The Holy Land, again.

My daughter asked me for a quick summary about what has happened in The Holy Land.  It is a bit hard to explain this.

From my understanding, issues arose as a result of the eviction of non-Jews from Jerusalem, violence towards Muslims during Ramadan, and the violence at the Dome of the Rock.

Let me be clear, I think that a two state solution is needed.  I consider the way Israel acts towards those in the West Bank and Gaza to be the actions of apartheid, but I am also aware that Christians and Muslims in Israel have more rights than the Palestinian Authority or Hamas allows them in Gaza or the West Bank.  But the situation for Christians and Muslims in Israel is changing.    

Back in 1993, the Oslo Peace Accords had been signed and it looked like a just peace for many would come to the region.  Yes, many Palestinian refugees considered this to be unfair, but it was a better situation than things had been before.  But then settlement expansion started to take place.  Some considered these to expansion of settlements that had already existed, but many considered otherwise.  Basically, the Palestinians negotiated a peace deal, and then Israel ignored it.  

The issue of the Right Of Return is a contentious one.  Allowing Jews with an ancestral right to return to Israel is right, but only if the same right is given to the Christians and Muslims who used to live in Palestine. Two examples of this are two villages, Iqrit and Kafr Bir'im. But I doubt that is going to happen.

As much as I disagree with the actions of Israel towards its non-Jewish population, as well as its actions in annexing land in Jerusalem, there is no justification for Hamas to fire missiles from Gaza, even though Israel has attempted to lay siege to it, and I understand why Israel has responded with force.  

There is a lot I have missed out, but I have to return to work now.

Why I think that safe spaces should be genitalia based

Posting this on The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia may be a red flag to some, but this has been something I wanted to update my view on for a while.  I have posted my views on this before and I am aware that many will consider me to be transphobic for my views.

Part of my views are based, not on discrimination against those who are trans, but rather based on safeguarding.  My job role involves this, and I have encountered predators both in a personal as well as professional role.  Put simply, I have few concerns that someone who is trans is going to assault others, specifically, I have few concerns that someone with a penis who is a genuine transwoman, is to assault a biological woman in a safe space.  This is despite having treated someone who identifies as a woman, who did sexually assault women (they were in secure accommodation to control that risk).  I am more concerned that men who wish to sexually assault women or worse, will use the rules to self identify to gain legitimate access to safe spaces and carry out assaults. 

Some have called for a risk based system on this, thereby preventing those guilty of assault and rape from having access to the women they have assaulted.  But that forgets the discrepancy between the number of assaults that are alleged to have taken place, and those who are found guilty.     

Another reason for my view that spaces should be genitalia based are as there is an argument that there are a hundred genders.  Not everyone identifies as female or male.  Restricting safe spaces to male or female forces them to make a choice, but having the option to have this based on genitalia is a simple (and if needed, verifiable) method.  Ideally, people should have the option of using unisex spaces, but not everywhere has the ability to cater for that.  

I do not agree with everything that JK Rowling has said on this, but I do agree with most of what she has said.  I am still sad that my children, who have called her a transphobe, have yet to read what she has written about her views.  However, that does include that there is an issue those born with the genitalia different to the gender they end up identifying with.  Working in healthcare, certain things are affected by sex, an example being how eGFR is calculated.  Not allowing for this means that some people may be over investigated for issues that they may not have, or worse, people may not be investigated for issues that they do have.   

Addicted to Fresno

First of all family. I only got to spend a short time with the children and my wife compared to the time I normally have with them.  The reason was because I was vaccinating in the morning, which was exhausting.  When speaking to patients, I learned that the Indian Variant is now in Essex which makes the need to vaccinate even more important.  I was shattered when I got home to the burger my wife had lovingly prepared for me.

The kids and I had fun with Leia during the day, so I did get some time to recharge my batteries.

When ironing I watched Addicted to Fresno.  I had started to watch it a while ago, but my wife hated it, so I finished it while ironing.  I liked it, but I can see why it did not do well as the subject matter is not something that appeals to many.  That and the end of the film which I thought was not discussed that well as there was no insight into why the character did what they did.  I am glad I watched it, but I would have been disappointed if I had paid to watch this in the cinema.

IKEA

Today was a family trip to IKEA.  As we were in the area, we popped round to see my mother and the parents of my wife.  Of course, there was no hugging and this was a socially distanced meeting outside in the respective gardens as restrictions are to be relaxed on the 17th.

Due to the time away from the house, we took Leia with us and I spent time walking about with her while everyone else was in IKEA.  I now suspect that this was a deliberate ploy to keep me outside so that I could not say no to purchases!  I did pop into the TESCO next to it as we had forgotten to take food for Leia and I was surprised at how many people were wearing facemasks under their chins!  Do they not realise the dangers of the Indian Variant of COVID?

Anyway, we are home now, my wife and I listening to Sade after an internet concert with Paul Weller.

Debating about COVID on Twitter

I have been blocked again on Twitter.  I engaged with someone who I felt was spreading lies about COVID and they did respond, but resorted to insults and a conflicting argument.

In the argument that they used, they claimed that Kary Mullis said that the PCR test was not designed to detect infectious diseases.  When I pointed out that they were wrong, they offered to show me a video of him saying this, but blocked me so that they were not able to do so.  

They made many other claims, but as they have blocked me (they were abusive to me), I cannot counter them.  So much for being willing to debate a topic...

And before I go, just a reminder about a few issues.

1 - COVID kills.  I have treated people who survived as well as too many who died.  A nursing home I am involved in looking after has yet to become full again after COVID killed many of the residents there last year.

2 Face masks save lives.  Not just by reducing the risk of spreading it if you have no symptoms, but as seen by those working in healthcare, face masks prevented many from catching this.

3 - Funeral homes were overwhelmed over the wave of infections seen in the last surge of infections.  I know as I had to visit a few.  One had issues coping despite the increased capacity that they had built.

4 - People with no symptoms can spread COVID.  We saw that with the super spreader event held by President Trump last year.

5 - Just because Boris is to drop restrictions, this does not mean that we can act like we did in 2019. The Indian Variant may cause havoc here and unless we act to flatten the curve, our hospitals may be under pressure again like they were this winter when our local hospital were limited to life and death operations only.  Another surge like that will kill many and lengthen waiting lists again.

Redtails

In summary, a good and bad film.  

I have wanted to watch this for ages and as a film I thought that it dealt with the issues of racism very well, as well as acceptance of how people are people, no matter what skin colour they are.  

I got the feeling that the film tried to put too much into it as it appeared to only offer a superficial look at many things, an example being the acceptance of the Ray Gun in the POW camp.  Saying that, character development is not the main forte of many war films.

This is a story that needs to be told.  When I grew up, I can never recall seeing someone non-white in an American war film (I do remember one in 633 Squadron but that character was played by a white actor anyway).

Our past is something that we need to learn from, both the good and the bad.  This film, does not explore the characters that much and if not for how it dealt with the subject matter as well as the subject itself, I would not recommend this.  But this film in some aspects is more important than other war films.  Like most war films it deals with courage, sacrifice and heroism, but unlike others, this also deals with how too many of those whom the Redtails served with had the same views on racial superiority as those they were fighting.

13 Reasons Why; The First Polaroid

I watched this with my son last night.  The focus on the episode has moved from that of suicide, though mental health and self harm are still topics, to that of sexual assault and how toxic masculinity is wrong.  My son already has his views on toxic masculinity.  An interesting theme brought up was consent.  This time, over an issue with a photograph being taken once and if this meant consent was given in the future.  (See just past two minutes into the video.)  Our chat afterwards as another opportunity for us to bond.  I am hoping that we get to do that more often.