I just read 1984 for the 2d time in 30 years and was reminded of the intentional brainwashing happening in America. Orwell called it DOUBLETHINK. The following is an excerpt from Wikipedia: Doublethink is the act of ordinary people simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, often in distinct social contexts.[1] George Orwell coined the word doublethink in his dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984); doublethink is part of newspeak. In the novel, its origin within the typical citizen is unclear; while it could be partly a product of Big Brothers formal brainwashing programs,[2] the novel explicitly shows people learning Doublethink and newspeak due to peer pressure and a desire to fit in, or gain status within the Party — to be seen as a loyal Party Member. In the novel, for someone to even recognize–let alone mention–any contradiction within the context of the Party line was akin to blasphemy, and could subject that someone to possible disciplinary action and to the instant social disapproval of fellow Party Members. You see, Orwell predicted a time like this: Pray to Jesus after a touch down? You get branded one of the The Most Polarizing NFL Players of All Time. sports.photos.usatoday/gallery/most-polarizing-nfl-players#.UwzH8W1ME5s (By the way, at my job some members of the brainwashed masses call me an extremist for standing up for sanity and traditional marriage). Play with another mans genitals? You get a call from the president of the United States. huffingtonpost/2013/04/29/obama-jason-collins_n_3181170.html (By the way, at my job some consider you open-minded and cool for tolerating just about every perversion under the sun). For those who mock God and supporters of traditional marriage, the Lord has a message for you: 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ Make room for every social misfit and weirdo to demand acceptance, support and advocacy. The US Armed Forces has become nothing more than a corporate entity where everyone wears cammies to self identify. We used to believe that we were the best fighting force on the globe. Now we encourage all to compare us to the worlds third rate militaries. Sophomoric, They allow it, how come we dont? Patch parties, senior enlisted and officers not enforcing rules and regulations, known underground support movement, using the honor code to further their whacked out agenda...who will stop the madness? ================================== THE NEW YORK TIMES The Courage of Transgender Soldiers FEB. 21, 2014 Julia Baird SYDNEY, Australia - IT was 2 a.m., just a few days before Christmas, in a remote part of Afghanistan. Eight hours into a 16-hour shift, Ryan, a 23-year-old American naval sailor, was standing tense and alert, watching the footage of soldiers undertaking a nearby mission on a screen in front of him. Suddenly, a hand clapped onto his back. Wheeling around to look at the face of his senior officer, Ryan knew the moment he had feared had come: His superiors had found out that his enlisted paperwork described him as female. Within three hours, he was on a plane. Ryan, who is now stationed on a base in the United States awaiting a potential discharge, recently described that day to me. Ryan is the name his mother would have given him if he had been identified as male at birth. He does not want to reveal his real name because his case is being processed by the military. While the repeal of dont ask, dont tell in 2011 meant gays and lesbians could serve openly in the American military, transgender people still cannot, because the military defines gender nonconformity as a psychological disorder. So transgender soldiers serve in silence, facing dismissal if exposed. This isnt the case in other countries. At least 12 now officially allow transgender individuals to serve openly in their defense forces. Britain has allowed transgender people to serve openly since 1999, and Australia since 2010. The flags of these countries had hung above Ryans control station in Afghanistan. I wear an American uniform and I represent a country supposedly defined by liberty and equality, he told me. But my allies are welcome to serve in a way that has most certainly just cost me my livelihood. If these countries soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines can serve openly and authentically as transgender women and men, why cant I? Nine percent of transgender people who have served in the American military report being discharged because of being transgender or gender nonconforming. Almost all of the rest stay quiet for fear of harassment or abuse. A Harvard study published last year found that most transgender military personnel in America are white, educated and middle-aged. And most eventually transitioned from male to female. It also found that 20 percent of transgender people had served in the military - double the rate of the general population. (There is a theory that many seek hypermasculine experiences to suppress their desire to be female.) A University of California survey found almost all - 97 percent - were not able to transition until after they left the service. But theres a shift happening. According to data from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the number of veterans seeking advice on transgender issues has doubled in the past 10 years. And hundreds of currently serving transgender members of the armed forces have joined an underground support movement called SPART*A. (About 20 of them are out to their peers, and a handful are also out to their superiors. They describe meeting with wildly varying degrees of support, much as gays and lesbians found before the repeal of dont ask, dont tell.) Transgender men and women are not banned from serving by congressional law, but by military medical codes. These codes classify being transgender as a psychological disorder, which was in line with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III, published in 1980. But the latest edition of the manual, the D.S.M.-5, released last May, replaced Gender Identity Disorder with gender dysphoria. The point of the change, according to the American Psychiatric Association, was to make it clear that gender nonconformity is not in itself a mental disorder. The military has not acknowledged this shift. Asked if the Defense Department would reconsider its policies and make the necessary regulatory change, a spokesman for the Pentagon, Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen, responded, Department of Defense regulations dont allow transgender individuals to serve in the U.S. military, based upon medical standards for military service. So the global anomalies remain. And a growing number are asking why. A new documentary series called TransMilitary, which is scheduled to be released online in the fall, will contrast the experiences of transgender people in the armed forces in America and Britain. Fiona Dawson, the shows host and producer, says the difference between the countries is shocking. While she has found several transgender members of the armed forces under investigation in America with likely discharge, in Britain, she found support, and some celebration. A captain in the British Army even had a patch party thrown for her to celebrate her first day of hormones, she told me. Her colleagues slapped Band- Aids on their arms while she applied her first hormone patch. These are the human interactions that build a trusting, cohesive and robust team. Across the world, bold transgender men and women are stepping into the public light to show it is possible to live authentic lives while serving their countries. Many face rejection, many struggle with suicidal thoughts, and the great majority serve in secret. But others are speaking out. Allyson Robinson, now an L.G.B.T. consultant, served in the United States Army and was ordained as a Baptist minister before coming out as transgender and transitioning to female. She says her greatest struggle when studying at West Point was the honor code - a cadet will not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate those who do. Having to conceal her true gender identity felt like a violation of that code. But since transitioning, she says she has experienced nothing but respect from people in the military. Once, when she told a puzzled cadet at the West Point gate that she had studied there, he clicked his heels and said: Well, then, welcome home, maam. She cried all the way to the parking lot, and cries when retelling the story now. One of the highest-ranking transgender military officers in the world - if not the highest - is Lt. Col. Cate McGregor of the Australian Defense Force. When she decided to undergo gender reassignment in 2012, she offered to resign. But her boss, the chief of Army, Lt. Gen. David Morrison, refused to allow it. She is now a prominent and widely respected officer (and cricket commentator) who attributes her acceptance to her colleagues support and Australias live and let live pragmatism. Most alpha Aussie blokes, she says, were content that she was still into chicks and could still hit a cricket ball, which amused her: There is a groping towards a paradigm of blokeyness they can accept. Every day now, she says, living as a woman, it feels amazing to be alive. General Morrison said that watching Colonel McGregors struggles has deepened his understanding of what it means to be transgender: My hat goes off to everyone who does it because they are trying to be true to themselves. It takes an enormous amount of courage. And if an army cant respect courage, then theres something wrong. Courage, surely, should be part of any honor code, too. A journalist, a television presenter with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and a contributing opinion writer. A version of this op-ed appears in print on February 23, 2014, on page SR4 of the New York edition with the headline: The Courage of Transgender Soldiers. © 2014 The New York Times Company nytimes/2014/02/22/opinion/sunday/baird-the-courage-of-trans-soldiers.html?ref=opinion Page 4 of 4
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 02:51:34 +0000
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