Vivian on 11/9/2012 at 15:24
Are you saying Method Man thinks RZA is a cross-dresser?
SubJeff on 11/9/2012 at 15:53
I'm sure dude has tried it!
With regards to the original post - that kid will likely grow out of it or just learn to wear that stuff in private. MEh.
DDL on 11/9/2012 at 16:17
Quote Posted by CCCToad
Remember the matrix? Most people, although they'd say they want the red pill if asked, choose the blue pill every day of their lives by choosing to believe what is comfortable over what is true.
That's not really a fair example. In the movie, taking the red pill lets you escape the daily grind and go be a magic ninja.
If the options were:
BLUE: continue living as a mindless drone.
RED: now you KNOW how pointless everything is, but you remain unable to do anything about it, ever. Continue living as a drone.
Then I think you'd be surprised at how damn attractive that blue pill is.
Vasquez on 11/9/2012 at 16:47
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
Has any research been conducted to show this isn't latent/early-stage transgenderism?
At quick look I found only (
http://www.springerlink.com/content/w27453524n622p43/) one small study. But I have the impression that cross-dressing is somewhat common and normal stage in pre-school age?
Quote Posted by CCCToad
the bad feeling of being wrong about something.
This is also something that keeps puzzling me. Why do some people seem to think that if someone else sees things and life differently, that means one or other must be
wrong?DDL on 11/9/2012 at 17:02
How about normal vs abnormal instead of right vs wrong?
Absolute morality is a discussion for another thread, but surely you can see that it's fairly easy to class "dude wearing a dress" as firmly in the "abnormal behaviour" category?
Pyrian on 11/9/2012 at 17:20
Quote Posted by Vasquez
Why do some people seem to think that if someone else sees things and life differently, that means one or other must be
wrong?When you reach the point of someone taking action against behavior one or the other disapproves of in other people.
Vasquez on 11/9/2012 at 17:32
DDL, of course seeing someone doing something a bit out of ordinary can cause a surprised reaction, but what makes a man wearing a dress
abnormal? It's not like we're genetically coded against it - in some cultures men wear skirts or dresses. Hell, even the Pope wears a real bling gown.
Quote Posted by Pyrian
When you reach the point of someone taking action against behavior one or the other disapproves of in other people.
Yes yes, but I meant only seeing or hearing a different way of doing things.
DDL on 11/9/2012 at 17:56
Convention. That's basically what normality is.
If everyone and his uncle's doing it, yet person X is pointedly not, then person X appears abnormal.
The pope can wear a dress because he's already the fucking pope, a position so far from the norm that he could dress up as a space lizard and it wouldn't really be that much weirder. Who is the pope? The pope. Who isn't the pope? Everyone else.
Similarly, convention has established that kilts are acceptable IF the person wearing them has a legitimate reason for wearing a kilt (for example being scottish) AND they call it a kilt, not a skirt.
Scottish person wearing a kilt: acceptably conventional
Scottish person wearing a skirt: unconventional
Non-scottish person wearing a kilt: unconventional
Non-scottish person wearing a skirt: unconventional
I'm not saying abnormality is necessarily BAD (though of course it can be), it's simply...outside of the norm. And in bog-standard western culture, a dude wearing a dress is decidedly outside the norm.
It's a fairly rational response to feel threatened by things outside the norm, simply because it's unknown, unpredictable territory.
Which then brings us to the question of where we draw the line regarding which norms are acceptable to differ from: a dude working in starbucks while wearing a dress might be a harmless deviation from the norm, certainly. A dude working in starbucks while stark naked would probably be a...less harmless deviation from the norm (especially around hot steam). A dude stabbing people in starbucks would certainly be a harmful deviation from the norm.
All are abnormal, however. And depending on ones' tolerance level, some or all of these might make one feel threatened.
Vasquez on 11/9/2012 at 18:02
I don't dare pick any more on the word "abnormal", with my limited knowledge of English. Of which I was reminded again:
Quote Posted by DDL
It's a fairly rational response to feel threatened by things outside the norm, simply because it's unknown, unpredictable territory.
I would've rather called this a primitive response... But, live and learn! :)
