.  What kind of pervert wants and needs to discuss sex with children? We are talking children under the age of ten years old.

There are often times for age appropriate discussions with young children regarding sex but that doesn’t need to be done in school.

I remember when my younger brother asked my mother what rape was. My mother responded, “It is when a bad man forces a woman to do things that should only be done for her husband.”   The brother replied, “Like cooking him breakfast.” My mother said, “Exactly.”

That was all he needed to know at the time. He was a child.  Of course, that information was updated when he was older.

The “Don’t Say Gay” bill was just amended to prohibit schools from teaching sex education to children in Florida before the eighth grade.

That is roughly before the child is 13.  What is wrong with not allowing teachers to teach sex to pre-teen prepubescent children?