Posted on 05/18/2016 8:15:39 AM PDT by NRx
Not long ago, I was talking to a university-based research scientist in New York City about a particular project he’s working on. It was interesting stuff, and I said that his research might have fascinating implications for broader society in light of the radical and relatively swift changes in social norms around sex, marriage, and gender. Ever thought about exploring that? I asked.
The scientist said he wouldn’t even begin to think about it. In his work, he stays far away from anything related to race, sex, and gender, unless it can’t be avoided, and even then he treads very, very carefully. Too risky politically. You never know where the land mines are hidden. You could say something you think is entirely uncontroversial and scientifically neutral, but if someone decides to make trouble for you, and call you a racist, homophobe, transphobe, or whatever, it can ruin your academic career.
The Social Justice Warriors have done their work well. Especially in New York City.
Eugene Volokh reports that in NYC, the Human Rights Commission advises that you can be fined if you don’t refer to someone by the name and crackpot pronoun (“ze,” “hir”) that they prefer. How can you avoid trouble under the NYC Human Rights Law? Says the Commission:
Covered entities may avoid violations of the NYCHRL by creating a policy of asking everyone what their preferred gender pronoun is so that no individual is singled out for such questions and by updating their systems to allow all individuals to self-identify their names and genders. They should not limit the options for identification to male and female only.
Oh for freak’s sake. Volokh is not having it:
So people can basically force us — on pain of massive legal liability — to say what they want us to say, whether or not we want to endorse the political message associated with that term, and whether or not we think it’s a lie.
We have to use “ze,” a made-up word that carries an obvious political connotation (endorsement of the “non-binary” view of gender). We have to call people “him” and “her” even if we believe that people’s genders are determined by their biological sex and not by their self-perceptions — perceptions that, by the way, can rapidly change, for those who are “gender-fluid” — and that using terms tied to self-perception is basically a lie. (I myself am not sure whether people who are anatomically male, for example, but perceive themselves as female should be viewed as men or women; perhaps one day I’ll be persuaded that they should be viewed as women; my objection is to being forced to express that view.) We can’t be required to even display a license plate that says “Live Free or Die” on our car, if we object to the message; that’s what the court held in Wooley v. Maynard (1978). But New York is requiring people to actually say words that convey a message of approval of the view that gender is a matter of self-perception rather than anatomy, and that, as to “ze,” were deliberately created to convey that a message.
It’s much worse. If the patron of an establishment doesn’t comply with the law, the owner has to throw the patron out, on pain of having to pay a fine. And, according to the Commission’s guidance, it “can impose civil penalties up to $125,000 for violations, and up to $250,000 for violations that are the result of willful, wanton, or malicious conduct.”
They could ruin you if you failed to understand this bizarre gender babble, and apply it correctly.
Seriously, how does a business owner operate under these conditions, even a business owner who wants to do the right thing? Read Volokh’s entire piece to get a full appreciation of how lunatic this thing is.
Could you imagine being a business owner in NYC under this fanaticism? “Terror is nothing more than speedy, severe and inflexible justice; it is thus an emanation of virtue,” said Robespierre. So it is with the Gender Robespierres. First they make us all lose our minds and our integrity by acquiescing in their bizarre fantasies, and then, if we don’t, they make us lose our livelihoods. (But not our heads; be thankful for small mercies.)
Volokh points out that this is not likely to remain in New York City, either. Think about that. Three of the scariest words in the English language are “Human Rights Commission.”
You know, liberal friends, next time you want to complain about how conservatives are the ones waging culture war, I want you to think about this.
bump
Not only that, even if you wanted to comply, what if you can’t remember what every person wants to be called? I can’t even remember names of people sometimes, much less all these new pronouns.
These capricious laws are just begging to be broken. Our minds are to be slaves to the government.
They voted for it. And they are going to get it. Good and hard.
I disagree. There is no limit to their idiocy.
This is grounds to not even set foot in NYC. How soon will it take for NYC to get the reputation as a PC insane asylum to the point where not only most businesses move out, but also even tourists will not go there. Not only due to crime, but also the risk of being arrested by some SJW. NYC will become Pyongyang.
One would certainly hope so. But every time you think a libtard regime can't possible plumb any lower, they find a way to do so.
NY Values
There is no way I will conform to this. No one can tell me that the choice of one word over another is a criminal act.
Gender
A reflection of one’s self-image as relating to sexual nature. There are, in general, three genders:
1) Male
2) Female
3) Something you made up one day to feel speshul. E.g. “semiqueer-bi-spirit-shemale”. May use made-up pronouns such as “xe”, “ze”, “schlee”, “nflgsufgshuihousu”, etc. Anyone who finds this ridiculous is a bigot and is literally Hitler. — Urban Dictionary
People will vote with their feet. There are other saner places to live and work.
That's only part of it. They can also change it arbitrarily and punish you even if you're attempting to obey the law. This is a power transfer that is literal political terrorism. And since the power of the state has become complicit in this little game there is no real answer short of violence.
Or become a real life version of this film:
Five of the scariest words are when an oppressed population has had enough and tells the members of the above organization: "We are coming for you."
To me this just looks like the ‘gay marriage’ garbage did 15-20 years before it was just imposed like it was no big deal after all. They haven’t messed up their timing for pulling any cultural enormity, I think they just might have a better read on the culture. Conservatives might just be fooling themselves once more.
I guess we will see in 15 or 20 years.
Freegards
the law violates the first amendment speech clause
They left out "Der" for the Human Rights Commissioners, as in "Der Fuhrer". Anyone promoting this nonsense deserves the same preferred form of address as Dear Leader Obama has earned.
18 U.S. Code § 242 - Deprivation of rights under color of law
Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
“These capricious laws are just begging to be broken. Our minds are to be slaves to the government.”
It’s actually worse.
These rules (guidances, whatver) are in place to browbeat people into submission by selective enforcement. Of the total of people and businesses that do not comply, only those who are political enemies of the Left will be fined. You know, just like how the framers drew it up. In Cuba.
At first yes.
As in the French revolution and many other examples, it doesn’t take long before just about everyone is on “the list” including the people who initially supported such tyrannies.
They know not their history.
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