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Man of Steel, MAN of Kleenex?

StarFleet Carl 🚫

I can handle Harley Quinn hooking up with Poison Ivy.

I really don't care whether or not Tim Drake as Robin went out with a male admirer. Robin was probably Bruce Wayne's plaything in the Bat Cave, anyway.

But now they're having Superman be bisexual?

The population of the US that is gay/lesbian is 1.7%, the population that is bisexual is 1.8%. Can the 96.5% of us that aren't, please quit having this shoved down our throats?

Yes, I know it's not canon - it's supposed to be Clark and Lois's son, who is the new Superman, but ...

Dominions Son 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

Can the 96.5% of us that aren't, please quit having this shoved down our throats?

Unfortunately, no. It's not enough for the woke/social justice crowd for us to leave them alone and not discriminate against them, we must be made to celebrate LBGTQAXYZ.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

Can the 96.5%

That seems to match with a poor quality 2011 paper.

However, if you study single sex environments, I think you'll find just about everyone will partake.

I don't have a cite, but I remember a study that assessed about 1% of the population as being purely homosexual, about 1% of the population as purely heterosexual, and 98% of the population somewhere in between, and I reckon that was probably closer to the mark.

However, like you, I find it offensive that certain categories enjoy tokenism or positive discrimination from woke media.

AJ

Replies:   GreyWolf
GreyWolf 🚫
Updated:

@awnlee jawking

I posted elsewhere on this. Gallup reported 3.5% (1.8+1.7) in 2021. It's 5.6% now, and three times that high among Gen-Z people (who would be the target audience for 'Young Superman').

Kinsey felt that 10% of the population was essentially homosexual. 10% looks to be a lot closer to the truth than 1%, based on a huge number of studies since that time.

I also doubt that only 1% are 'purely heterosexual' unless you apply a strange definition there. The distribution would certainly be nowhere near bell-shaped.

Also, blaming 'woke media' is silly. This is a comic about a character around 17-20 years old aimed primarily at people around 17-20 years old or so. For people in that age group, it's implausible for there NOT to be LGBTQ people in any reasonable-sized group. Sure, it could be someone other than the title character, but if it's no one, you'll lose that demographic.

John Demille 🚫

@GreyWolf

More importantly for this topic, among Gen-Z 16% identify as something other than heterosexual (a broad reference, but be sure, but the gay/lesbian/bisexual number looks to be around 10%).

Also, blaming 'woke media' is silly.

I suggest you lookup 'Demiromantic', 'Frayromantic' and 'Fraysexual'.

More of Gen-Z identify as something other than heterosexual due to the recent irrational cultural phenomenon of denigrating being heterosexual. The alphabet soup groups have a hugely outsized influence in the media. (Two lesbians whose lives revolve around their lesbianism, can be as loud in society and online as a hundred women who are busy with their families and children.)

Mentally Weak heterosexual individual felt enough pressure to invent weird labels to sound like they're part of this hugely influential group, while in reality they are heterosexual.

Fraysexual? Sexually attracted to strangers. Like, really? that is a sexual 'orientation'? How is the different from most heterosexual men on the prowl?

Demiromantic? Sexually attracted only to those you have an emotional connection with. How is that different from most heterosexual women?

I personally know few people who identify as Queer for this reason. What is queer? they're not gay. They're not bisexual. The definition of queer is basically 'not heterosexual'. So if you're not gay and not bisexual, then what are you if you're queer?

Don't confuse the proliferation of labels with actual change in the demographics. The proportion of gay and lesbians and bisexual is pretty much the same as ever because that is based on biology. But the change in culture is enticing some individuals to adopt new labels simply to fit in with the currently popular group.

Even trans people, which for some truly amazing reason have become so popular in culture, their growth is due to that, culture.

Many who identify as trans, stop it when they are distanced from their current environment. Many who identify as trans, revert to gay/lesbian when they mature and their minds are properly formed.

And yes, you can blame the woke media. If this crap wasn't shoved down our throats everywhere, kids hitting their puberty and overly confused, wouldn't be even more confused and adopting labels that serve no real purpose in their life other than to highlight whatever mental issues they may be having during their transition from kids to procreating adults.

The west is lost. The west's new generation is truly lost. They have no direction. They're not being taught to live a truly fulfilling life. Most women will end up being cat-ladies. Most will have truly sad decades after they miss their chance at building a good life surrounded by a good family. What are they going to do when they hit their fifties and have no children. A lonely life await the vast majority of them.

Meanwhile, western governments, instead of directing their subjects to good productive lives, they simply replace them with immigrants.

Replies:   GreyWolf
GreyWolf 🚫

@John Demille

Pretty much I'll just say that I strongly respectfully disagree. The Gen-Z people that I know have direction and are strong individuals. Many are already living good productive lives. That includes those who identify as something other than heterosexual.

Sorry, just don't see it, and I don't see significant differences between the kids from the most 'liberal' and most 'conservative' families (and I know a broad range there). Overall, I'd say they're, if anything, more grounded and have more direction than many of the highly-indulged kids I went to college with.

I've been hearing "the west is lost" for nearly all of my life, including before I was an adult. My parents tell me that they've been hearing it since they were kids. "The west was lost" in the 50s (rock-and-roll), the 60s (hippies and turn on-tune in-drop out culture), the 70s (me generation), the 80s, the 90s...

Some things never change.

Replies:   awnlee jawking
awnlee jawking 🚫

@GreyWolf

Overall, I'd say they're, if anything, more grounded and have more direction than many of the highly-indulged kids I went to college with.

In a poll reported in yesterday's paper, 30% of Gen-Z believe they should have the right to suppress the opinions of those they disagree with. There's a reason Gen-Z is also labelled 'Generation Snowflake' and it doesn't match your description of 'grounded'. However, by the age of 30, their thought processes and decision making should have matured enough for their car insurance quotes to bottom out.

AJ

Replies:   GreyWolf
GreyWolf 🚫

@awnlee jawking

I'd have to see what question they actually asked to know what to think about that (I highly doubt the actual question was "Do you have the right to suppress the opinions of those you disagree with? Yes or no?") It doesn't match with the Gen-Z people that I know (but, of course, that's anecdotal).

The term 'snowflake' is hugely overused. At this point, either everyone is a snowflake or nearly no one is. This entire thread starts with a posting that could easily be described as a snowflake post and it's by someone very much not in Gen-Z.

But, then, the predominant group calling Gen-Z 'snowflakes' are Boomers, and Boomers (at least in the US) are arguably the biggest group of snowflakes around, so... there's that.

awnlee jawking 🚫
Updated:

@GreyWolf

Kinsey felt that 10% of the population was essentially homosexual. 10% looks to be a lot closer to the truth than 1%, based on a huge number of studies since that time.

Again no cite, but I saw a rebuttal of that Kinsey figure, claiming 90% of those 'homosexuals' were actually to some degree bisexual.

You've only to watch a football match to see all players hugging and kissing after a significant goal. For those showing no objection to such intimate physical contact, it's a tiny jump to sexual contact.

I think my complaints about the woke media are fully justified - it's almost impossible to watch a modern drama without woke issues being thrust down the audience's throat.

I have no idea of the storylines involving Clark and Lois's son, but if they're "I'm bisexual" first and "I'm son of Superman" second, they've lost the plot.

I recently watched the remake of Roswell. That had strong gay/bi elements but they were secondary to the overall story arc and I didn't think they were overly intrusive.

AJ

Replies:   GreyWolf
GreyWolf 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Kinsey's work was definitely flawed, but he was pretty clear that 10% were nearly or exclusively homosexual. The 'some degree' figure for men was 37%. The number certainly looks to be more on the 10% end than the 1-2% end.

Again, I disagree. You see 'woke media', I see 'reflecting reality'. For someone Gen-Z, they're as likely to bump into an LGBTQ person as a black person. Would having a black character on a show be 'woke media'? They're far more likely to bump into an LGBTQ person than someone of Asian descent. Are Asian characters 'woke media'? And so on.

Consider the broad spectrum of things that are applicable to less than 6% of the population that are seen on TV. If you're not complaining about overrepresentation there, complaining about 'woke media' is silly. Law enforcement is 1% of the US population; you should see about six times as many LGBTQ people as police (and perhaps sixteen times as many on Gen-Z-focused media). I'm pretty sure I don't see six times as many gay-focused shows as I see law enforcement focused shows.

A lot of the shots taken at 'woke media' seem to be criticizing it for merely reflecting society. The US media is almost entirely beholden to one thing - money. They're attempting to cater to the largest possible audience.

In my past three jobs I've worked on teams of 10-15 people (within much larger organizations). Every one of them had at least one person who was non-straight. None of them are Gen-Z's (and most aren't Y's). In both of my major volunteer pursuits I run into gay people on a regular basis.

I haven't read the storylines either, but I'd tend to strongly doubt that the 'bisexual' angle is put ahead of the plot. Could be wrong; if it is, I'd agree that it's bad writing.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@GreyWolf

We both have different sources that we believe. We'll have to agree to disagree. I'm sorry, but Kinsey was an object lesson in how not to conduct scientific studies.

A lot of the shots taken at 'woke media' seem to be criticizing it for merely reflecting society.

I criticise woke media because it doesn't reflect society: it reflects the current shoutiest woke cause. I'd have no objections to a black woman portraying Anne Boleyn if she were the best actress for the job, but she was chosen for woke reasons instead.

AJ

John Demille 🚫

@GreyWolf

Kinsey's work was definitely flawed, but he was pretty clear that 10% were nearly or exclusively homosexual. The 'some degree' figure for men was 37%. The number certainly looks to be more on the 10% end than the 1-2% end.

Considering how messy Kinsey's data sources are and how he went about collecting data (and lied about it) and the propensity to favour homosexual sources, I wouldn't trust Kinsey's numbers at all. No scientifically minded person would.

So if you choose to believe Kinsey on the proportion of homosexuals in the general population, that may hint to your own personal bias.

Again, I disagree. You see 'woke media', I see 'reflecting reality'. For someone Gen-Z, they're as likely to bump into an LGBTQ person as a black person. Would having a black character on a show be 'woke media'? They're far more likely to bump into an LGBTQ person than someone of Asian descent. Are Asian characters 'woke media'? And so on.

Irrelevant arguments.

Maybe you see 'reflecting reality' because it's reflecting the reality that you seek or see. Do you work in academia by any chance?

Consider the broad spectrum of things that are applicable to less than 6% of the population that are seen on TV. If you're not complaining about overrepresentation there, complaining about 'woke media' is silly. Law enforcement is 1% of the US population; you should see about six times as many LGBTQ people as police (and perhaps sixteen times as many on Gen-Z-focused media). I'm pretty sure I don't see six times as many gay-focused shows as I see law enforcement focused shows.

Nice trick with the gay-focused shows.

Can you deny that if you were to take the general group of characters represented in all the shows, that the number of non-heterosexual characters shown in the last twenty years is way over their normal representation in the general population?

Considering how attractive show business is to non-heterosexuals, maybe the current proliferation of non-heterosexuals in the media simply represents that bias instead of representing the general population.

A lot of the shots taken at 'woke media' seem to be criticizing it for merely reflecting society. The US media is almost entirely beholden to one thing - money. They're attempting to cater to the largest possible audience.

That is patently false and you know it. How many woke remakes of hit movies have been attempted so far that fell absolutely flat and yet they keep coming, undeterred by their failures. They're ruining one franchise after the other and they don't seem to care about the money.

Can you name one woke remake of a successful franchise that was a success? Why does rottentomatoes.com feel the need to frequently turn off audience voting on woke stuff?

If they cater to the largest possible audience, then they must cater to heterosexuals in at least 90% of movies and TV shows. Even if we double Kinsey's crazy numbers, heterosexuals make up at least 80% of the population. Movies and TV shows produced since 2010 don't cater to them that much.

I can clearly remember when my friends and I watched 'Boss Level' and we celebrated that finally at least one movie was made for heterosexual men. That's a pathetic focus on your 'largest possible audience'.

If you were to watch Apple-produced TV shows on AppleTV+ you'd think half the earth's population was gay. Apple's CEO is gay. Coincidence?

In my past three jobs I've worked on teams of 10-15 people (within much larger organizations). Every one of them had at least one person who was non-straight. None of them are Gen-Z's (and most aren't Y's). In both of my major volunteer pursuits I run into gay people on a regular basis.

Hmm, are you gay? Usually certain activities attract similar kinds of people. You seem to be meeting way more gay people that I have ever met.

I've lived for nearly 60 years on this earth. I've met and worked with hundreds, if not thousands, of people. I can count on two hands the number of gay men that I've met outside of academia. I've met more lesbians, but still under 10. My real world seems to be quite different than your real world.

Replies:   GreyWolf
GreyWolf 🚫

@John Demille

I'm not sure how my saying "Kinsey work was definitely flawed" can be read as choosing to believe Kinsey. I don't. However, there are dozens of other, much more well-crafted, studies that put the number in the 5-10% range. That's my point: Kinsey's methodology isn't good, but that doesn't mean his conclusion is wrong. He just got there the wrong way.

He is very likely wrong about the percentage of bisexuals, however.

I'm not sure why you would consider other representational questions 'irrelevant arguments'. That makes little sense. Why is one 'woke' and the other so obviously not 'woke' to be 'irrelevant'? Why is it 'normal' to have someone on-screen from a group that's a few percent of the population but 'woke' to have someone on-screen from a group that's a much higher percentage?

No, I don't work in academia. I'm a software engineer.

Can you deny that if you were to take the general group of characters represented in all the shows, that the number of non-heterosexual characters shown in the last twenty years is way over their normal representation in the general population?

While I haven't made an exhaustive study, I would strongly disagree that non-heterosexual characters are 'way over their normal representation'. I'm having trouble thinking of a show where more than 5-10% of the characters are gay; I can easily think of shows where none are.

I agree with you - in general - about 'woke remakes'. They're a handful of movies overall - I daresay there are probably more MCU movies in the last decade than 'woke remakes', and that's one single series of 'genre films' - and they don't need to be blockbusters to do well. If anything is 'irrelevant', that's a pretty good example of something that is. I didn't say every single movie needed to cater to a mass audience - that would be insane - but rather that most do.

Why does rottentomatoes.com feel the need to frequently turn off audience voting on woke stuff?

Because there's an 'anti-woke' activist crowd who love to review-bomb things based on some perceived 'wokeness', often without having seen the work in question. Indeed, it's often a badge of honor within that community to give the lowest possible mark to something they proudly proclaim they didn't watch. How are 'user reviews' valid when the majority of reviews are from people who haven't seen the work in question?

This is a huge problem across the entire entertainment industry, not just movies. TV, video games, etc are routinely review-bombed because someone in the 'anti-woke' community decided the work was 'woke' and their followers immediately posted as many zero-ratings and snarky comments ('get woke, go broke') as possible. Often this is over one scene, one character, etc.

'Cancel culture' run amok, pretty much, I suppose. I'm 100% for people's freedom of speech to criticize whatever they want, but it makes no sense for e.g. rottentomatoes to provide a platform for it.

I can easily think of dozens of films and TV shows made for and embraced by 'heterosexual men' without breaking a sweat, at least if they're not so upset about gay people that they can't handle even one minor gay character. The entire MCU thus far has, what, one blink-and-you-missed-it gay reference so far? That's quite a few movies, all of which appeal strongly to an enormous number of heterosexual men.

Running down the list of top films of the past few years, and excluding films aimed primarily at children, I have to dig way down the list to find anything with a prominent gay character or the like. I'm not seeing a lot of argument that somehow Hollywood is ignoring the straight-guy market in favor of gay representation. Top of the 'gay' list would probably be "Bohemian Rhapsody", at #14 in 2018. I doubt that people flocked to that movie because Freddie Mercury was gay (or bisexual) - even though that's critical to his life story - but rather because people love Queen songs and wanted to see a movie about them.

Of course, if these 'heterosexual men' are going to be upset if there's anyone not 100% straight, or if a woman has agency, or whatever else the criteria is, obviously you can narrow it. That says far more about the 'heterosexual men' in question than it does about the film. I'm absolutely certain that films aren't making enormous amounts of money (pre-pandemic, of course) without making a lot of that money from heterosexual men, and I certainly can't imagine that the 'John Wick', 'Fast and the Furious', 'Mission: Impossible', 'Jurassic World', 'Jumanji', etc, franchises are doing a huge business on the backs of only the 'woke' demographic (and none of those have any particular 'wokeness' at all).

I'm not gay, nor am I bisexual. No encounters, no questioning, no nothing, pretty much straight as an arrow. I have to really, really perform mental gymnastics to even figure out which man is going to be perceived as handsome
by people who perceive men as handsome.

I can count more than two hands-worth (the traditional way - using binary would work just fine) in terms of people I know currently. My suspicion is that you've met far more than then you think you have, but it's not been in a setting where they can be open about it.

One of my various hats is to work in a charity volunteer organization (which is apological and the causes supported have absolutely nothing to do with 'wokeism'). Out of perhaps 100 highly active volunteers, 10 are gay men. Aside from the two partners in one couple, none of them knew each other before volunteering with us. I can't imagine anything in our mission or recruiting that would cause us to be unusually attractive to gay men.

I agree that our two real worlds seem to be different, but there's considerable evidence that mine is neither unlikely nor uncommon.

Dominions Son 🚫

@GreyWolf

Kinsey's methodology isn't good, but that doesn't mean his conclusion is wrong.

No, it doesn't make it certain that his conclusion is wrong, However, it is perfectly rational basis for deciding that his conclusion is more likely to be wrong than it is to be right.

Replies:   GreyWolf  DBActive
GreyWolf 🚫

@Dominions Son

It would be in a vacuum, yes. When numerous other studies find numbers in that general ballpark (though smaller - no question), it becomes more of a mixed bag.

Almost certainly 10% is too high. 1% is clearly far too low; 5% looks likely to be too low, based on most other work. Somewhere in the middle is likely where the truth lies.

Dominions Son 🚫

@GreyWolf

When numerous other studies find numbers in that general ballpark

Numerous other studies mean not much at all if they are all flawed in their methodology.

And if you knew of such a study that wasn't as or more seriously flawed than Kinsey's, you would be citing that one and not Kinsey.

Replies:   GreyWolf
GreyWolf 🚫

@Dominions Son

Gallup, for instance. Not a "study", but we're at the point now where decades of polls and studies all show numbers between 3-10%, and the ones with linear tracking show a higher rate of responses (generally attributed to people being more willing to be open about things).

Yes, it's possible that they're all wrong, but it's a pretty low probability. And, not, this isn't a case where the answer is "we don't know." We know quite a lot, to a reasonable statistical probability.

Data beats lack of data. Better data beats poorer data. Once there's data, it's out of the zone of "we don't know" and into the zone of "we wish we had even more data." When there's a significant clustering in a range (e.g. 3-10% LGB for the overall populace, and ignoring the others (T+) since they're out of Kinsey's scope), arguing about 3% vs 10% makes sense. Claiming it's 1 makes as much sense as claiming it's 20; both are out of the likely range, in the absence of a data-driven reason to believe otherwise.

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son 🚫

@GreyWolf

Data beats lack of data. Better data beats poorer data.

No, bad data doesn't beat no data.

Replies:   GreyWolf
GreyWolf 🚫

@Dominions Son

Sigh. Seriously, that's saying "Gee, all these people have studied this, and we have some findings, and every single thing points to X. But I don't like X, so I'm going to say Y."

Lower-quality data beats no data, because "no data" is equivalent to zero-quality data. If we every time we look at something, the answer is "about X", that's data. It may not be high quality, but it's considerably better than "no data".

Replies:   John Demille
John Demille 🚫

@GreyWolf

Sigh. Seriously, that's saying "Gee, all these people have studied this, and we have some findings, and every single thing points to X. But I don't like X, so I'm going to say Y."

Isn't that what you're doing? You admit that Kinsey's number and methodology is bad, and yet you keep quoting those numbers. You seem to like those numbers.

Some studies peg Gays at 2.2% of men, Lesbians at 3.6% and Bisexuals at less than 1%. I've seen studies with even lower number gays and lesbians. Why aren't you taking those studies' numbers to quote when you're talking.

Lower-quality data beats no data, because "no data" is equivalent to zero-quality data. If we every time we look at something, the answer is "about X", that's data. It may not be high quality, but it's considerably better than "no data".

Not always. Sometimes bad data leads to very wrong conclusions and hamper studies that seek better data.

Have you read Taleb's books? Your arguments suggest that you haven't. You should.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@GreyWolf

1% is clearly far too low

No, 1% is about right.

AJ

Replies:   GreyWolf
GreyWolf 🚫

@awnlee jawking

As I replied above to someone else: that's saying "Everything indicates X, but I like Y better, so it's Y." 1% is inconsistent with the data that we have about the world, so - while you're of course welcome to believe it - don't expect other people to act in accordance with it.

If nothing else, Gallup's polling is pretty consistent and shows that it's been well above 1% for quite a while now, and they're overall a fairly reputable organization with a track record of quality polling.

Replies:   awnlee jawking
awnlee jawking 🚫

@GreyWolf

1% is inconsistent with the data that we have about the world, so - while you're of course welcome to believe it - don't expect other people to act in accordance with it.

No, it's based on objective criteria rather than self-reporting. It is likely the most of the people you claim are homosexual have had heterosexual experiences and would do so again in the appropriate circumstances.

AJ

DBActive 🚫

@Dominions Son

If anyone is interested the Kinsey Institute (which has an interest in protecting his reputation) has a summary of the studies.
https://kinseyinstitute.org/research/publications/historical-report-diversity-of-sexual-orientation.php

Replies:   awnlee jawking
awnlee jawking 🚫

@DBActive

Interesting that the proportion reporting themselves to be homosexual is much larger than the proportion reporting themselves to have same-gender sexual contact only, which is consistently around 1%.

AJ

John Demille 🚫

@GreyWolf

I'm not sure how my saying "Kinsey work was definitely flawed" can be read as choosing to believe Kinsey. I don't.

And yet you keep repeating his numbers. You admit that his numbers are incorrect, and yet you keep talking about various other studies that corroborate his numbers. And you don't link to any. This is clear bias.

I'm having trouble thinking of a show where more than 5-10% of the characters are gay; I can easily think of shows where none are.

How many characters does a show have, main ones? It's hardly ever over six or seven, having one or two of those main characters being non-heterosexual in every show jumps the representation. Plenty of shows are about the alphabet people these days. It's the in-thing in Hollywood.

Why does rottentomatoes.com feel the need to frequently turn off audience voting on woke stuff?

[snipped]

but it makes no sense for e.g. rottentomatoes to provide a platform for it.

Are you really trying to argue and convince us that the woke are the oppressed group these days and that the 'anti-woke' are their oppressors? Like really? honestly you're going for that position? You're really stating that the 'anti-woke' are the real problem?

You know that there is no such thing as 'anti-woke'? Those are called normal people who are using common sense. The fact that you label normal people as 'anti-woke' shows your bias.

The fact that rottentomatoes simply does it, shows how powerful the woke are. They are culturally dominant and they are shutting up anybody that opposes them. The woke are a minority. Extremely loud and effective minority. They are dominant and oppressive.

Many, many people's social media accounts were shut down for stating simple truths. Like for example 'biological sex is a fact', or that 'There are many genders, but there are only two sexes'. Try it on twitter.

Every tyranny seeks to censor its opponents. That is a mark of dominance. The woke shut down and muzzle anybody that opposes them.

Can the conservatives shut down voting on rottentomatoes if the woke choose to review bomb something conservative? When did that ever happen?

Every large organization that has any effect in the culture, from social media to large corporations like Google and Apple, uphold the woke agenda religiously. When the the US government flies the woke flag over its buildings in the US and embassies around the world, it's a show of woke dominance.

I'm not gay, nor am I bisexual. No encounters, no questioning, no nothing, pretty much straight as an arrow.

I'm not against you if you were. I really don't care. I only asked to figure out your perspective. You're really going all out arguing and pushing for woke/non-hetero agenda.

One of my various hats is to work in a charity volunteer organization (which is apological and the causes supported have absolutely nothing to do with 'wokeism'). Out of perhaps 100 highly active volunteers, 10 are gay men. Aside from the two partners in one couple, none of them knew each other before volunteering with us. I can't imagine anything in our mission or recruiting that would cause us to be unusually attractive to gay men.

It's a volunteer organization. That alone is enough to skew numbers.

Who volunteers usually? busy people? no. People who have enough free time to use it to volunteer.

The vast majority of gays and lesbians have no children. That gives them such a huge advantage over heterosexuals who by their nature eventually start families. Having one child cuts your free time available for volunteering down to negligible amounts. So the alphabet soup people tend to be over-represented in volunteer organization and online and everywhere other than their own homes. I know that personally from experience. Before having children of my own, I was out and about including volunteering when I first landed in Canada (Iraq has no such stuff as the west), and then when I had children, I could barely scratch my head, let alone volunteer. Now that they're grown up, I have more time for discussions online for example.

That is one of the reasons that the woke are so over-represented in culture. They have nothing else to do, to feel fulfilled with, other than spreading their causes.

Non-woke, normal people are too busy with their family life, or don't feel strongly enough about these issue to argue about it. Meanwhile, the woke push and push and push and keep moving the posts. One day sex and gender were separate, sex was biological and gender was an individual's social performance, and now we've reached a stage where trans-women are considered actually truly women and you get punished online for denying it. Trans-women (biologically men) are even allowed to compete against biological women in sports despite having the huge advantage of having gone thru male puberty and built bigger skeleton and bigger musculature. We're now living in clown world.

Replies:   GreyWolf
GreyWolf 🚫

@John Demille

Are you really trying to argue and convince us that the woke are the oppressed group these days and that the 'anti-woke' are their oppressors? Like really? honestly you're going for that position? You're really stating that the 'anti-woke' are the real problem?

You know that there is no such thing as 'anti-woke'? Those are called normal people who are using common sense. The fact that you label normal people as 'anti-woke' shows your bias.

Are you seriously going to argue that 'normal people' are organizing review-bombing campaigns on RottenTomatoes, game review sites, etc, for the purpose of giving low reviews to movies and other media that haven't even come out yet, which they obviously haven't seen, which they proclaim they haven't seen, and which they're attacking on the basis of some claimed 'wokeism'? That's something 'normal people' do? Those are activists. They're not 'normal people'.

You are beyond naΓ―ve if you believe there aren't 'anti-woke' people who are actively involved in opposing 'wokism'. Claiming there aren't is one of the oldest ploys in the world. Whatever you champion - left or right, KKK or Communist Party or whatever - you claim that all you are is 'normal people' and all you're doing is opposing those awful folks over there who are stirring up trouble.

Seriously, in our political, polarized world, you're actually trying to seriously claim that, somehow, there aren't people whose mission is to attack 'wokeism'? That would be beyond amazing. 'Wokism' would be literally just about the only thing with no 'anti-' group opposing it.

And, yes, I'm certain that if the 'woke' started reviewbombing something they'd never seen and zero-rating it, Rotten Tomatoes would shut them down.

Many, many people's social media accounts were shut down for stating simple truths. Like for example 'biological sex is a fact', or that 'There are many genders, but there are only two sexes'. Try it on twitter.

Really? That would explain why J. K. Rowling's been kicked off social media. What? She's still on there? Well, a lesser name like Matt Walsh has been kicked off. Nope, he's still there saying things like 'biological sex is a fact' nearly every day, with lots of 'regular people' replying and saying the same thing? And he's not been kicked off twitter?

The whole 'they're coming the get me' trope is another standard thing. They were always 'coming to get' the KKK. Or the American Communist Party. Or whoever. 'Powerful forces' were out to 'stamp out their message of truth and justice'.

Have people been kicked off? Sure, but it's virtually never because of a position like the ones you're straw-manning, it's for violating language rules or posting deliberate misinformation (which 'there are only two genders' is not). It's trivial to point to very long, very active twitter threads where the vast majority of people are arguing against transgenderism and yet no one is getting kicked off.

You're really going all out arguing and pushing for woke/non-hetero agenda.

A statement that only makes sense if you buy the ridiculous notion that it's the 'woke agenda' vs 'normal people'. If you buy the notion - which fits my view of the world - that there's being a decent human being and treating others with respect, and there's trying to tear down others because they believe something other than what you believe, then I'll side with the decent human beings.

I only got involved in this discussion because people were so vociferously opposed to a new character in an existing franchise being written as bisexual. That's something that should, in my opinion, elicit a 'Wow, that's interesting. Not for me. Guess I'll read some other comic.' response at best, not the angry mob coming after wokist scum.

I seriously don't understand why some people are so adamant that everything should look exactly like it always has, and nothing should contain an opinion or a situation that's counter to their life experience and beliefs. Why it's worth fighting to make sure that other people aren't treated with respect and dignity. Why anything that broadens the scope of media must be branded 'wokism' and attacked tooth and nail.

It's a volunteer organization. That alone is enough to skew numbers.

Who volunteers usually? busy people? no. People who have enough free time to use it to volunteer.

Wow. I mean, seriously, wow. My former employer

required

that all employees put in significant volunteer hours every year, and encouraged more (as in, encouraged by donating to the charities where employees volunteered). They're a Fortune 100 company. Everyone who works there are 'busy people'. With just a handful of exceptions (retired people), everyone who volunteers at the organization I mentioned has a serious day job. Our founder is now retired, but was an active-duty police office for the first ten years of the charity. We have numerous volunteers with kids as well.

Sorry, this sounds like another 'elites' versus 'normal people' strawman. Most people who volunteer at most things are 'normal people'; if they weren't, charities who rely on volunteers would shut down en masse. Yes, people working two or three jobs don't volunteer as often, but that's not a lot of people.

I've been highly active in two volunteer organizations for quite a while (10 years with one, 25 for the other). The vast majority of volunteers have full-time jobs. Many have kids. They're normal, busy people who still want to help others.

We got involved in one of the two charities (the one I first mentioned) because of our kids. One of their service missions is youth mentoring through volunteerism, and our kids really, really wanted to volunteer there.

Finally, you get to a point that doesn't require a strawman to be reasonable:

Trans-women (biologically men) are even allowed to compete against biological women in sports despite having the huge advantage of having gone thru male puberty and built bigger skeleton and bigger musculature.

Agree. In truly competitive sports there's a serious issue. Surprised that I'd agree? You shouldn't have; most of the transgender people that I know (we have about a dozen attending our church) think that transgender women shouldn't compete in serious competitions.

On the other hand: A lot of this is conflating 'participation' with 'competition'. Transgender girls shouldn't be allowed to dominate competition. They also shouldn't be frozen out of activities which all other children have the opportunity to participate in at school. If there's a way to allow participation without penalizing biological girls (who also shouldn't be penalized), do that. That works for pretty much every individual activity, and there are ways of making it work to a large extent for most team sports.

On the other hand, 'punished online' is back to a ridiculous statement. "I used my free speech to say something mean about transgender people and now all these other people are using their free speech to say something mean about me! Mommy, save me!" What exactly do you expect to happen? How would you create a system in which one was free from being 'punished online' for unpopular speech without denying others their right to speech? Oh, right, all of those with 'unpopular speech' are being drummed off social media, just like J. K. Rowling or Matt Walsh or hundreds of other people, who I'm sure will actually be drummed off any day now, after years of loudly proclaiming their point of view.

I'm probably mostly done replying to this particular thread. Not that you need my validation, but I agree with your point about transgender girls and women in sports, up to a point anyway. On the other hand, the claim that there's not a large group of 'anti-woke' people who are actively opposing 'wokism' is beyond ludicrous. You see them every day. Similarly, perhaps your attitudes about volunteerism are accurate somewhere else, but they're utterly disconnected with reality here.

Non-woke, normal people are too busy with their family life, or don't feel strongly enough about these issue to argue about it.

Funny - I agree with you, in a way (though you do realize you just undermined your entire argument, right?). Non-woke, normal people are not out there opposing 'wokism'. They're not review-bombing things on RottenTomatoes. They're not getting in a tizzy over whether Superman's son is bisexual. They're living their lives and they really don't care if LGBTQ+ people are living their lives to. They go see movies and they watch TV and they don't care a whit over whether there's a gay character or a same-gender kiss or whatnot.

People who do go off crusading against 'wokism' are not 'normal people' - by your own definition.

And don't reply with 'normal people'. If 'normal people' really didn't like something, it'd pretty much be gone. Trying to wrap yourself in the mantle of 'I'm just a normal person, like all these other normal people' won't fly. I've got just as much - more! - claim to being a 'normal person'. You'd be hard-pressed to distinguish my gay friends, or my transgender friends, from anyone else except that they're gay or transgender. They're perfectly 'normal people'. They have jobs, many have kids, they watch movies and TV, they do all those 'normal people' things. Trying to pretend they're not 'normal people' is being part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Arguing that people deserve dignity and respect regardless of whether they're gay, straight, transgender, religious, non-religious, whatever is pretty much what 'normal people' believe. Fighting against respecting them, and trying to attack anything where they see themselves in the media, is not 'normal'.

Let me respond with a final question. You questioned why I'm "arguing and pushing for woke/non-hetero agenda" (a characterization I flatly reject, but let's run with it). Why are you "arguing and pushing for a non-woke/hetero agenda" (also a terrible characterization, really)? Why is it so important to you that gay people not be represented in media? That there aren't have 'woke remakes'? I mean, I don't like some movies, so I don't go see them. I don't review-bomb them, I don't support others review-bombing them, I don't rail against the so-and-so's who make them. I don't like that some professions are massively overrepresented and glamorized on TV, but I'm not crusading to end that. I'm curious as to why 'wokism' is such a big deal to you. It's not as if there aren't literally hundreds of non-woke movies and TV shows and recordings and books and every other thing out there to spend your time with.

DBActive 🚫
Updated:

@GreyWolf

ETA: I know the formatting in the chart would be off.

The information from the Gallup poll is more complicated than that.

Americans' Self-Identified Sexual Orientation, by Generation

Bisexual Gay Lesbian Transgender Other

%

%

%

%

%

Generation Z (born 1997-2002) 11.5 2.1 1.4 1.8 0.4

Millennials (born 1981-1996) 5.1 2.0 0.8 1.2 0.4

Generation X (born 1965-1980) 1.8 1.2 0.7 0.2 0.1

Baby boomers (born 1946-1964) 0.3 1.2 0.4 0.2 0.0

Traditionalists (born before 1946) 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.1

Figures represent the percentage of all adult members of each generation who have that sexual orientation

GALLUP, 2020

In addition to the pronounced generational differences, significant gender differences are seen in sexual identity, as well as differences by people's political ideology:

Women are more likely than men to identify as LGBT (6.4% vs. 4.9%, respectively).

Women are more likely to identify as bisexual -- 4.3% do, with 1.3% identifying as lesbian and 1.3% as something else. Among men, 2.5% identify as gay, 1.8% as bisexual and 0.6% as something else.

What does "bisexual" mean in this context? Would the results be different if the number of same-sex encounters was asked?

Remus2 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

I say let them play. The more they push things like that, the stronger the backswing of the pendulum will be. Wokism will die in a flash.

GreyWolf 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

Those numbers are woefully out of date. 5.6% of Americans identify as LGBTQ as of 2020 (it was 3.5% in 2012 - that seems to be where your 1.7% + 1.8% come from, I'd guess, given that 54% or so within LGBTQ identify as bisexual). More importantly for this topic, among Gen-Z 16% identify as something other than heterosexual (a broad reference, but be sure, but the gay/lesbian/bisexual number looks to be around 10%).

Superman's Gen-Z-aged son would be in that population. The primary market for the character would be people in Gen Z, who likely have a considerable number of friends who aren't straight. My kids immediately dismiss any media aimed at their age group as utterly implausible if there aren't non-straight characters.

Note that your reaction may be explained by this tidbit: only 2 percent of Americans 56 and older consider themselves to fall into LGBTQ (or, rather, report that to Gallup). So, it's little surprise that many not-young Americans feel like something is being 'shoved down their throats', while Gen-Z people see it as simply reflecting the world they know. LGBTQ people are a higher percentage of their age group than are black people, for instance (on a national average; obviously that varies by community).

The difference is likely explained more by willingness to be open about these things than a real change in how common it is to identify as LGBTQ (though not entirely). Remember that Kinsey (whose work is flawed, but not garbage) estimated that 10% of the population were gay back in the 1950s (with a much higher percentage having at least some same-gender encounters). Other fairly reputable studies hit about that same 10%-ish figure.

Dominions Son 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

Personally, I'm highly skeptical of any study/paper that relies on survey data. People lie to pollsters, this is a well known phenomenon.

The raw data is always questionable. Then they manipulate the raw data with advanced statistical techniques without including anyone with an advanced degree in statistics in the process.

And just to be clear, I don't trust anyone's numbers on these kinds of things.

Replies:   Keet  Remus2  GreyWolf
Keet 🚫

@Dominions Son

The raw data is always questionable. Then they manipulate the raw data with advanced statistical techniques without including anyone with an advanced degree in statistics in the process.

You know the saying: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics (wikipedia).

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son 🚫

@Keet

You know the saying: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics (wikipedia).

The problem is often the misuse of various statistical techniques.

Statistics is it's own branch of advanced mathematics

Yet, even in the hard sciences there are a lot of papers that are heavy on statistical analysis, but they never include an actual expert in statistics in setting up the analysis or writing the paper nor are statistics experts included in the peer review process.

Replies:   Keet
Keet 🚫

@Dominions Son

The problem is often the misuse of various statistical techniques.

Actually the problem is not statistics in itself but the way it is presented in the news (of course by non-statisticians). Often only specific subsets or percentages of subsets are presented that give the reader "true" numbers but the context/total set is lost and suggests something totally different from what a closer look at the raw data would reveal. Only those numbers are picked that fits the view of the news paper. And of course statistics are used on questionable raw data in the first place if it fits the cause.

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son 🚫
Updated:

@Keet

Actually the problem is not statistics in itself but the way it is presented in the news

No, often the statistics in the academic papers themselves are either badly bungled or new/difficult statistical techniques are applied to situations they were not intended for without consulting an actual statistician on how they should be applied.

The statistics in the papers themselves are as often as not garbage before the news media gets around to misreporting it

Remus2 🚫

@Dominions Son

The raw data is always questionable. Then they manipulate the raw data with advanced statistical techniques without including anyone with an advanced degree in statistics in the process.

Two kinds of statisticians, liars and damn liars. That was told to me by my stats professor back in the day. I've seen no evidence that has changed.

Replies:   richardshagrin
richardshagrin 🚫

@Remus2

Two kinds of statisticians, liars and damn liars. That was told to me by my stats professor back in the day. I've seen no evidence that has changed.

There are also actuaries who work mostly for insurance companies.

GreyWolf 🚫

@Dominions Son

I agree and disagree.

Of course one needs to take survey data under advisement. There are entire fields of study in how to do this properly, and I seriously doubt they're ignoring people with advanced degrees in statistics.

On the other hand, while I'm highly skeptical of anything that relies on survey data, I'm far MORE highly skeptical of anything that says "Well, all the surveys say X, but my gut feeling is Y, so Y's the truth."

Given 'some data' versus 'no data at all', 'some data' is almost always going to win without any contest at all.

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son 🚫

@GreyWolf

Given 'some data' versus 'no data at all', 'some data' is almost always going to win without any contest at all.

No, what should win in such situations is an admission of ignorance. "We just don't know" is a perfectly valid answer.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Dominions Son

"We just don't know" is a perfectly valid answer.

Not when the question is how the country should tackle the new pandemic that's just arrived in the country.

Sometimes you have to make decisions based on insufficient data, making the best guess you can in the circumstances. Inevitably you'll be wrong some of the time but as long as it's less than 50% of the time, you're probably winning.

AJ

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Sometimes you have to make decisions based on insufficient data

Yes, but even then an acceptance of ignorance would help.

Making bad decisions on the basis of insufficient and possibly wrong data will make thinks worse, not better.

And without that early acceptance of ignorance, it becomes difficult to reverse course on wrong decisions made on bad data.

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@Dominions Son

"We just don't know" is a perfectly valid answer.

Quite correct.

This is also why many people no longer trust the results of polls. (Not Poles, Richard!) Slanting the question to get the answer you're trying to get - or only polling the demographic that will give you that answer - has become so standardized in the industry it's simply ridiculous.

ystokes 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

Asking 2,000 people a question and then applying the answer to 300,000,000 people is stupid.

There was a poll a number of years ago titled "46 percent of Republican voters in Mississippi want to have interracial marriage banned" They only asked 400 people.

What surprises me most is most of you would defend a fanfic of having Superman a flamer but god forbid the owner of Superman do the same.

Replies:   Dominions Son  GreyWolf
Dominions Son 🚫

@ystokes

What surprises me most is most of you would defend a fanfic of having Superman a flamer

I wouldn't defend it (in more than a general free speech way) and I wouldn't read it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to disparage it either.

GreyWolf 🚫

@ystokes

It's not 'stupid'. It's stupid when you don't sample an adequate cross-section of people. If surveying a well-chosen random sample of people and applying it to broader populations didn't work, we'd have to throw out much of modern medicine, actuarial science, marketing, advertising, media, and dozens of other things.

It's entirely possible to extrapolate from 400 people to 'Mississippi Republican Voters' within a few percentage people if the 400 people are a true random sample of all Mississippi Republican Voters. Getting that true random sample is the hard part.

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son 🚫

@GreyWolf

Getting that true random sample is the hard part.

Getting that true random sample is impossible. FTFY.

Replies:   GreyWolf
GreyWolf 🚫

@Dominions Son

Philosophically, I (almost) agree. A true random sample is highly is extremely improbable (mathematically not impossible).

That's why we have margins of error. Getting a random sample within a few percentage points margin of error is entirely possible.

There's a reason why polling was highly accurate overall for many decades and is still far better than random noise, even in the presence of multiple factors that confound getting a truly random sample (pollster resistance, cell phones, the Internet, spam calls reducing willingness to answer, etc). High-quality polls mirror reality far, far more than they would if they were simply random, or even if they were chosen to get the desired answer.

richardshagrin 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

The way I heard the story it was man of steel, women of keenex. And the man of steel had problems having sex with women.

Replies:   StarFleet Carl  madnige
StarFleet Carl 🚫

@richardshagrin

The way I heard the story it was man of steel, women of kleenex. And the man of steel had problems having sex with women.

It's not so much that he has problems having sex so much as his partners have problems SURVIVING having sex with him. The same reasoning would apply to a male partner as well.

Replies:   Dominions Son  joyR
Dominions Son 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

It's not so much that he has problems having sex so much as his partners have problems

Not just his partners. A super ejaculation could take out several city blocks.

joyR 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

It's not so much that he has problems having sex so much as his partners have problems SURVIVING having sex with him. The same reasoning would apply to a male partner as well.

That could well be true for female partners.

With male partners there would always be a butt…..

:)

madnige 🚫

@richardshagrin

You can read Man of Steel Woman of Kleenex by Larry Niven, and a couple of other unpublished or rare shorts (includes one previously published only in Playboy), essays and commentaries, including his Laws, on his site.

GreyWolf 🚫
Updated:

@StarFleet Carl

I like Patton Oswalt's take on this:

"The alien with super-strength who flies through the air and has heat vision and there's different colored rocks that can kill him or change his powers can't be "Gay". That's ridiculous!"

Replies:   Dominions Son  joyR
Dominions Son 🚫

@GreyWolf

I like Patton Oswalt's take on this:

"The alien with super-strength who flies through the air and has heat vision and there's different colored rocks that can kill him or change his powers can't be "Gay". That's ridiculous!"


Sexual orientation is kind of beside the point if he can't ever safely have sex with a human.

He isn't gay, bi, or heterosexual, he's necessarily and incel.

Even masturbation would carry a risk of killing bystanders unless he does it on the far side of the moon or something.

Replies:   GreyWolf  joyR
GreyWolf 🚫

@Dominions Son

Ahh, but canonically, Superman is able to overcome those limitations. Else, how does he have a child? I'm pretty sure artificial insemination with reinforced steel collection chambers isn't the answer.

There is the question of why the baby kicking doesn't cause enormous destruction, but, eh. Again, canonically it works.

And, even if all that weren't true, his sexual orientation could still be bisexual or gay. A gay person who chooses not to have a partner is still 'gay' - they are merely a celibate gay person.

Most incels (or, at least, ones who become well-known as such) seem to be quite heterosexual, though the term itself doesn't seem to be restricted.

Replies:   StarFleet Carl
StarFleet Carl 🚫

@GreyWolf

There is the question of why the baby kicking doesn't cause enormous destruction

Niven addressed that in his story. You either have a dead mother, or you make her wear a belt of pretty rocks that attenuates the babies power long enough to be born.

joyR 🚫

@Dominions Son

Even masturbation would carry a risk of killing bystanders unless he does it on the far side of the moon or something.

So that wasn't a shooting star after all…..??

Forgive my ignorance, can Superman survive in space? Does he not need to breathe or can he just hold his breath for a really long time?

Is the dark side of the moon caused because dried cum is a poor reflector of sunlight?

Replies:   StarFleet Carl
StarFleet Carl 🚫

@joyR

Forgive my ignorance, can Superman survive in space? Does he not need to breathe or can he just hold his breath for a really long time?

Yes, he can survive in space. Actually, it is canon that he can fly MUCH faster than the speed of light, as well. He can hold his breath for however long the plotline requires him to do so. Not just in space, but also underwater as well.

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

He can hold his breath for however long the plotline requires him to do so. Not just in space, but also underwater as well.

Actually some of the comics have shown him taking a small oxygen bottle with a simple face mask on long space trips.

Replies:   StarFleetCarl
StarFleetCarl 🚫

@Dominions Son

Actually some of the comics have shown him taking a small oxygen bottle with a simple face mask on long space trips.

But they're not consistent, either. Because some of the comics show him talking in space without a helmet, or a breather mask, too.

That's why I said plotline. The image of him with a helmet on that was created by Green Lantern also shows Krypto without any breathing apparatus.

joyR 🚫

@GreyWolf

"The alien with super-strength who flies through the air and has heat vision and there's different colored rocks that can kill him or change his powers can't be "Gay". That's ridiculous!"

He wears "boy shorts" outside his leotard… he is either gay or a lumberjack of the monty python variety.

Remus2 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

I don't understand why they insist on remaking established canons. If it's supported by as large a population as they imply, then establishing their own new series of superheroes shouldn't be a problem.
Instead they leach off of the popularity of established characters to support their premise. Their target audience should be pissed about that.

Replies:   GreyWolf
GreyWolf 🚫

@Remus2

This isn't a remake. This is the son of Superman, Jon Kent - a new character. Nothing about Clark Kent / Kal-El has changed or been remade. There is no change in canon.

Jon Kent doesn't have a canon in this regard. This is part of establishing it.

Replies:   Remus2
Remus2 🚫

@GreyWolf

It is still part of the superman canon. I don't recall any part of that being sexualized much less being specified as gay or bisexual.

Replies:   GreyWolf
GreyWolf 🚫
Updated:

@Remus2

Superman has had a very, very, VERY long relationship with Lois Lane. It's always been "sexualized" in the same way that Jon Kent is "sexualized."

Superman (Clark Kent / Kal-El) has always been heterosexual to the best of our ability to discern that. He's obviously attracted to women and, canonically, he has a child with one. Changing Clark to bisexual or gay would be changing the canon, since there has - to the best of my knowledge - never been the slightest sign whatsoever that Clark is hiding anything.

Giving a new character with little history a dating relationship to someone of the same gender is not "changing the canon", nor it is "sexualizing" the canon in a way that it was not previously "sexualized."

Heterosexual dating is no more, and no less, "sexualizing" than homosexual dating. Also, heterosexual couples produce gay offspring on a regular basis, otherwise there would be virtually no gay people.

Why is it unreasonable for Clark Kent and Lois Lane's child to be bisexual? How does that break canon? Why should it be the case that established characters cannot have LGBT offspring, despite 'normal people' doing that on a regular basis?

Replies:   joyR  joyR
joyR 🚫

@GreyWolf

Why is it unreasonable for Clark Kent and Lois Lane's child to be bisexual? How does that break canon?

Isn't Superman different from most if not all other superheroes in that he was born (on another planet) and his abilities were normal on that planet but make him 'super' here on earth?

Nobody seems to have considered the abilities his child might inherit given that his mother is human. Obviously the writers can just make shit up, but realistically his child would only have a fraction of his father's genetics.

If the child grows up and chooses to be gay then presumably there will not be a third generation here on earth. If however the 'turkey baster' option is used, then the resultant offspring will have even further reduced 'abilities'.

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son 🚫

@joyR

Isn't Superman different from most if not all other superheroes in that he was born (on another planet) and his abilities were normal on that planet but make him 'super' here on earth?

Actually not quite.

As I understand it, the comic book cannon is that Krypton orbited a red giant star. Kryptonians in their native environment were somewhat stronger than humans (higher gravity) but not to the level of Superman's abilities on Earth.

It is exposure to the different radiation from Earth's sun that gives Kryptonians on earth most of their super powers.

Replies:   StarFleet Carl
StarFleet Carl 🚫

@Dominions Son

comic book cannon

Does that mean they're all big guns?

(Thought I'd beat the Grinning Dick on this one. Which, come to think of it, just simply beating the Grinning Dick about the head and shoulders - without shampoo or real poo, either - is a good idea.)

joyR 🚫

@GreyWolf

Also, heterosexual couples produce gay offspring on a regular basis, otherwise there would be virtually no gay people.

Virtually???

Has intercourse between two men or two women EVER resulted in one of them giving birth?

ystokes 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

Why doesn't anyone admit that cancel culture has been around for many years, mostly done by the moral right? How many shows, films, books and people have the right tried to cancel over moral grounds?

The only thing new about wokeness and cancel culture are the names. Right now the right are trying to cancel anything that mentions racism exist. School boards are canceling history books that mention slavery because it makes white people feel bad about being white.

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@ystokes

School boards are canceling history books that mention slavery because it makes white people feel bad about being white.

Apparently you have completely missed the reasoning behind teaching critical race theory - and why it's opposed by parents. You'll also note that school boards are acting like they're not responsible TO their constituents - meaning the parents. After all, Terry McAuliffe (who used to be the Governor of Virginia, and is running for election again) just said - and doubled down by repeating it - that he doesn't think parent's should have any role in determining what schools teach their children.

Replies:   Lumpy
Lumpy 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

I don't normally get into these kinds of conversations, but this bugs me. Critical race theory is something taught in graduate level college courses. It isn't, and hasn't been, taught at any level of primary education.

For whatever reason, people latched onto that phrase and are using it to mean all kinds of other things.

Replies:   John Demille
John Demille 🚫

@Lumpy

I don't normally get into these kinds of conversations, but this bugs me. Critical race theory is something taught in graduate level college courses. It isn't, and hasn't been, taught at any level of primary education.

CRT used to be only in graduate level college courses thirty years ago. But as those who were taught CRT in college move to the real world, and some of them become teachers themselves, they're spreading it. It has now filtered down to even kindergarten levels.

CRT is racism. CRT shouldn't be taught anywhere, not even graduate level colleges. It teaches people to treat each other according to the colour of their skin.

CRT is a hateful, and very divisive ideology. They call it 'Theory' to disguise it, but its goal is to indoctrinate young minds. Any naΓ―ve person that learns it, and doesn't stand against it, gets brain washed and becomes a racist. Anything that teaches people to treat others according to the colour of their skin is teaching them racism.

To fight racism, you teach everybody that everybody is equal. You don't teach them that their skin colour is what defines them. To teach them that, you're teaching them racism.

How is it helpful to force white people to think of themselves as white? How is it helpful to make blacks even more aware of their colour and convince them that it's all the fault of the whites? Isn't that pitting them against each other? That's what CRT teaches...

Replies:   Lumpy
Lumpy 🚫

@John Demille

There is no CRT course being taught in elementary school. If you were making a case for racially motivated teaching, sure, I guess, but that isn't the same as CRT. CRT is a specific thing.

This is like saying they are teaching astrophysics in kindergarten when they have the kids point to a picture of the moon.

You're losing the argument if you're saying CRT is taught in elementary, because it says you don't know what CRT is. I know some news networks has made it into a sound byte word, but that's because most of them don't actually know what it is either.

I have no problem with arguments that CRT is bad or whatever, when you're addressing the actual theory that's taught, but you're conflating racially motivated teaching and CRT as being interchangeable. They're not. CRT might be racially motivated, but not everything racially motivated is CRT.

Replies:   John Demille  Remus2
John Demille 🚫

@Lumpy

There is no CRT course being taught in elementary school. If you were making a case for racially motivated teaching, sure, I guess, but that isn't the same as CRT. CRT is a specific thing.

Yes, I admit it. The CRT course, as taught in colleges IS NOT being taught as is in elementary and high schools.

But you knew that, right?

CRT, while being presented as a course on a theory in college, is not a theory and is not a course. It's an insidious destructive ideology.

CRT's adherents have moved from colleges and many are now teaching in schools. CRT's 'influence' is spreading. CRT's teachings are spreading. CRT's ideas are filtering down to children and being taught as facts. When kindergarten books highlight kids' colours and make them very aware of their colour differences, you know that CRT's divisiveness is being taught to children in the west.

Replies:   Lumpy
Lumpy 🚫

@John Demille

I'll try again. Critical Race Theory is a theory that's taught in colleges. The theory states specific things and isn't just racially motivated teachings. Critical Race Theory has to do with the intersection of race and law and is used part of legal scholarship.

The theory that race affects subtle and complex institutional dynamics in how laws are crafted is not 'influencing' lessons in elementary school.

You are stuck on a buzzword that doesn't mean what you think it means.

John Demille 🚫

@Lumpy

You are stuck on a buzzword that doesn't mean what you think it means.

Sure. Whatever makes you feel comfortable.

But, let me assure you, you're out of touch with what's going on in schools these days.

Replies:   Lumpy
Lumpy 🚫

@John Demille

Are you arguing they are teaching legal analysis in elementary schools??

Replies:   John Demille
John Demille 🚫

@Lumpy

Are you arguing they are teaching legal analysis in elementary schools??

Are you being purposefully obtuse? Go back and read my reply to you.

Replies:   Lumpy
Lumpy 🚫

@John Demille

Look. You're taking this perosnally and seem to be under the impression that I'm arguing that they aren't teaching racially motivated subjects in primary schools.

I'm tyring to say that CRT is taught as a way of evaluating legal frameworks. That is, very specifically, what CRT is.

If you are saying they are teaching CRT in elementary schools, then you are saying they are teaching legal analysis in schools, because CRT is a a form of legal analysis.

I was simply trying to point out what CRT is, and that you were talking about racially motivated teaching in general, and not CRT in specific.

At no point have I argued that your specific points of the types of things being taught is wrong. I've only said they aren't CRT.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Lumpy

Critical Race Theory is a theory that's taught in colleges.

Just as an aside, 'Critical Race Theory' was listed as one of a number of bogus papers submitted to supposedly respectable journals to demonstrate the hapless state of peer reviewing.

AJ

Replies:   Lumpy
Lumpy 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Sure, I've read a lot of criticism for CRT, some of them that make really good points.

I wasn't defending the value of CRT one way or another, I was just saying that its current use as a buzzword has made people very confused on what CRT is, and it's generally being used in places where it doesn't apply. usually the people who complain about CRT are actually complaining about racially motivated teaching.

Remus2 🚫

@Lumpy

Definition from Britannica:

Critical race theory is an intellectual movement and a framework of legal analysis according to which (1) race is a culturally invented category used to oppress people of colour and (2) the law and legal institutions in the United States are inherently racist insofar as they function to create and maintain social, political, and economic inequalities between white and nonwhite people.

That is a load of horseshit. It is also most definitely being taught in elementary schools. Maybe not by name, but taught nonetheless.

Replies:   Lumpy
Lumpy 🚫

@Remus2

Everyone is seeming to think I'm arguing that they aren't teaching racially motivated subjects in schools.

I know what's in an actual CRT course. In your Britannica except, you missed the part that ins' important.

"A framework of legal analysis". That's what CRT is, a way of looking at legal analysis.

I'm NOT arguing CRT is good or bad.
I'm NOT arguing that racially motivated teaching isn't happening in schools.

I'm saying what bugs me is that people keep saying CRT, which is an actual and specific thing and it doesn't mean what everyone keeps using it to mean. Everyone whose replied to me so far keeps saying CRT and then following it up with arguments about racially motivated teaching, but nothing that's in CRT specifically.

Replies:   Remus2
Remus2 🚫

@Lumpy

The premise of the US being inherently racist is definitely being taught in schools.
"A framework of legal analysis" is what you're hanging your hat on. That analysis puts forth the claim that US law is designed to oppress people of colour. The latter part is a rehash from the late 60's. People being oppressed by "the man."
Where they fail is that there are still enough people alive to recognize their bullshit. To sell the premise of oppression, there has to be an oppressor. They have designated white people as the oppressors. That is most definitely being taught in all levels of education. Their power base is derived from the victim (oppressed) class. Without the victims, they fade away into obscurity.
A "framework of legal analysis" is nothing more than playing word games to manipulate a class of people. In college they tried to suck me into their liberal bullshit trying to convince me I've been oppressed as a person of colour. I succeeded just fine without them. I don't need them to represent me for anything, and take exception to a bunch of white liberals trying to convince me my race means I've been oppressed.

Remus2 🚫

@Lumpy

There is no CRT course being taught in elementary school.

And you know that how exactly? Or is that an assumption?

Replies:   Lumpy
Lumpy 🚫

@Remus2

Because I know what critical race theory is. It's an offshoot of critical legal studies in the late seventies and is part of legal scholarship.

It isn't just "racially motivated teaching". It's gotten picked up as a buzzword and nearly everyone using it, at least in conversations like this, doesn't know what it means.

If you want to argue that racially motivated teaching is being taught in elemntary schools, that's fine. I'm nto taking a point one way or another.

But racially motivated teaching isn't the same thing as CRT. They aren't teaching the the intersection of racial biases and social constructs in the crafting of laws in elementary schools, because it's way way above the level of primary education.

Replies:   Remus2
Remus2 🚫

@Lumpy

But racially motivated teaching isn't the same thing as CRT.

By every definition of CRT I can find, it is the same thing.

Replies:   Lumpy
Lumpy 🚫
Updated:

@Remus2

CRT is a form of legal analysis. If you're talking about theories revolving around the evaluation of how and why laws are written, then you could be talking about CRT.

If you're talking about anything other than frameworks for legal analysis, you're not talking about CRT.

It makes that distinction in the snippet you posted from Britannica earlier.

John Demille 🚫

@ystokes

Why doesn't anyone admit that cancel culture has been around for many years, mostly done by the moral right? How many shows, films, books and people have the right tried to cancel over moral grounds?

The only thing new about wokeness and cancel culture are the names.

At the time they used to be able to do it, conservatives were rightly criticized for it. Now that the woke are the ones who get to cancel things we criticize them for it. It's called common sense and logic.

Right now the right are trying to cancel anything that mentions racism exist. School boards are canceling history books that mention slavery because it makes white people feel bad about being white.

Really? That's how you see it? Are you blind or willfully ignorant?

What the right/conservatives are trying to fight is Critical Race Theory (CRT).

CRT is a hateful thing, designed to pit people of different racial groups against each other. It makes kids, white, black and every other colour, hyper aware of skin colour and teaches these kids to treat people differently according to the colour of their skin.

What is the definition of racism you say? It's treating people differently according to the colour of their skin!

CRT is teaching kids racism and goes overboard in making white kids feel bad about the colour of their skin.

It's hateful when white people are racist, but it's virtuous when non-white people are hyper racist?

When racial segregation was pushed by whites, people rightly pushed against it as it was racism. But now that non-white people are pushing for racial segregation in schools, universities and work places it's OK and it's not racism anymore?

School boards everywhere in the US are pushing leftist/woke/CRT ideology and that's what sane parents are pushing against.

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

@StarFleet Carl

This is degenerating into a flame war. Thread locked.

Topic Closed. No replies accepted.

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