Tag Archives: Facebook

Politics

My First Thoughts on Transgenderism

Note: Ten years ago I wrote this as a Facebook post because I wanted to speak clearly and publicly in response to the then new (at least, it felt new) but growing cultural trend of normalizing transgenderism as a means of overcoming or negating biological reality. In the intervening decade, though the irrationality of the transgender movement has become increasingly accepted in our society, my views have not changed. If I wrote the post today, I would likely seek to moderate the tone somewhat, but the ideas themselves I still embrace. I post this here now out of a commitment to speaking the truth as I see it, even though I believe I may someday suffer professional or other repercussions for holding these views. Such are the times in which we live. Following the note itself are a selection of my comments from the discussion thread that followed the original Facebook post. (DL April 20, 2023)

I dislike provoking ill feelings in others, but with Bradley Manning’s transgender announcement today and the subsequent pronoun shift in the media coverage, Wikipedia, etc. regarding him, I feel like it’s time for me to say something clear about my position on transgenderism.

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Books

Neuromancer

Neuromancer (William Gibson, pub. 1984) was published when I was six years old, won a ton of awards, and put a lot of juice in the cyberpunk sub-genre. (All I know about cyberpunk I learned on Wikipedia, but basically I take it as a kind of sci-fi-noir that (usually?) incorporates lots of networky technology.)

I was drawn to the book for two reasons (I mean, aside from the fact that it’s a sci-fi novel. Duh.). First, I wanted something good. I don’t get to read sci-fi very often, so no time for garbage. Neuromancer was the first novel to win all three big sci-fi awards, and it’s on lots of “best of” lists, so it seemed promising. Second, I wanted something dystopian (More Blade Runner than Star Trek); I don’t know, maybe it’s a phase I’m in. Anyways, Neuromancer seemed to fit the bill on both counts.

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Politics

In the Wake of Sandy Hook

Note: The Columbine massacre, which happened at the end of my senior year of college, is the first mass shooting that I remember. In the twenty-five years since, it seems undeniable to me that mass shootings of this type have increased in frequency and severity. While I believe the primary cause is not the guns themselves (guns have been been woven into American society since the beginning) it seems increasingly clear that we as a society cannot be entrusted with guns without more effective limits. I wrote this Facebook post in the wake of Sandy Hook to explore foundational principles that we would have to observe and incorporate into our thinking as we explore more effective gun control as a society. (DL, June 10, 2023).

In the wake of the terrible sadness of Sandy Hook, we need to reevaluate the place of guns in our society—specifically the place of the modern weapons that have done so much to increase the average person’s lethal potential.

This is a contribution to that reevaluation. It is a statement of principles that I believe to be true.

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Politics

Thank God for Barack Obama

I predicted to a friend yesterday that Obama would win in a landslide. I have felt that way all Summer. On the morning after, Andrew Sullivan captures my feelings about Romney and right-wing media:

[This election] has revealed that Fox News, Drudge, and the rest have been engaged in a massive propaganda campaign to create an alternative reality and get the rest of us to go along. . . . What was defeated tonight was not just Romney, a hollow cynic, but a whole mountain of mendacity and delusion. That sound you hear is the cognitive dissonance ringing in the ears of ideologues and cynics. Any true conservative longs for that sound, the sound of reality arriving to pierce through fantasy and fanaticism.

I want to share a challenge with my conservative friends: Did you buy into the story that a media conspiracy was twisting the polls? Did you reflexively dismiss bad news during this campaign as media bias? Did you look to Drudge, Fox, Rush, Hannity, Beck, Dinesh D’Souza, et al. to give you the *real* story?

Don’t. They are as blinded by bias and ulterior motives as any in the “mainstream” media. I hope you can see that now.

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Books

Authors

Note: This was one of those social media lists that people do. It’s a great list, but I’m somewhat disconcerted to realize that eleven years later, my list is still largely the same. That the shape of my intellectual life has changed so little since my early 30s feels like it should be a red flag of some kind. (DL, Sept. 7, 20201)

The Rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors (poets included) who’ve influenced you and that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Briefly describe the nature of their influence.  

We’re looking for voices that have led you to consider new thoughts or significantly shaped your perspective on something.

I’m excluding biblical authors (like Paul), but there’s little doubt that the influence of the Bible on my life and thinking, both directly and filtered through other authors, has far surpassed all other influences combined.

In the order I thought of them, which probably means something.

  • J. R. R. Tolkien (the shape of my imagination and the products it produces)
  • C. S. Lewis (ditto)
  • Richard Halliburton (fostered a culturally outward focus rooted in world travel and history)
  • Andrew Sullivan (my disillusionment with all things Republican. Moving from Malkin to Sullivan as daily blog-reading has had significant influence)
  • Michael Behe (demonstrating to me Darwin’s failure to explain the origins of life)
  • Alan Keyes (shaped my perspective on politics and the trouble with the American republic)
  • Frederick Wheelock (taught me Latin and how to teach Latin)
  • David Macaulay (helped me visualize the past and present)
  • Edmund Spenser (profound professional influence. The existence of Edmund Spenser’s writings have literally changed my course in life, for good and ill. Very strong influence on my conception of good poetry.)
  • Tom Clancy (helped me understand what modern war and nuclear terrorism look like)
  • John Bunyan (how I conceptualize the Christian life)
  • Hannah Whitall Smith (Wow. Still trying to wrap my head around what happened there. Pretty sure it wasn’t good.)
  • Harry Berger (definitively showed me that all those godless pagan literary critics I heard about at Bob Jones can be godless pagan stinking geniuses. Helped me understand what being a Ph.D. in English lit is all about.)
  • Fanny Crosby, Isaac Watts, and Charles Wesley. (different authors, same book. 🙂 My conception of what Christian music can be.)
  • Epic poets, especially Milton, the aforementioned Spenser, and the Beowulf author. (I cheated, I know. Sue me. My conception of what poetry is, or used to be, capable of) 
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Movies & TV

Why You Should go See Avatar as Soon as Possible

Note: I wrote this Facebook Note in the first flush of excitement and awe after having seen James Cameron’s Avatar, which I still regard as one of my top two or three favorite movies ever. It quite effectively captures the passionate certainty that used to define my Christian worldview and the way I read the world through that lens. I think the analysis of the various kinds of fiction and why they’re written is still accurate, but I myself have much less certainty about my own worldview. I’m still as opinionated though. (DL, Sept. 7, 2021)

*This note is unfinished, but I’m posting it now because you can see where my thoughts trend. I may or may not get to finish it.*

Avatar is the best movie I’ve ever seen.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s the best movie that’s ever been made.

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