darkpatriot

Yes, I get to decide what I believe is immoral and disrespectful. Every person gets to decide this for themselves and is allowed to be their own moral police. The reason I have decided it is immoral and disrespectful is because it is not being considerate of the other participants opinions and beliefs. For any romantic encounter you should do your utmost to ensure that the other person's wishes are being respected and if you aren't that is wrong. Many people would argue that failing to do so would constitute rape although I think that is an overly broad definition of the word rape that reduces clarity and weakens the impact of the word when it is used to describe actual rape situations. Enough people have an issue with having a romantic relationship with a transexual that the likelyhood of it being an issue is high enough that the transexual should disclose in order to ensure that their partner is being respected. Concerning hurt feelings, they aren't a big deal. They really aren't. There can be mental illnesses and conditions that are aggravated by them but the problem is the mental illness or condition not the hurt feelings. Should you try and avoid hurting people's feelings in general? Sure, especially when it requires little to no effort. Should you modify your own beliefs or decieve others to avoid hurting feelings? No. Should you put yourself at great inconvenience to avoid hurting someone's feelings? No. In the end people are responsible for their own emotional state and well being, the rest of the world can't be expected to cater to them and it is a sign of an immature person if they expect the world to do that.

This thread is officially awesome. So what you're telling me is that it's important to respect and tolerate others' beliefs, and that's why people should conform to the narrative you have imagined for them about what they think and feel about themselves? You very generously allow that it is sometimes okay for other people to have opinions about themselves and their own bodies, so long as they accept that your beliefs about them are valid and they behave the way that you wish? No, what I'm telling you is people have the right to form their own opinions on matters. No one gets to be the moral police for anybody else. A trans person can feel however they want about things, but there is no obligation for other people to agree with them. Disagreeing with them is also not hate, discrimination, or intolerance. Yeah, let me stop you there, buddy. We've heard it before. "Oh, so you're against intolerance, are you? Then how come you don't tolerate intolerance? Huh? Huh?" It's disingenuous sophistry, and here's why: It's my opinion that calling people on their transphobic, bigoted bull**** is perfectly ok. So you're expressing intolerance of my intolerance of ther intolerance, thus violating your own incoherent rules. What transphoboia or bigoted bull****? Believing that MtF transexuals are men is neither of those things. It also isn't intolerance. Which is why this isn't even a case of me claiming you need to be tolerant of intolerance. Transphobia or bigoted bull**** would be believing that MtF transexuals should be killed, imprisoned, not given jobs, or otherwise discriminated against. I haven't read through this thread or followed the twitter conversations in great detail but I haven't really seen any of that.

I am disturbed by the large amount of intolerance displayed in this thread, but it isn't the kind of intolerance most people are talking about in this thread. Having the opinion that MtF transexuals are men and not women is a valid opinion. Just as having the opinion that they are women or a third gender is a valid opinion. Attacking someone who holds the opinion that they are men as intolerant or bigotted is not ok. That is intolerance. The only tolerance that really matters at the end of the day is tolerating opinions and beliefs you disagree with. There is nothing difficult or noble about being tolerant of things you agree with, identify with, sympathize with, or don't have any general disagreement with. It is being tolerant of the things you disagree with strongly that is the true tolerance that allows society to become a better place. A great many words have been spent arguing that gender is different than sex and that gender is a social construct. It is worth noting that this argument itself is a social construct. A person can agree with that opinion and a person can also disagree with it and hold the opinion that gender is intrinsically linked to biology and sexual reproduction. If a person has that opinion they are not hateful or discriminatory towards trans people. If a person is attracted to women, and does not consider MtF transexuals as women, then they have every right to be upset if they were to find themselves in a situation where they had had a sexual relationship with a MtF transexual who had not disclosed that fact. If a person feels that way they are not discriminatory, bigoted, hateful, or tranmysogynistic (or however that word that was just made up is spelled). For this very reason I would say it is extremely immorral and disrespectful for a trans person to have a romantic relationship with another person, especially if it is sexual in nature, without disclosing that they are trans to them. To do so is not respecting the other persons opinions and beliefs and trying and force their opinion, that they are women, onto them. Enough people hold that opinion that it is a reasonable assumption to make that there is a good chance that the person may not be ok with it and the trans person should disclose first so that their partner can make a fully informed decision. I could understand how a trans person could be upset by other people disagreeing with them and believing that they are not the gender they identify as but it is for each person to decide their own opinion on the matter. A trans person does not get to disregard someone else's opinions. Being upset, even very very upset, gives no one any authority, moral or otherewise, to dictate the opinions and beliefs that other people have or how other people should feel about something. Respect and tolerance is a two way street. If trans people, or those being offended on their behalf, want other people to respect and tolerate their opinions and beliefs then trans people have to respect and tolerate the opinions and beliefs of other people.

Cleve has been around since the beginning of the internet. Google his name and learn of his exploits, although they predate google and you will only learn of his most recent adventures that way.

Early guns are at the same technological level as platemail. JESawyer is a history buff. It's certainly possible that this game could include guns without being steampunk.