Listen now | Thanks for joining us for another week of KK&F — this one centering on the Colombian presidential elections, drug wars, and more. A left-wing candidate has taken the lead in the first round of voting; his right-wing opponent, who has styled himself as anti-establishment and anti-corruption, has his own charges of corruption to deal with. To get a fuller sense of what’s happening and what’s to come in the runoff, we’re joined by journalist Toby Muse, author of
If there's one thing that frustrates me as a progressive, it is that neither Kyle nor Krystal actually read comments. So, of all the stuff I love about their take on things- and I do- that they aren't open to responses and criticism frustrates me. If you are truly willing to listen to people to get more subscribers, you have to be open to listening to them BEFORE they subscribe.
For example, I would be totally a subscriber right now and probably get more if they would get rid of the swearing. Call it old fashioned if you will, but you do have a potential for a large audience and I have to literally edit out much of their before and after comments and send the podcast to my parents because the moment Kyle goes on a swearing rant, they are turned off and not listening.
That out of the way, the latest I have to challenge is this idea that there is nothing to the right's concern about schools and an LGBTQ+ explosion. I'm a teacher in Canada. Oh my heavens if you told me what I was seeing in schools now, ten years ago, I would have called you a liar. I should have listened more than ten years ago when friends of mine from Europe were telling me that the girls in the high school were "lesbians for high school" but intended to be "straight" when they left high school. I thought it was weird, and certainly not something we'd ever see here.
But, we do. LGBTQ is so promoted in schools today that it has become a very popular thing. It is also not very popular to be straight. You're considered to be narrowminded and ignorant. I have had parents call because students in my class have complained that work I bring for their health courses is "norm biased" when it has nothing to do with sexual choices and everything to do with biological health.
I have a niece who had a mental breakdown in grade 6 when her friends kept hounding her as to what she was on the spectrum. At grade 6 she didn't even think about boys or girls or whatever. Her mom, my sister, wouldn't have cared as long as she was happy. She's not happy. She eventually told her friends she was "Pansexual" so they wouldn't ask her anymore.
In the past when kids used to be Punk or Goth, a lifestyle based mostly on music, they had outroads to leave when they grew up. But, now if a student identifies as someone on the LGBTQ spectrum, and changes their mind as they get older, they are seen as a traitor "to the cause" and have been bullied back into being part of that group. I personally know 10 different parents whose kids identify as trans. And if this continues, we're seeing them all pressure their parents into surgical gender reassignment before they reach even 16. Parents are terrified to challenge them on their assertions because they can legally be charged under Canadian laws.
Just like a parent cannot take their drug addicted child into any kind of rehab without that child's permission, parents cannot challenge their own children's position on anything to do with their bodies. Children. We're talking about human beings whose judgements do NOT develop effectively before the age of 25. Think about all the stupid and reckless decisions you made when you were a teen, and now add in that there are no ways parents can apply brakes to those positions and you know where you're at.
Of all the kids that came out as trans in the last five years in my school, after high school, only one has ever continued as such. And they regret that no one told them differently. They are angry that so many people happily pushed them into that direction instead of understanding that either: a. They were gay/lesbian b. They were just a Tom Boy or a male with feminine characteristics.
So, no. We're not seeing the "honest" explosion of LGBTQ+ people in teens today. I'm not saying more don't feel comfortable to come out. Obviously that's true, but the vast majority is about this being a fad that is a dangerous confusion of their sexuality at a very impressionable age.
So, Krystal your shrugging of your shoulders is not at all helpful. It's like suggesting that kids should go ahead and get engaged with drugs and alcohol at early ages and try things out. The studies show that the longer you wait on these things- for your brain to mature and finish developing the better your chances o not having long-term addictions or bad connections to such things.
Why don't you bring on that sex expert from Toronto who has been arguing how this has been confusing kids? Get better educated in the problem please.
If there's one thing that frustrates me as a progressive, it is that neither Kyle nor Krystal actually read comments. So, of all the stuff I love about their take on things- and I do- that they aren't open to responses and criticism frustrates me. If you are truly willing to listen to people to get more subscribers, you have to be open to listening to them BEFORE they subscribe.
For example, I would be totally a subscriber right now and probably get more if they would get rid of the swearing. Call it old fashioned if you will, but you do have a potential for a large audience and I have to literally edit out much of their before and after comments and send the podcast to my parents because the moment Kyle goes on a swearing rant, they are turned off and not listening.
That out of the way, the latest I have to challenge is this idea that there is nothing to the right's concern about schools and an LGBTQ+ explosion. I'm a teacher in Canada. Oh my heavens if you told me what I was seeing in schools now, ten years ago, I would have called you a liar. I should have listened more than ten years ago when friends of mine from Europe were telling me that the girls in the high school were "lesbians for high school" but intended to be "straight" when they left high school. I thought it was weird, and certainly not something we'd ever see here.
But, we do. LGBTQ is so promoted in schools today that it has become a very popular thing. It is also not very popular to be straight. You're considered to be narrowminded and ignorant. I have had parents call because students in my class have complained that work I bring for their health courses is "norm biased" when it has nothing to do with sexual choices and everything to do with biological health.
I have a niece who had a mental breakdown in grade 6 when her friends kept hounding her as to what she was on the spectrum. At grade 6 she didn't even think about boys or girls or whatever. Her mom, my sister, wouldn't have cared as long as she was happy. She's not happy. She eventually told her friends she was "Pansexual" so they wouldn't ask her anymore.
In the past when kids used to be Punk or Goth, a lifestyle based mostly on music, they had outroads to leave when they grew up. But, now if a student identifies as someone on the LGBTQ spectrum, and changes their mind as they get older, they are seen as a traitor "to the cause" and have been bullied back into being part of that group. I personally know 10 different parents whose kids identify as trans. And if this continues, we're seeing them all pressure their parents into surgical gender reassignment before they reach even 16. Parents are terrified to challenge them on their assertions because they can legally be charged under Canadian laws.
Just like a parent cannot take their drug addicted child into any kind of rehab without that child's permission, parents cannot challenge their own children's position on anything to do with their bodies. Children. We're talking about human beings whose judgements do NOT develop effectively before the age of 25. Think about all the stupid and reckless decisions you made when you were a teen, and now add in that there are no ways parents can apply brakes to those positions and you know where you're at.
Of all the kids that came out as trans in the last five years in my school, after high school, only one has ever continued as such. And they regret that no one told them differently. They are angry that so many people happily pushed them into that direction instead of understanding that either: a. They were gay/lesbian b. They were just a Tom Boy or a male with feminine characteristics.
So, no. We're not seeing the "honest" explosion of LGBTQ+ people in teens today. I'm not saying more don't feel comfortable to come out. Obviously that's true, but the vast majority is about this being a fad that is a dangerous confusion of their sexuality at a very impressionable age.
So, Krystal your shrugging of your shoulders is not at all helpful. It's like suggesting that kids should go ahead and get engaged with drugs and alcohol at early ages and try things out. The studies show that the longer you wait on these things- for your brain to mature and finish developing the better your chances o not having long-term addictions or bad connections to such things.
Why don't you bring on that sex expert from Toronto who has been arguing how this has been confusing kids? Get better educated in the problem please.