Gentleman regrets touching elephant's trunk

boing
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I suppose I can not have opinions and accept how society views me as a lesser person because I don’t choose to be like the world would have me?

And those stereotypes would pretty much preclude them from doing so, because they were born with specific genitalia and they “must” conform to those instead of the identity that they actually identify with (in many cases, on pain of social exclusion and even death). Society wishes to stop trans people from identifying with their gender of choice, and that’s a major part of the problem with gender stereotypes, that it’s used in oppressive ways.

The fact that people need to qualify that they think an animal is cute, in case they get their “man card” revoked is fucking insane to me. Of course people think it’s cute, because it is. Why is there a need to hedge and qualify in that case? Just embrace the cuteness and enjoy it, I say.

I have no problems with different ideas of gender and think that femininity and masculinity are fine and that people should embrace what they feel happy embracing. I have a problem with being told that those ideas are good or bad, and that I’m to be punished for not conforming to those stereotypes. Because that’s how anyone who doesn’t conform to their birth gender tends to be treated - as less than.

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42

Not sure I understand this one.

I salute your manifesto.

Got to sign off now. But thanks for the stimulating chat, Mindysan. Much appreciated.

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Being a woman means one is less respected, listened to, believe, etc. How do I know? It happens in my life quite a bit.

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I’m not sure about ‘elephants flapping their ears are just trying to cool down’. On a recent trip to Africa, we were told many times that elephants spreading their ears wide or flapping them were signs of being agitated or uncomfortable with humans being nearby.

Or maybe African and Asian elephants have different temperaments and/or different signs of agitation?

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The article I linked said that holding the ears out as wide as possible is an aggressive posture, but just flapping them is mere thermoregulation.

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But I don’t think this is a wild animal. This is a domesticated animal, and in my experience they are more dangerous than wild animals.

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As I said above, this elephant is a member of the working class out of their job.

I wasn’t purely joking.

There are more perspectives to that, though. All in all, my advice would be: don’t mess with elephants. And try not to be part of the problem, i.e. be very aware that elephant tourism can be both a terrible idea as well as a relief for some of the animals and their owners.

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My assumption was the elephant was trying to get those shorts out of its line of sight.

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He doesn’t actually seem like a bro at all, just a well-meaning but dangerously naive animal lover.

But “well-meaning but naive” doesn’t get many clicks. Everyone’s gotta be either a saint or an asshole.

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This raises the question: is there a patron saint of assholes?

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How about the patron saint of drug cartels?

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Nah. Gotta be a proper saint, with papers and everything.

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Then I don’t think there is one. About the closest I can find are saints who were involved in the various inquisitions.

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Okay, then I see no other option than to make Spanky the patron saint of assholes.
I understand dying in a most horrible way is the usual prerequisite.

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Dying in a horrible way is martyrdom.

You just need to be dead (dying peacefully in your sleep at 110 counts) and have performed two miracles to be a saint.

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To paraphrase Walter Matthau, we don’t have to be that neat.

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