Writes Jennifer Finney Boylan, in "Why I Changed My Birth Certificate 25 Years After I Transitioned" (NYT). Boylan is 66 and "transitioned nearly 25 years ago."
Despite the essay title, there's nothing more about the why — no detail about why Trump is a threat and why a revised birth certificate would work as protection against that threat. Most of the essay is about the process of getting the new birth certificate.
It reminded me of the David Rakoff essay "Love It Or Leave It" in his 2005 book "Don't Get Too Comfortable" (commission earned). It begins:
George W. Bush made me want to be an American. It was a need I had not known before. A desire that came over me in a rush one day, not unlike that of the pencil-necked honors student suddenly overwhelmed with the inexplicable urge to make a daily gift of his lunch money to the schoolyard tough. I have lived in the United States, first as a student then as a resident alien, under numerous other administrations, including what I once thought of as the nadir of all time: the Cajun-scented, plague-ravaged Reagan eighties in New York; horrible, black years of red fish and blue drinks. A time when greed was magically transformed from vice to virtue. And after that the even greedier nineties... and all through that time... I was sufficiently satisfied with a civic life of paying taxes and the occasional protest.
But George changed all that. Even though I am not a Muslim and I come from a country that enjoys cordial relations with the United States, I no longer felt safe being here as just a lawful permanent resident. Under the cudgel-like Patriot Act, a shoot-first-ask-questions-later bit of legislation, there are residents who have been here since childhood, other folks who sired American-born children, who have found themselves deported—often to countries of which they have almost no firsthand knowledge—for the most minor, not remotely terrorist-related infractions. Those people are never coming back, at least not during this administration. I don't want to be put out of my home, and like it or not this is my home. I have been here longer than I haven't. After twenty-two years, it seemed a little bit coy to still be playing the Canadian card.... Becoming a citizen merely names a state of affairs already in place for a long time.
As I said, Boylan's essay reminded me of Rakoff's, but rereading Rakoff, I'm blown away by the excellence of the writing. Did it make sense for him to be so afraid of what Bush might do to legal aliens? Does it make sense for Boylan to be so afraid of Trump? Is the formal step worth taking for personal satisfaction, quite apart from the realism of the fear? I don't know, but I do know that Rakoff's writing is so excellent, that he could take any position he wanted and I would be happy to have the chance to read it. (Rakoff died in 2012, at age 47.)
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People who don't actually study Hitler's Germany will fail to realize that the victims of the regime frequently had every document you could ask for. And military decorations, including the Iron Cross. The Nuremberg Laws were quite arbitrary in scope, "tightening" over time to exclude non-Germans.
Paper didn't save anyone from anything.
Good on Ann for enjoying creative writing but this tired meme is on par with stunts like the threat to leave the country if my political candidate isn’t elected. The kind of childish rant akin to holding your breath in the cereal aisle until demands are met…
I’m disappointed in the questions presented as legitimate topics of adult conversation. If you’re an American you tough it out when you don’t win and your supposed fears are none of my business.
"no detail about why Trump is a threat" He just is. Democracy as we know it will collapse. Haven't you heard he'll lock up his opponents?
"the Cajun-scented, plague-ravaged Reagan eighties in New York" Ah, yes, the Reagan eighties in New York. Mean GOP inflicting a plague on a blue city in a blue state, remember?
Gender (e.g. sexual orientation) transition, including hacking off a penis, carving a front hole, grooming, etc. It's an adult's choice with their capital, and a child's progressive nightmare. Dreams of Herr Mengele... Levine in a liberal culture. All's fair in lust and abortion.
Oh look, another 'Look-At-Me !!!' person putting their mental illness on display so that we can all pander to their 'fears' and be just as fascinated as they are. Sorry dear, that's all Déclassé now that your vote has been secured.
Shrinks call it catastrophizing. And it's so tiresome. It's as if they want all the evil things to happen, long for it even..
Boylan is just mentally ill in more ways than one. Rakoff wasn't mentally ill- The Patriot Act was and is an abomination- but Rakoff wrong about citizenship protecting him from it abuses. SCOTUS needs to get off its ass and start taking the other 9 amendments in the Bill of Rights seriously rather than just the 2nd.
The Democrats think it's okay to kill U.S. Citizens with a drone strike and without benefit of any sort of due process. At all. But sure, it's a Republican President who's the real threat.
I started reading the Rakoff excerpt thinking he must have been a citizen, originally, of some distant, backward land where he would be a stranger to its customs should he be forcibly repatriated. Only to discover near the end that he was from Canada! LOL
Trump eats babies. With ketchup.
Ketchup. Disgusting.
Trump actually upheld, even defended our Constitution and rule of law. No sanctuary States, no prosecutorial indiscretion, civil rights for citizens, homicide statutes, anti-Diversity (e.g. racism, sexism), opposed ethnic Springs, etc.
A passport will save you, if you use it in time.
Canada, now isn't that ironic.
does this mean US Government can or cannot do what this writer fears?
"Despite the essay title, there's nothing more about the why — no detail about why Trump is a threat "
There never is.
So you were right. Most "elite" Americans pretend to like Canada, but Michael Ignatieff is an example of someone who would generally rather be tortured than move there and accept lower living standards.
Great comment. News today thrives on reporting the latest catastrophizing. And it's a vicious circle that encourages more of the same. Bigger victim = more eyeballs.
They're aborting babies, cannibalizing fetuses, sequestering their carbon pollutants in liberal sanctuaries. Deplorable. Progress: one step forward, two... three steps backward.
It’s odd to me that the piece of paper that is basically the acknowledgement of your birth at the time and place of your birth, containing all the important details of said birth, can be re-written to one’s preferences decades later. It seems that the water has well passed the bridge and is back in the nearest ocean a few times over. If you can change the sex, why not the place, the parentage, the notary? You can’t change the reality of the event. I do understand the desire to be known as something other than what appears on one’s birth certificate, but altering that is simply fraud.
..."but altering that is simply fraud"
Consistent, then.
It seems that whatever it is that a particular Democrat fears, that is Trump's top priority.
What is it with this constant fascination with edge cases?
"But the threat of a second Trump presidency means that having my birth certificate reflect present reality has turned into a matter of grave importance."
It took me a minute to process that sentence correctly. I was not processing "my birth certificate reflect present reality" correctly. I was linking the "threat of Trump" with "the present reality". The "present reality" is talking about a new sex/gender, while "the threat of a second Trump" is talking about... Trump says a lot of things?!
100% It's a record of a specific event that occurred in the past. Changing does not change the reality of what occurred.
They already have been. As soon as you establish arbitrary punishment and start to penalize people based on affiliation, rather than objective offenses, you're already well past the exit ramp and onto a different road.
I notice the Internet Archive is offline again this morning. They've been under attack, apparently by some foreign malice, for a few days now. 'Judgment at Nuremberg' may be found there, when it's back up.
You must believe it !
"The Patriot Act was and is an abomination- but Rakoff wrong about citizenship protecting him from it abuses."
He was most concerned about getting deported (to Canada).
But that made me look up whether a naturalized citizen can be deported. The answer is YES!
Speaking of catastrophizing, Trump does this at almost every speech he gives. His inauguration speech was all about his view of the US as an “American Carnage”. I wonder why it’s accepted and applauded when Trump catastrophizes, but these two people are odd or wrong in their worries?
A naturalized citizen can also have their citizenship revoked for fraud.
You know what’s a real threat to civilization? Taxing unrealized gains…and you won’t be saved by your ignorance of economics or loathing finance…
Oh uh, I better brush up on my German if Trump wins.
(Kidding. Not kidding)
"I wonder why it’s accepted and applauded when Trump catastrophizes, but these two people are odd or wrong in their worries?"
Remind us, Inga, who it was that has imprisoned Americans for walking through the U.S. Capitol building, doing no damage, and then leaving peacefully? Remind us, Inga, which Presidential candidate has been the target of two assassination attempts in the last 3 months?
Walking through the Capitol building “doing no damage”? You mean the rioters who tried to stop the certification of an election for president? Trump catastrophized the US long before any attempts were made on his life.
"Cajun-scented" What the hell kind of non-sequitor is that? "Plague-ravaged Reagan eighties" And this is years before the AIDS descended upon libs and Party members, a real plague brought about by their wicked and sinful behavior. And Althouse is impressed by this tripe!
Barack Obama ordered the United States military to execute certain American citizens who had not only not been convicted of any crimes, they hadn't even been charged with any crimes.
The US military was only too happy to do it.
The left knows what the President of the United States is legally allowed to do because they've been doing it. Right under our noses. And they fear it being done to them. And it's they should fear that.
It's going to happen to them. Whether or not Trump gets elected.
The United States Supreme Court ruled that the government could legally force you to purchase a product (in this case, health insurance) regardless of its cost, or have that cost added to your income tax bill at the end of the year. Nothing belongs to you. Your money doesn't belong to you. It's not yours. Quit acting like it's yours.
How tiresome.
You can think you're in danger when you are, in fact, perfectly safe, just as you can believe you are safe when, in fact, a disaster is about to happen.
I am really not interested in overwrought whining about how threatened you feel unless you share the "in facts" that make you believe it. Otherwise you are nothing but a whimpering child afraid of monsters under the bed.
Again, Fedsurrection/FBI dragnet, Dark Brandon speech, quickly forgotten assasination attempts. But poor zir has clenched sphincter about a birth certificate.
Democrat Jamie Raskin is the ranking Democrat member of the House Oversight Committee, has announced that he will not vote to certify the election of Donald Trump, if he (and only he) determines that Trump was not elected in a "free and fair" election. He believes that Trump might attempt to win by dishonest, fraudulent means.
Raskin objected to the seating of Trump electors in 2017, saying that Trump stole the election.
It won't matter if they surround our Capital on January 6, 2025 with razor wire.
Let's find one person among 330,000,000 other people and have everyone focus on their personal demons. Stop the presses...The New York Times is, once again, on the Big Stories.
Fear is nature's strongest emotion. The Democrats need people to be in a panic. Or they might start thinking clearly. And planning. Organizing. Acting.
Or, as someone once said: "Pick the target. Freeze it. Personalize it. Polarize it."
Barack Obama is using Saul Alinsky against the United States.
Effectively, I might add.
So his birth certificate is now an officially sanctioned lie.
Goebbels would be proud of the propaganda triumph of the LBGTSQVAWV or whatever it is community.
Any American citizen can not only be deported (without due process). Barack Obama proved they can be legally murdered on the President's orders.
Obama is walking around a free man today. He has Presidential immunity for his actions while President.
And Trump is going to shortly have that power.
I'm just glad the topic of birth certificates is rightly back in the news.
Isn't this where we came in?
"Cajun-scented" What the hell kind of non-sequitor is that?
Blackened redfish a la Paul Prudhomme, it would seem to me. My dad loved it.
Although my faltering memory suggests that it was more of a touchstone of the 90's than the 80's, at least in the backwater where I grew up.
You can change the parentage. I have several examples of that on my family tree with adoptees. DNA match adoptees where the adoption was arranged shortly after birth. In at least two different states. DOn't know if it's permitted in all states.
“ Despite the essay title, there's nothing more about the why — no detail about why Trump is a threat and why a revised birth certificate would work as protection against that threat. Most of the essay is about the process of getting the new birth certificate.”
Trump is a threat. No further justification for that claim is required.
I had to look up the word 'catastrophize'. The AI describes it as a "type of cognitive distortion that can lead to anxiety, depression and stress". It seems it's basically doing a worst case scenario analysis, which I think can be a healthy way to deal with the scary unknown. Especially if it includes figuring out what your choices are, how you'll handle it if the super bad thing actually does happen. For example, IF:
Donald Trump gets elected President, what will I do? Hmm...carry on living my life. But..IF
Kamala Harris gets elected President, what will I do? Hmm...carry on living my life.
Changing a birth certificate is perfectly logical to those who believe that sex is arbitrarily "assigned" at birth.
"Despite the essay title, there's nothing more about the why — no detail about why Trump is a threat and why a revised birth certificate would work as protection against that threat."
Perhaps that's because Mr. Boylan is utterly disconnected from reality, and is incapable of logical reasoning from evidence.
True. You’re right. There are legitimate reasons to update the parentage.
I received an e-mail this morning from a distant acquaintance. I'd known of the person through mutual friends for years. The person--now in their late 60s had recently "transitioned" from male to female. She wrote that the long round of changing documents, drivers licenses, birth certificates, social security records, names on deeds and mortgages, bank accounts etc. had begun with the assistance of lawyers. Lots of lawyer time and expense involved. Now I don't happen to think that Trump would give a tinker's toot one way or the other about that process. But a mean spirited bureaucrat might.
And mean spirited bureaucrats do abound. This morning's Los Angeles Times reported that the California Coastal Commission had turned down Space X's application to increase its number of rocket launches from Vandenberg on the California coast. The chairman of the Commission noted that Musk "had supported Trump" as one reason for the denial.
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