Eviora

If there is a god, he has already done the opposite. What do you hope to achieve by saying something like that to an atheist?

Maybe it is possible that my life will get better if the right things happen. Maybe not. That does nothing to change my right to determine my own fate. Saying I have no right to do a thing just because it would make others feel bad is nonsense. If that were a rule, no one would be able to do anything. People who vote for Trump make me feel bad. People who express transphobic opinions make me feel bad. Sometimes, even people who beat me in video games make me feel bad. That doesn't mean everyone else should be forced to keel over and let me win. On the whole, Trump winning is devastating to a lot more people than my death could ever be. So you can drop the whole notion that I should be forced to live for the sake of others. Selfishness is not doing what you will with what is yours, it's demanding that others experience prolonged sufering to keep you in your comfort zone. And, frankly, I've probably thought more about this subject than you ever have, so you can drop the suggestion that I'm not thinking critically. I have been thinking about this for a very, very long time. The fact that I've arrived at a different conclusion than you have does nothing to nullify that. I've already had the discussion regarding how much what a person feels matters relative to the real effects of their vote several times on this website. I won't repeat it here. Maybe it was stupid of me to lower my defenses. So many people would rather poke at them than talk to the person within.

Viri, you have your opinions, but where I'm from, suicide is not illegal. As far as I'm concerned I have every right to do what I will with my body, and that includes snuffing the life from it. Preaching at me will do you no good, especially since you have no actual evidence, and should I someday actually kill myself, feel free to call my corpse a murderer. I doubt it will care. Like it or not, suicide is an option. Plenty of people have done it before, and plenty more will do it in the future. That is reality.

Hullo, Reborn. Several of you may already strongly dislike me. If so, and you clicked this thread anyway for some reason, you may be in for a relief. I have no intention of debating here. In fact, if you try to argue with me about anything I don't feel is especially relevant, I probably won't even respond. What you'll find instead of a debate is me doing something I always strive to do and so rarely can. (At least, I'll try.) I'm going to completely drop my defensive shields. So be warned: this is a really egocentric thread. Lying is a habit that became natural to me a long time ago. For those of you who don't know, I'm trans. For a very long time, I've known that something was different about me. In an ideal world, I would try to understand it and be my best self. But this is not an ideal world. I'm something of a coward, and I was terrified of rejection from everyone. I did my research on the internet, and I let hateful people convince me that if I acted on my feelings, it would make me less than human, So, instead, I crushed them. As a child, I suffocated myself to death. Since then, a lot has changed, and I've made steps toward recovering. But they're only partial steps. You don't murder yourself at such a young age and come out of it unscathed. So, now, I am left with this empty feeling that a huge part of my life was all but erased, and that I never will be whole. But since I've come to accept who I am, I have tried not to tell that sort of lie. And, again, I've failed. Lying, it seems, is a fundamental part of human interaction. The internet, where I live most of my life, makes doing it even easier. So I act strong and calm when I'm scared and on the verge of tears, I'm verbally aggressive, sometimes even cruel, because if I reject you, it lessens the blow I feel when I perceive you rejecting me. People sometimes accuse me of black and white thinking. They're not wrong. That is a symptom of one of the personality disorders my experiences have embedded in me. But it's also more than that. For better or worse, it's part of who I am now. Part of what makes me me. And I won't turn my back on it and condemn it. I've had enough of that for one lifetime. So... what does Evi want? What is her heart's truest desire? Justice and equal treatment for everyone? No, I don't think so. I stand up for the rights of others because I understand that they may feel similarly to me, and I know that if we all support each other, we're more likely to make the progress that is necessary. But what I really want is way simpler than that. I just want to be treated like a girl, by everyone, all the time. Some transgender people take pride in their struggle, in what they have to go through to be who they are and the strength that fosters within them. More power to them, but I am not one of them. I would like to be treated as just some girl, not specifically a transgender girl. Personally, I would rather not have the fact that I got screwed over in the womb be one of the defining factors of who I am. But that's how many people would think of me. Consider Caitlyn Jenner. When you think of her, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Perhaps you, personally, are not like other people, but I would wager for most of them the first thought is transgender. Not her athletic achievements. Not her obnoxious reality TV dynasty. In the eyes of the masses, the things she has done are completely overshadowed by the way she was born. And then we come to recent events. The fact that Donald Trump (and, for me, even worse, Mike Pence) were elected into the White House. Congress, the Supreme Court, everything is now controlled by people with a track record of reducing people to the way they were born. And around half the voters in this country wanted that. The implications, in my eyes, are undeniable. I'm not welcome here. I, as a person, don't matter. People will tell me otherwise, but, again, it's human nature to lie. It's also the nature of most people to want to comfort those who are in pain. But those comforting words are not reflected in reality. Many of the people who assure me that I deserve to be treated as a person voted for me not to be all the same. In light of all that, my eyes turn back to my greatest obsession. Death. Based on what evidence we have, I believe killing myself a second time - this time in a way that ensures I won't come back - will bring an end to my pain. People will say that there's a chance that isn't the case, and I acknowledge that I could be wrong, but I'm not afraid of taking that gamble. With every passing day, I become more certain that it's the kindest thing I could do for myself. There's a handful of people who would be truly hurt if I did so, of course. But I'm not a good enough person to damn myself to decades of suffering just to protect them. The only reasons I haven't offed myself already are 1. because I don't really want to die, I just think it's better than the alternative and 2. because the halfhearted nature of my resolve has made my previous attempts really weak and unreliable. Yes, I have tried it before, more than once, and I wish I had succeeded. Judge me for that if you want. I'm so used to being judged. Anyway, I didn't most all this to garner your pity. Many of you may be in situations similar to my own. I guess I just did it so people would understand. Maybe just to help me come to terms with my current situation. I've always found organization helpful. Now, to especially unkind of you out there, attack me if you must. My flame shields are always at the ready.

Oh, please. There are plenty of causes to take up that aren't directly related to the election or federal government. As for the ones that are related, I did what I could recently, just as you have. Who said anything about voting being a legal crime? I certainly didn't. But as for whether it can be morally reprehensible, of course you wouldn't think so. By the sound of it, you also think it would be fine to vote for Hitler if he were going to build a tremendous wall and cut your taxes (and maybe engage in a little genocide in his spare time.) Just keep the killing in the fine print and it's okay, apparently. It must be so traumatizing to feel excluded from an internet community just because you voted to exclude millions of people from their real life community. ---- By the way, Chase, you've started a lot of topics like this. I don't for one second believe you're stupid enough not to realize how this was going to go. So you can stop acting surprised. And I don't care whether anyone here likes me.

When did I say Hitler actually won an election based on that platform? The answer is never. Instead, I posed a hypothetical to show you that there is, indeed, a situation where casting a vote can be morally repugnant. I just used Hitler because he's someone we're all (hopefully...) going to agree is depraved. What good exactly do you think speaking out is going to do? You had your chance to speak. It was yesterday. You spoke. Your voice only matters every once in a while in this nation. Now it will fall on deaf ears until the next election. The people up for re-election then won't have to worry about you. They'll offer you the same choice they just did, and you'll sacrifice the same people. And all the good will you talk about having in your heart will live and die there. Impotent. Irrelevant.

The suggestion that voting for someone can never put you in the wrong is easier to tip over than a house of cards. If Hitler were running on the platform of rounding up and killing a bunch of groups if elected, and you voted in favor of that, do you seriously think that would be some noble fulfillment of your civic duty? No, it would just be depraved. Well, you didn't vote for genocide, but you voted for some pretty bad things. You're as responsible for voting for them as a hypothetical Hitler voter would be for voting for concentration camps. By the way, I'm fine with being labeled as a SJW. That's just a label apathetic (or worse) people throw around to try to diminish those who insist on the tiresome task of standing up for the disadvantaged. I find it ironic that people who voted for a man who characterized Mexicans as "rapists" are now calling for civil discourse and decrying other people's opinions as poisonous.

I would have really appreciated it if you hadn't voted someone who has no respect myself or others like me into office. Alas, we can't always have what we want. You took an action against us, and now you call our criticism of that toxic. Why would you think you'd be excused? Is it okay for you to hurt people because your conscience tells you to, but not okay for us to call you out because our consciences tell us to? Tears, excuses, even good reasons - none of them will erase what you did. Own it and everything that comes with it.

I've already heard you sound condescending. That's kind of the whole point of my post.

I feel so bad for you. It must be hard having to view other people worry about losing their rights on a message board. Naturally, the correct response is to behave like as much of a sociopath as possible. That's sure to make us feel more accepted and less endangered.

I don't think this thread is working the way it's supposed to be working.

That was just me trying to figure out what you could possibly mean by saying Hillary's stance on abortion robs you of your religious freedom. Notice that the life after the bolded one addresses the case where you're just talking about holding the belief that abortion is wrong, but not intervening. In other words, I separated your possible positions into cases and addressed them one by one. Do I expect you to vote for Hillary or not vote? I wouldn't say I do. I also don't expect the leaders of ISIS to turn themselves in any time soon. But if you actually value members of the minorities Trump would discriminate against, I would think you'd try to stop him.

As Chase so eloquently pointed out, no I didn't. But my point is that it's the efforts to obstruct that Hillary wants to legislate against, not your freedom to disagree.

Lots of views on lots of things should be changed. Lots of people are still racist. It would be nice if they wouldn't be. Some religious extremists see fit to murder innocent people. It would be wonderful if the doctrine that supports those actions would be challenged and defeated. That doesn't mean Hillary is going to send the FBI into your house and tell you to think abortion is okay. it means she hopes that attitudes will change over time. Not supporting abortion is one thing. Supporting efforts to obstruct women's right to choose is another.

That looks like an unbiased website. This may come as a surprise, but preventing you from forcing your opinion of abortion of others isn't denying you your religious freedom. No one is going to legislate you out of believing what you will. it sounds like Hillary would just like third parties to have less say in a woman's right to an abortion.

Oh. That's interesting. Chase mostly understands me. I have no clue which religious freedoms Clinton is planning to get rid of aside from perhaps the "right" of businesses to shun the undesirables.

So unreasonable of me to be unhappy with people voting to deny me my human rights. It's fine, Telos. People will find any excuse not to take responsibility for their actions. Of course it's just me being too sensitive. There's no way Swordsman could have possibly done anything wrong. =p