Drug Cheating in Sport Is a Human Right

The Sound of Rats Being Swallowed

A couple of really interesting articles appeared in Stuff the other day.  The first had to do with the new intellectual fad sweeping the Western world: gender identity!  The idea here is that no-one has a right to tell anyone else what their gender is.  One's gender is determined by how one thinks of oneself.  It's a self-identification thing, and oneself is the ultimate and final determiner of one's reality.  Naturally, the autonomy of identity has been claimed as an inviolable human right.

In this particular case New Zealand has a man whose gender self-identity is female.  So--genetically male, but self-identified as female.  Same old, same old inanities.  But this chap is a weightlifter and has been competing as a male, but now that he has "transitioned" he has been selected for our national female weightlifting team and will likely represent New Zealand in the forthcoming Commonwealth Games.

The selection of a transgender woman for the New Zealand weightlifting team is understood to be a first for New Zealand sport.  Laurel Hubbard will represent her country in the 90kg+ women's category at this month's Australian international weightlifting event and is in line for selection for the NZ team for next year's Commonwealth Games.  [Stuff]

Whoopee.  What a wunnerful world.  The president of Olympic Weightlifting New Zealand, Garry Marshall believes the rules give them no choice.  There are only two genders recognised in the rules: male and female.  No category called transgender.

Marshall went on to comment on the "advantages" Hubbard will enjoy in this charade:

Marshall said he believed Hubbard had "huge advantages" over her rivals.  "She competed for a long time as a man and her efforts were very strong. That strength has remained with her despite reduced testosterone.  

When the charade finally plays out and Hubbard gets his gold medal in the female weightlifting competition everyone amongst the Chatterers will clap and cheer, saying "Wunnerful.  Sport was the winner on the day."

So, there you go blokes.  If you are a second rate sportsperson, lusting and longing for "glory" on the sports field, the way is now open for you.  Become a trans-sexual, take lots of hormones, and you will end up thrashing your female opponents.  Back in the day the various Olympic Committees and other sporting bodies called this sort of thing nasty names like "doping" and "performance enhancement" and the nastiest name of all, "cheating".  But throw in a bit of sexual identity pixie dust, and lo it becomes celebrated and wonderful.

Behold the idiocy of one of our ethical libertarians, congratulating Hubbard on his drug induced achievements:

First of all congratulations to Laurel for winning selection to compete for New Zealand. She should be very proud of her achievement. I have no doubt a lot of training has gone into this.

Choke.  Choke.  A real big rat just went down the throat.

The second article, following hard after the first, concerns our favorite national sport, rugby.  A twenty-six year old man, who has been on the verge of selection for the Auckland Blues for several years, but has never quite made the grade, has come out to announce that he identifies as a teenager.  He has been transitioning for some time, taking a cocktail of drugs to suppress the physical changes that take place at puberty.  He now speaks in a high vocal register and has been re-learning and practising child speech patterns and affectations.

Tamati Bigfella is well over 200 centimeters in height and weighs in a over 100kg.  But he has re-enrolled in high school, and will represent Takapuna Grammar school in the local North Shore first fifteen rugby competition.

The trans-gender community is up in arms.  Bigfella is making a mockery out of the transgender people, blaspheming the sanctity of sexual identity, they claim.  But Bigfella is also being strongly endorsed--championed, one may say--by age-identity pressure groups.  People transitioning to a different age identity should be respected and encouraged, we are told.  Not to accept them violates their fundamental human rights.

Our local ethical libertarian has chimed in on this case as well:

First of all congratulations to Tamati for winning selection to play for the Takapuna Grammar First Fifteen. He should be very proud of his achievement. I have no doubt a lot of training has gone into this.  

And heaps of chemicals and drugs. But hey, identificationism is sacred, holy, and a fundamental human right.

What a wunnerful world.  Unbelief will always, in the long arc, integrate into the Void.