All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Kirby101]

Humanity has not physically evolved in six million years, but clearly we have made substantial social progress during this time. And I tl;dr my earlier post, I do not think queer folk have been some genetic accident or vestigial feature to humanity this whole time. Considering the insane progress the human race has made -- again, I think the non-cishet have always been a part of human families/culture/communication/social evolution, and since our social ability has evolved so exponentially -- you know, maybe gay is good.

It's a thought.

It's more like 100,000-150,000 years. 6 million years ago our ancestors were these;





There were also probably bi-sexual Sahelanthropus tchadensis.

[Adam Allen]

I don't think it's that simple. You're assuming that same-sex behavior is fully determined by biology/DNA. I'm not a scientist but it's much more complex than just that, it's not like some folks have a 'gay gene' and that's it. This is a large scale study on the topic:
https://www.science.org/doi/full/10....cience.aat7693
"Large-scale GWAS reveals insights into the genetic architecture of same-sex sexual behavior"

The summary is: human DNA cannot predict who is gay or heterosexual. Sexuality cannot be pinned down by biology, psychology or life experiences, because human sexual attraction is decided by a combination of all of these factors.

While biology doesn't change over decades (the point that you're mentioning), psychology and life experiences certainly do.

Yes, that is what I have been saying. The change, or evolution, is social. Or, if you prefer, the Nurture aspect has certainly changed.

It seems we are just in agreement, then? Cool!

[Adam Allen]

It's more like 100,000-150,000 years. 6 million years ago our ancestors were these;





There were also probably bi-sexual Sahelanthropus tchadensis.

Lol, fair enough. I fully admit my education is in the "soft sciences". There's still a big difference between 100k years and ... you know, the time between broadcast radio and the internet being the dominant form of mass communication. There has definitely been a lot of change, from our grandparents' generation to our grandkids' -- but yeah, no physical/biological evolution, which I thought was being suggested.

[Kirby101]

Lol, fair enough. I fully admit my education is in the "soft sciences". There's still a big difference between 100k years and ... you know, the time between broadcast radio and the internet being the dominant form of mass communication. There has definitely been a lot of change, from our grandparents' generation to our grandkids' -- but yeah, no physical/biological evolution, which I thought was being suggested.

I didn't disagree with the gist of your post, just wanted to correct the science.

[Malvolio]

Yes, that is what I have been saying. The change, or evolution, is social. Or, if you prefer, the Nurture aspect has certainly changed.

It seems we are just in agreement, then? Cool!

Exactly. It wasn't just gay people who were in the closet. It was people who were unhappy in their marriages to someone of the opposite gender and did not even know why. They might have had feelings around other people of the same gender that they never acted on because they had no understanding of what those feelings even were.

[Jack Dracula]

It should be considered that over the vast majority of human development almost the entire population has been illiterate and so very little record exists of peoples day-to-day existence. It’s very likely that lgbtq+ people have existed alongside hetero people and lived their lives as a fully integrated parts of their societies without any record having been made. In those societies we do have some record of, these other lifestyles seem to be accepted for the most part.
We should also consider that for the last couple of thousand years the majority of our history was recorded and edited by the Catholic Church.

[scourge]

The question must be asked...

So what if more people are publicly identifying at LGBTQ+?

Yes its good that more people can come out and not risk being attacked or worse...but I usually see the point get brought up by people trying to justify their bigotry or look for excuses to discriminate.

[CaptainEurope]

The people versus Liz Truss... M People, that is:

M People’s Mike Pickering has hit at the use of his band’s track ‘Moving On Up’ as the walk-on music for Prime Minister Liz Truss’s keynote speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham yesterday. The band’s members are “upset” and “livid” that their hit soundtracked the key moment of this year’s big Tory conference, he said, adding that many artists now “fear that these freaks are going to use [their] music”.

In a tweet shortly after Truss’s keynote speech, Pickering wrote: “So apparently we can’t stop Truss walking out to our song, very weird! So sad it got used by this shower of a government”.

Referencing the fact that the Labour Party made use of the track back in the 1990s, his tweet went on: “[By the way] Truss, Labour used it with permission in [the] 90s. I don’t want my song being a soundtrack to lies”


...


The son of M People vocalist Heather Small, meanwhile, is a Labour Party councillor. He honed in on the song’s key lyric “cause I’m movin on up, you’re movin on out”, and concluded that the track was actually a very apt choice for Truss and her party.

“This tired and out of touch Tory government is indeed moving on out”, he tweeted.

[Catlady in training]

I don't think more people identifying as LGBTQ+ is going to be at blame for a huge decrease in population. Maybe blame that on young people looking at the world and feeling like they'd be insane to try to raise kids in it.

Quoted for the truth.

I would also say that women having a bigger presence in the labor market has helped to dwindle western birth rates over the years. Without immigration, European countries will have huge problems with keeping their welfare states afloat, for example.

This, I actually agree with. The problem might be, that some immigrants in Europe seem to be less likely in general to fully integrate into the culture and society in the country they now live in, than for example in the US. Which can pose a threat to democracy in the long term, I'm afraid. Although, we already manage to pose a threat to democracy ourselves on a regular basis, so I guess only time will tell if it gets any different.

It's certainly not a "disease", or a "condition" or anything like that. Let me make that clear.

Regarding the numbers... I don't know. While it's 1) Clear that it's easier to identify as LGBTQ+ today vs. 50 years ago, it's also 2) Simplistic to consider that the real (not identified) % of LGBTQ+ in a given population is more or less the same today as it was decades, or a century ago - why would that be? What is the "invisible hand" at play here that makes sure that the % of real LGBTQ+ folks in a country is the same decade after decade?

So I think it's probably a combination of both. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with 16% of Gen Z being LGBTQ+, but I wouldn't dismiss it as solely identification.

What needs to be taken into account when we talk about LGBT+ people in the past, even when they were fully aware of their orientation or gender identity and acted on it, it can be difficult to prove that now. Not only was documenting such things dangerous, we know that even private records such as diaries have been edited and censored to keep information like that out. Anne Frank's diary had been edited by her father to keep passages that suggested she was not straight out of it. The diaries of Anne Lister Anne Lister which contained detailed accounts of her relationships with women were almost destroyed. And that is just what we know of and what happened relatively recently, who knows what happened to countless other records?

[CaptainEurope]

So... The Oath Keepers were in touch with at least one Secret Service agent in 2020.

[AnakinFlair]

I'm groaning even as I type this...

The Washington Post is reporting the Feds see a chargeable case.... against Hunter Biden. Looks like for tax crimes (not reporting all of his income), and a false statement related to a gun purchase.

Cue Fox News, OAN, and Trump in 3...2...1....


Meanwhile, Joe Biden is issuing pardons for all Federal simple possession of Marijuana cases, and urging Governors to take similar actions in their states, as well as asking the Department of Health and Human Services and the DOJ to review how weed is scheduled under federal law.

[CaptainEurope]

Herschel Walker.... anyone think he might aim for a presidential run in 2024?

After confirming that he did still intend to attend a scheduled debate against his opponent, incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Walker was asked about comments made by Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R-GA) on CNN that described Walker’s win in the GOP primary as being a result of him “scoring a bunch of touchdowns in the ’80s” and being “Donald Trump’s friend,” but that was “no longer a recipe to win” with Walker’s baggage “starting to feel a little closer to unbearable at this point.”

The reporter asked Walker about Duncan’s “very critical words,” paraphrasing his comments.

“Now who was it you said what did that?” asked Walker.


“Geoff Duncan –” the reporter named the lieutenant governor.

“Oh,” replied Walker. “What is he doing now?”

“Lieutenant governor,” the reporter repeated.

“Yeah but no, no, what is he doing now?” Walker argued back. “He’s, uh, he’s, uh, work for who? Doesn’t he go on some TV show all the time?”

Another reporter interjected that Duncan was the lieutenant governor of Georgia.

“No, no,” Walker insisted. “Doesn’t he go on the TV and talk a lot?”

“He’s still the lieutenant governor,” the reporter responded.

“No, no, don’t he go on TV and talk a lot,” Walker would not be budged. “Right now, people like that, do I listen to? You know, people talking about I couldn’t play football, so do you want me to listen to someone like that? I’m here to win this seat for the Georgia people, because the Georgia people need a winner, they don’t need no one that we see going on right now. Georgia people looking for a winner.”

https://www.mediaite.com/election-20...s-word-salads/

[AnakinFlair]

Herschel Walker.... anyone think he might aim for a presidential run in 2024?



https://www.mediaite.com/election-20...s-word-salads/

I hope he does. He'll learn very quick that no one outside of a few states in the South gives a rat's ass about him having played football 30 years ago.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Herschel Walker.... anyone think he might aim for a presidential run in 2024?



https://www.mediaite.com/election-20...s-word-salads/

More proof of how CTE is such a godawful condition. Herschel’s brains are more scrambled than the eggs at McDonald’s at breakfast time.

[CaptainEurope]

The frick is going on here?

NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk’s lawyers said Thursday that Twitter is refusing to accept the Tesla billionaire’s renewed $44 billion bid for the social media company and are asking a Delaware court to halt an upcoming trial.

Musk made a renewed offer to take over to company earlier this week, hoping to end a protracted legal dispute that began when Musk tried to back out of the April deal and Twitter sued.

Representatives for Twitter did not immediately respond to messages for comment.

Twitter said earlier this week that it intends to close the deal at the agreed-upon price, but the two sides are still booked for an Oct. 17 trial in Delaware over Musk’s earlier attempts to terminate the deal. On Wednesday, the judge presiding over the case said she will continue to press on toward the trial because, at the time, neither side had formally moved to stop it.

Musk’s attorneys said the trial should be adjourned to leave more time for Musk to secure the financing.