I am still suspended from Twitter. The frustrating part of this is that I still get notifications. I have made my second appeal and they have stated that they will get round to looking at it, but that I can regain access to my account by deleting the offending tweet. I suspect that this will be a game of chicken and that after a long period of time, my appeal will be rejected. So I will have to make to with the frustration of getting an alert about a tweet and not being able to read it. Saying that, going without Twitter may be better for me as I was/am addicted to it.
My son has had an interesting time. Since my last post, he has strived to be banned form his phone for a long time. His issues with not putting away clothes for the house continued since my last post. Not only had he not put away clothes as required, but he had tried to hide them under mess in his room which was meant to be clean. A day after he was busted, a more in depth inspection of his room found yet more clothes that he had not put away! On the bright side, he appears to have learned to flush the toilet, though occasional issues are still present.
I am hopeful that the phone and television ban that he has been subjected to will focus his mind. Considering that his sister had a ban for a month a while ago, he knows that things can get worse.
I love The Thick Of It. Malcolm Tucker was apparently based on Alistair Campbell, but the comparisons now to Dominic Cummings cannot be avoided. Saying that, I think Malcolm Tucker had more ethics!
I am still suspended from Twitter. I was told that my tweet had been reviewed and was felt to violate the terms and conditions of the site. I am an advocate of free speech but also I believe that people should obey the terms and conditions of any website they sign up to. Twitter is right to police what is posted and hate speech should be acted on, as it violates the terms and conditions of what people agree to when they sign up to the site.
My daughter does not think that I violated the rules. My wife thinks my suspension is hilarious and is hoping that I can be suspended from Pokémon GO.
My son is in he doghouse. He is meant to put away clothes once my daughter has washed and dried the clothes. Yesterday I woke him up when I was not able to find any socks. Today, I had no jeans or jumpers. In addition, he is not able to flush the toilet anymore.
Woke up this morning to find that I had been suspended from Twitter for violating the rules. In the thread, someone referred to Stormy Daniels as a whore. I pointed out that she was a Porn Star and was not a whore, as well as pointing out that Melania Trump used her sex appeal in the past as well. I did not post any of the pictures that have been shared about Melania Trump on-line as I feel that doing so would be Slut Shaming her.
I can accept the suspension, or appeal. I do not think that I have done anything wrong, so even though it means I may be suspended from Twitter for longer, I will be appealing.
The issue of rights for trans-people is not not a binary one.
Despite this, discussions about trans rights appear to be so. I have been blocked on Twitter over my views on this matter despite trying to be civil when discussing this. Which is a shame as I would like to learn more about this.
My views, as noted before, were shaped after listening to an interview with Piers Morgan. In the interview, the issue that there were many genders was discussed, and it was then that I realised that having a binary attitude towards safe spaces based on chromosomal sex was limited. While I have come across unisex toilets before and also, in one restaurant/bar in Colchester, toilets for male, female and anyone, this is not an option for all locations and services. So I feel, that such facilities should be genitalia based. I know that my view on this is not going to be liked, and as many have pointed out, cannot be enforced with ease, but it is the least unfair option in my view.
But back to what JK Rowling has written about. She has referred to Magdalen Burns being viewed as transphobic for refusing to label lesbians who do not date a women with a penis as being bigoted. I am a man and would not wish to date a women with a penis either. I have not looked at all the views that Magdalen Burns has. From a cursory glance, I would consider her to be transphobic, but just as my children have not read what JK Rowling has read, I have not looked at all the view of Magdalen Burns on this matter either.
Another issue that she discusses is that of detransitioning. This is where a person changes back to the gender matching their chromosomal make up. The exact figures when it comes to this are not available to view, but it appears that those who are younger when it comes to this are more likely to change their minds. This does not mean that we should deny the right to transition to those who are young, but JK Rowling is right in that we should look into this in more detail. With the wait for such services on the NHS being so long, the importance of supporting the psychological health of those seeking to transition is even more paramount (as is the help that is needed following it). But this is not just to support people in the process of transitioning, but helping them to decide if that is the right choice for them.
Women do face more sexual assault than men, and when they do, almost all of it is at the hands of those with a penis. That is not to ignore the psychological and physical pain that the trans population face, but much of what they face when it comes to physical assaults is mostly from those with a penis. Just as most of those who transition (or wish to) are not sex offenders, most of those with a penis are not. However, I understand the desire of those with a vagina not to share safe spaces with those with a penis.
Allowing those who self identify into safe spaces without checks carries great risks. I have treated sex offenders and the victims of them. I know how some are predators who will exploit any loophole to offend. There are examples of offenders born with a penis who identify as women and it is hard to determine if they are doing so because they want to prey on women (CIS &/or trans) or if they are offenders who are genuine about being a different sex.
The argument that those found to be offenders can be banned carries no weight to me as many offences when it comes to sexual assault are not brought to court and the rape conviction rates in the UK are low.
Today I have gone for seven mile bicycle ride with my son. I think that it was the longest ride we have done together. Initially he was faster than me, much faster, but his stamina started to give out and the balance swung my way at the end. While I was a bit concerned about him turning right when cycling and his habit of owning the road in inappropriate areas, he did well.
The kids played Among Us with me. I still do not know how to play it properly but managed to win the game about four or five times back to back. My daughter beat me and then we had to stop. It is an evil game (edit - video added on Monday about this) and appeals to my core. Makes me want to watch Alien though!
And my wife and I have finished the day by watching Mission Impossible. Fallout is better than Ghost Protocol as a film with fewer stupid twists. Would I watch it again? No. Am I glad I watched it? Yes. Good stunts, but it had amazing scenery. While I suspect that the final parts were not filmed in Kashmir, like so many of the films, the settings are amazing.
Spent the morning at work with my daughter. She prefers to do her homework there while I catch up with paperwork. We could not spend too long there as my wife needed to have a haircut (note to self, book one before lockdown starts again). Once I had dropped her off in town for it, I went home and watched Star Wars Rebels with my son. He had gone through a period where he had stopped watching it with me, but it was great to watch it with him again. I did get to go for a short walk later when my daughter went out for a walk with one of her school friends and her dog. After collecting my wife, I had to collect the girls as they had an incident on their walk which turned out not to really be one, but had them shaken up anyway.
In the warm, as a family, we watched Eurovision, the film. And my wife and I enjoyed it. I think the kids did as well, but not as much as the two of us. While we have made Eurovision a thing for them, they do not appreciate it as much as my wife and I. The film, while corny and predictable, seemed to capture that part of the spirit of Eurovision quite well and if it was not about Eurovision, would have been too silly. But the balance it had for the topic was great. My wife had wanted to watch it for a while and had mentioned this on several occasions when we were picking films. After listening to the interviews from Rachel McAdams about the American perspective of this, I had to watch it as well. She was not aware of just how this is watched across Europe, and also Australia. I would say it is a must for those who enjoy the contest. At least to complain about it!
