Democracy! Voting rights for every person! Right?

'Voting rights for everyone, that's true democracy!' 'Except of course for women, people of colour, slaves, people who are not rich and people under the age of 18.' 'Of course. That goes without saying.'

Fun times that must have been, at the start of modern 'democracy'. At least for rich, white dudes.

It took mankind some 2000 years to further evolve because rich, white dudes are not known for being quick to adopt new ideas. Or give up even an ounce of power.

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Even a 'progressive' club like the Freemasons took a while to see women as 'people'. Although the first Freemason Lodges that allowed women were formed some hundred years before the first country gave women the right to vote in national elections. And there are still men only-Lodges to this day. On the other hand: there are also women only-Lodges. So there's that. But are there societies (or have there ever been) were only women are allowed to vote?

In quite a few countries it's still men who decide what a woman can do with her body. And while in most countries the old idea that women are not capable of making decisions is being pushed out of society, in 'the land of the free!', the USA, there's a backwards tendency going: more and more States are banning abortion. In Idaho (click) accidentally getting pregnant could land a young woman in jail: she is not allowed to get pregnant ánd is not allowed an abortion. Good luck preventing 15-17 olds from having sex. So maybe it's a really stupid idea to ban sex-education in schools.

In many cultures children have a say in how things go - if even in their own household - and just look at your own family tree: you'll notice your great-grandmother may have become a mother for the first time before she was even sixteen. But should 15-years old teens have the right to vote or become a parent? Always an interesting discussion, even as just a thought-experiment. By extension: should anyone have to perform some test before they foster children or vote? Or should society allow people who have absolutely no understanding of what it entails to become a parent or vote? And how do we decide who is capable and not?

In too many countries a person can't be homosexual, transgender or in some other way not a heterosexual part of the majority without being scolded or even left out of society.

Unless they are a Republican politician of course. D'oh!

Homosexual and transgender people are a minority in society. Should other people bow to a minority? A valid question:

I for one hope we don't have to wait a couple of hundred years to arrive in the world of Star Trek. In which every single individual is seen as valuable. A world in which gender, gender identity, sexual attraction or lack thereof, skin colour, age, religion or colour of skin, mental of physical handicap does not matter anymore. But just the way you are as a human being.

Would you like such a world? If you fear a world in which everyone is considered equal, not just people who look and act like you, may I ask why?

Her eyes (a #shortstory or #poem)

"We have the power, the will, the money and the knowledge to turn Mars into Earth as it was through geo engineering.

It takes less money and effort to turn Earth into how it was

so why don't we try that?"

I was unable to reply

as I was struck by the fire

in her eyes.

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Of all cops, the ones in the USA are the most violent

Here's an article (click) explaining why US police officers are far more 'trigger happy' than police in other rich (wanted to say 'civilised' but decided not to) countries. A quote:

"...communication skills are largely ignored by most police academies.

This is why you see officers very rapidly escalating from initial communication to the actual physical use of force, because this is how they train."

Unfortunately, most US police officers seem to think that Muslims and people of colour form a bigger threat than 'decent, white, christian folk'. I'm really sorry for the Americans reading this but I have to burst your bubble: the data says that you are very wrong and had yourself lied to by a couple of populists, paid by a few big companies. 

Do you really think that most mass shootings in the USA are performed my muslims, homosexuals, transgenders or people of colour? If you still believe that after seeing these stats, you are not only gullible but also very, very stupid.

Why do you think US cops have such a bad reputation? Or 'rep' as Americans seem to like to abbreviate that word to.

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It wasn't over yet (a #poem)

He hadn't been so high

in a long, long time.

Seeing her between the balloons

only lifted his spirits more.

Every time she passed him,

he would ask her for her name

to never forget.

He hoped this party

could last forever.

It wasn't over yet.

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Are you afraid of other people? Why?

"Hundreds of people contacted me because they regret transitioning!", said a trans woman (click) who decided to transition back to her birth gender, male. 

Just putting it out there: a fireman is a man; a nice man is a man; an honest man is a man, a trans man is a man and a lying man is a man.

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Must be terrible, having made a decision you later regret. But people have free will and actual research - so, not the word of one single, unhappy person - shows that by far most trans people are very happy (click) with their decision to live on in a new body.

But not everyone is happy that not only straight, 'christian' people have the right to use their free will. 

They want everybody to adher (ad'him'?) to their standards. Which is rather silly because science disagrees with them: in nature there have always been different kinds of animals. And yes, humans are just another type of animal. And just like there are many kinds of birds, there are also many kinds of people. With different ideas, different dreams, different looks and yes, different genders and gender-identities. It's true (click). Bigly (click).

Yes, women are women and men are men. Whether they were born with that gender or not. All over the world children are born with physical characteristics of both most common genders. In our 'free, western civilization', doctors let the parents decide which characteristics to remove or hide. While in other cultures these people are considered people. And often as 'special' people. 

Speaking of special people: olympic swimmer Michael Phelps (click) was born with twice the lung capacity of 'normal' people and other top level swimmers (namely Pieter van den Hoogenband and Cody Miller) have been born with a deformity of the body that makes them more aerodynamic (and hence faster) than everyone else and more prone to win medals. Should Michael Phelps have been banned from competing because he was born with a different body than his competitors?

Granted, there are not many people who weren't born with a single, 'normal' sex: approximately 1,7% of the world population is considered 'intersex' (click) and about 0,5% (1 in every 200 people) is born with visible traits of more than one 'normal' gender. So, yes, it's 'normal' to be 'not normal'. 

But it's by far not normalized by many. And recently trans women have been excluded (click) from athletics by World Athletics because of their supposed advantage of being born male. But how far do we want to take this? And how do we deal with the fact that World Athletics basically violates basic human rights?

Other than the legal implications of excluding people solely based on how they identify or look (how many pro basketball players do you know who are under 6ft?), should 'we' be afraid of them? Although it was once a survival trait to be terrified of anyone who looked different from your own 'tribe', most people have evolved beyond the kind of humanity that was 'normal' over 30,000 years ago and are not 'barbarians' anymore. How about you?

Do you like stating you are 'not afraid of anything!' but just happen to scream bloody murder at just the thought of the existence of Muslims, trans people, people of colour, people with differently shaped noses? 

Why?

Would be (a #poem)

In a world in which promises

are the most valuable asset

she was there to serve as a reminder

that it didn't always used to be like that

Or was it?

We set out to find a treasure

and along the way

discovered we already had:

the promise of a life together

for as long as we would be

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Do I understand women? Of course! Not. Always.

"I want a man who finds me mysterious and understands me completely." "So you want two boyfriends?"

Dear people: if you're looking for a partner who understands you completely and at the same time doesn't, you will always stay single.

"I want a tough, masculine guy who is completely independent and never lets anyone tell him what to do, who is gentle, not afraid to show his feminine side, there for me 24/7 and always does what I want him to do."

"So you want two boyfriends? Or a boyfriend and a well-trained dog?"

"When I say no, it's no. Except when it's not. And a guy needs to understand that."

"So when you say no, you want the man to persist and you don't want him to persist?"

"Yes. Glad you understand!"

For some reason some women think I don't understand them. But I do. Completely. They just have different wishes. Simultaneously. That usually rule eachother out. 

Of course I'm generalizing here. I often make assumptions.

Which is something women of course never do, right? 😉

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Together (a #poem)

Lovely view,

lovely people,

lovely music

and lovely drinks.

Too bad we never met,

you and I.

We could have had

a lovely time

toegether

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Should refugees always be helped? Or are there exceptions? If so: why?

Looking at the timeline on Twitter from people like 'Suru Q', a person from Denmark born in 1983, a few things stand out: they claim they are intelligent, think for themselves, always ask questions, don't believe anything that's posted on the internet...

But in the meantime they are stupid, don't think for themselves, never ask actual questions and believe anything that's posted in their bubble. 

I know, because in a social experiment I shortly had a fake account. Started by posting - with a lot of spelling errors, which was very hard to do - stuff like: 'F*ck the government!', 'Don't believe MSM!' and within a week had some 200 followers. Seeing how far I could go I posted stuff like: 'Had to get vaccinated because of work abroad. Strangely enough all my BlueTooth things at home switched on by themselves when I got home from getting the jab! Did that happen to you too?' Dozens retweeted the message and dozens replied: 'Yes, it happened to me too!' That's how stupid covidiots, racists and other dumb-right people are: they believe literally anything that's said by one of their own.

Besides that, it always has to be about them. Like when someone posted a memory of Anne Frank. 

The story is about Anne Frank but some use her story to share they cry about being afraid of people stating they want the right to be who they are. Pathetic, really.

Anne Frank was the German Jewish girl who started writing a now famous diary while hiding in Amsterdam. The USA made it nearly impossible for German jews to acquire a visa 'because who's to say that not one of those thousands of refugees is secretly a nazi spy?' 

Yes, it's the same excuse now used by governments to refuse asylum to refugees from Syria and surrounding countries: 'One of those thousands might be a spy for ISIS!'

Strangely enough the same fear does not apply to refugees from Ukraine. Are European governments not afraid of a Russian spy secretly mingling with the thousands of Ukrainian refugees?

And what if those refugees had a dark skin colour, were jewish or *gasp* members of the LGBTQ+ community?

Many people like Otto Frank tried to flee to the United States because they were told everyone could have a nice life there and everyone was welcome. Only black people and women were not allowed to fully participate in society. Oh, and Irish and Mexicans and a bunch of other minorities. But everyone else was free in America. Well, except for jews apparently. Who thought they'd be save, being white and believing in God 'n stuff. But no.

Under Roosevelt jews were not allowed into the country. A decision that would end up Germany being known as a country with no humour. No wonder: the nazis killed all the funny people. Joke by the late and great Robin Williams.

After the St. Louis (click) was sent away by first Cuba, then the US and also by Canada, back to Europe, 300 of its 900 passengers got murdered Yes, The governments of Cuba, the US and Canada are directly responsible for the death of thousands of German jews when their antisemitism got them to drive them in the hands of the nazis.

Recommended watch. Especially for those who like to say that they don't want refugees to come to 'their' country: What if Anne Frank was a vlogger?

Now think of this: would you like to be treated like Anne Frank and those countless of other refugees when - gods forbid - one day you are a refugee?

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