The Orville was a dumb Star Trek: The Next Generation rip-off that felt like self-insert fanfic. I mean, they didn’t even do a good job filing off the serial numbers. They shamelessly refer to nothing but twentieth-century Earth pop culture like nothing in the past four hundred years made a difference. None of the characters act like they come from a military or a utopia. They’re more obsessed with petty gossip, bar tricks, and sex than exploring the galaxy. One of the episode’s inciting incidents comes from a character dry-humping a statue during a first-contact visit. This guy’s a senior officer. Seth MacFarlane is a blunt hammer of a writer.…
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But the Trans Ran on Time
Transgender issues are bubbling up again thanks to J.K. Rowling. I don’t agree with or share her opinions, but (and I’ll probably come out on the wrong side of history on this one) there are things about the transgenderism movement that make me angry. That doesn’t mean I’m anti-transgender. I don’t think they need to be “converted”. I’m not afraid of sharing the bathroom with a transgendered person. I don’t ask questions about their surgery or sex life. I don’t subscribe to stereotypes–each one’s story is unique. But there are elements of the transgender culture that make me… skeptical. SIDE 1 – The Side Where You Hate Me Part of…
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Get Your Hands Off Bradley Manning’s Pronouns!
In this, I am afraid of saying something wrong and misogynist and insensitive, but I have too much conviction on this. So the big news this Wikileaks trial concluded with this thing out of left field that Bradley Manning wants to be Chelsea Manning. He wants to be a girl, and identified as such. And all I can think is this: It’s a ridiculous turn of events, to be sure. Unexpected to say the least. But the aftermath of it is that journalists and press have to decide how to react. Whether to refer to Bradley Manning as Chelsea Manning, and him as her and he as she. Because he…
