Facebook has yet again missed the point. In a starburst of creative genius it has decided to expand the gender assignment categories of the human race from just two to around fifty. The idea is that people can self-identify not merely as male or female, but as Androgynous, Transgender and Genderqueer--or as Uncle Tom Cobbly for that matter.
We applaud this enlightened move. It helps institutionalise what has been asserted and assumed for a generation now. Human beings are so wonderful, so creative, so evolving and emergent that it is no longer just a matter of who they were, but one of who they now are, and how they self-identity and whom they aspire to be. Self-identity and self-creation is not just to be occasionally expected in a world which believes in self-referent evolution, it is required. It has to be. It's a surprise that it has taken so long for Facebook to face up (excuse the pun) to this self-evident and necessary truth.
Too true. Being forced to fit into the wrong boxes when the world is dynamically evolving is a cardinal sin against Being itself. But the most egregious aspect to the matter is that stupid, conservative, dumb Facebook is once again proving that it is a follower, not a leader in these matters. One presumes that it is filthy lucre that motivates its conservatism--along with the limited, nascent self-realisation of its own staff.
Across the country Thursday, news swept through the transgender community that social media giant Facebook had added a customizable option with about 50 different terms people can use to identify their gender as well as three preferred pronoun choices: him, her or them. And one after another, they made their changes in a quiet revolution of sorts. "For me, this is about much more than a button on a monitor," Garrigues said. "This encourages people to think outside the binary spectrum. It means I don't have to try to fit in the wrong boxes." [Associated Press]
You see. At last Brielle Harrison has found the "right box", and it means "the world" to her. But discrimination, restrictive harmful discrimination, remains regnant in Facebook's mode of operation. What about those who no longer identify as human? Why hasn't Facebook recognised that the world is not binary at all when it comes to being itself, not merely an adjunct of being, such as gender. For example, it is definitely not the case that there are just humans on Facebook, or anywhere else for that matter. And yet Facebook gives no choices or boxes to tick for those who self-identify as non-human. There are people who self-refer as werewolves, for example. What about them? There is no box for them to tick on Facebook. And what about vampires, and people who self-referent as ghosts, trees, horses, and as the wind? And let's not forget those who self-referent as demons. And what about the cannibals, like Hannibal Lector, who now self-referent as a combination of humans?
Facebook said the changes, shared with The Associated Press before the launch, initially cover the company's 159 million monthly users in the U.S. and are aimed at giving people more choices in how they describe themselves, such as androgynous, bi-gender, intersex, gender fluid or transsexual."There's going to be a lot of people for whom this is going to mean nothing, but for the few it does impact, it means the world," said Facebook software engineer Brielle Harrison, who worked on the project and is herself undergoing gender transformation, from male to female. On Thursday, while watchdogging the software for any problems, she said she was also changing her Facebook identity from Female to TransWoman.
Genderbending is so last century. Because the human race is progressive and is inevitably more emergent with each passing decade we must allow people to self-referent as they desire and discover themselves to be. Self-actualisation is not just a philosophical abstraction: it is reality--and Facebook (along with everyone else) had better get used to it. So there.
When a people turn away from the Living God and His law, He ordinarily gives the culture enough accelerant to self-immolate. A people and its culture self-actualise unto their own end. Facebook needs to get with the programme and stop tip-toeing around the edges.
No comments:
Post a Comment