Danger!

If someone pointed a gun at me, I would probably feel threatened. It's likely most people would. Yet there are some people who feel threatened, not in the presence of a gun or other weapon, but simply because of the mere existence of another person. The color of a person's skin triggers a fear reaction in some people, so they believe they are justified in violently "defending" themselves from the threat. Police who shoot Black people often claim they thought the victim was holding a weapon. When they know their bodycams are running, why do they lie? I think it's possible the terror they feel at the sight of dark skin might actually make them hallucinate a weapon or threatening gesture. Would better training fix this? I don't know. But perhaps people who fear the sight of brown skin could use desensitization therapy, like phobia patients. Or perhaps they just shouldn't work in law enforcement. ^@themrswest

Dangerous Things

Certain politicians love guns and fear books. But here's the problem. My neighbor could walk out to his driveway carrying an AR-15, aim it across the street at my kitchen window, and even if he wasn't a very good shot, he could do a lot of damage to the building as well as to whoever was unlucky enough to be standing at the sink.

The same guy could come out of the house with a stack of books and start throwing them. Even if he's got a powerful arm, I doubt any of those books would make it over to my house. He might dent a passing car.

And then if the same guy stood in his driveway and started screaming pronouns: "He! She! Them! You! It!" I probably wouldn't even hear him clearly enough to feel threatened.

Potty Training

Hubby and I spent nearly a year traveling throughout Europe. During that time, we encountered a lot of public restrooms. It wasn't at all unusual to find a restroom that was intended to be used by both men and women. In many cases, there would be a row of stalls for women on one side, and a row of stalls for men on the other side. The sinks, used by both sexes, were in the middle. In some cases, there were stalls marked for men and stalls marked for women, intermingled, with a few unmarked stalls, too. In some cases, stalls weren't labeled, and you just took your turn, regardless of sex. As far as I could tell, nobody suffered any ill effects from this. I only felt uncomfortable once. That happened when I used a traditional women's restroom that had attendants. Oddly, the attendants were all male. (I don't remember what country I was in at the time.)

The restrooms that were available to both sexes could have been used by people who were transgender, and nobody would have noticed. For most people, restrooms aren't places we go to report on who else is there.

Once in a diner in the U.S. I walked into the ladies' room and saw a man standing there. He had come in with his baby to use the changing table. I didn't feel threatened, but just went ahead and entered a stall.

Even in the U.S., where some people are hyper-aware of sexual division in public facilities, it is generally legal for a disabled person who needs assistance to be accompanied by an opposite-sex companion. After my accident, I was in a wheelchair for a while, and needed help in the bathroom. My husband went with me. Sometimes we used the women's room, sometimes the men's. We just rolled into the handicap stall and closed the door. Nobody fainted, nobody called the cops, nobody died. We both survived without permanent emotional trauma.

 

Them Books is Dangerous

My mother, staunchly conservative and a lifelong Republican, taught me that the reason we support public education is that everyone benefits from having an educated population. Today's Republicans, after shutting down the libraries and banning factual education, will be very unhappy 15-20 years from now when there is no one capable of developing new technology, or even repairing old technology; when they can't get lifesaving medical treatments because there wasn't anyone qualified to go to medical school; when TV shows are unable to entertain them because no one can write well; when even people in the most menial jobs drive them crazy by not understanding how things work. ^{@mrswest.bsky.social}