17m watch Bruce Jenner interview

[MichaelB]

There's always the "power off" button.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyBoy5 A "HOT TOPIC" indeed. I will admit that I didn't read very many of the 60+ posts before this one. I was just amazed that this post has SO MANY participants here in an early retirement forum. I didn't see the show and I avoid most of the "tabloid" TV as best as I can. As best as I can tell, it was a two hour commercial for his new transformation story. OK...off to read threads that aren't so painful to read.

I think I understand the popularity of these human interest threads- those on divorce, breakups, various challenging or painful human situations. If one is fairly satisfied with his/her approach to retirement finance, many of these dryly financial threads are tres boring.

This stuff is not boring, though to me a discussion here is more interesting than watching Bruce on TV would be. His pain is all to obvious in his face. My parents had an apartment building in a large city university/hip neighborhood. I got to know many of the tenants, who were often pretty close to my age. Lots of gays, both the feminine appearing and acting type, the accountant type and the "my muscles are huge" type. Overall, I found urban people way more entertaining the run of the mill straights, like me. They also had a different set of interests and concerns which were definitely broadening. However, for dating a straight man needs straight women. I live in LGBTQ central in Seattle, and in fact my best friend that I have made in the past few years is gay. After I retired, my wife knew some Lesbians who lived near us. One of them gave me part time job as a milk quality technician. Others I did carpentry for. They were always fair and respectful toward me, as I was toward them

When I was young, some young straight men were very anti-gay, and some gays were badly beaten for their sexual orientation. This was truly sickening, and unfortunately it is not over yet. My POV is that gays very often are early gentrifiers. They improve the neighborhood, they don't rob or burgle or beat up or shoot random people, they tend to have responsible jobs
and I have never felt discriminated against because I was straight. In fact my friend, who lives in the adjacent flat, really likes my girlfriend and compliments her looks and clothes. Another plus is that he has no intention of trying to make time with her, which is not always the case with one's straight friends.

Ha

[rodi]

I had a coworker transition from male to female in the mid 90's. It always struck me as a process that no one would go through unless they were very serious about needing to go through it. The stigma, etc, are very real. Some of my coworkers said absolutely AWFUL things behind her back. I was embarrassed for them that they could be that cruel. After all, she was a person with feelings.

At the time I wondered why she didn't quit as she started the process and start a new job with a new identity... That was ignorance on my part because it later occurred to me that there are legal steps to handle and the process is not exactly a short term process. She stayed for about 3 years after she started the transition (about 2 years post op), and then relocated to another state and new job. I would imagine it took that long to get her transcripts in the new name, her job history updated to the new name, etc... Hard to get a new job if your entire work and school history is in another name.

She seemed much more content and comfortable with herself after the transition than she did before. It must have been hard to feel out of place in the gender she was born in.

[redduck]

"You couldn't carry Bruce Jenner's jockstrap," is going to lose all its meaning.

[bmcgonig]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski I didn't see it but saw some of the promos. It is automatically recorded to my DVR but I doubt that I will watch it. I could care less. The guy is a bit of a freak but to each his own. I seem to recall Joe Namath had a philosophy that he should be able to do anything he wanted as long as he didn't hurt himself or anyone else. What I resent is that we are bombarded with this stuff. They don't have tv specials on guys that want to be guys and like girls, or on girls that want to be girls and like guys, so why do we have to put up with a tv special about a guy who wants to be a girl and likes girls?

Every single day we have almost 24 hours of "specials" of straight white men chasing straight white women. And vice versa. That, my friend, is bombardment, not one special on a Sunday night


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[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR Unfortunately, for me at least, ALL channels are being overrun with "reality" shows. Hell, even the freaking Food channel has donut wars...

That's precisely why many of us have dropped cable. The "reality" shows are such junk!

[eytonxav]

That interview brought back some memories for DW and me, as we lived in those same Sleepy Hollow apartments in Tarrytown that Jenner grew up in. Anyhow, he came across in a sincere manner IMHO.

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFW_M5 That interview brought back some memories for DW and me, as we lived in those same Sleepy Hollow apartments in Tarrytown that Jenner grew up in. Anyhow, he she came across in a sincere manner IMHO.

fify...

[Letj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewer12345 It is (theoretically) a free country. You want to switch horses in the middle of the race, knock yourself out. But keep it to yourself. I don't want or need to hear about it. Neither do my kids.

+1000 It feels like advocacy to me which might really confuse young impressionable minds. I am in the camp keep it to yourself. It's not news why do I need to see it on TV.


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[samclem]

I heard an interesting feature on NPR this weekend on the subject of fear. Over the course of human evolution, fear has obviously served a very important purpose. And, the fear response is highly biased toward conservatism--false positives are okay, false negatives are not. But the point of the piece was that we evolved the fear response when the number of inputs we were subjected to were relatively small (things we had seen ourselves, or things we were told be our associates). So, the dangers of the world were important, but relatively few in number. Today, things are very different and mass media exposes us to all kinds of things to be fearful of--from around the world. It has dramatically influenced our culture and lives in a very short time: Virtually no parents today allow their children the kind of freedom that almost all of us enjoyed 40 years ago (and society has >not< become more dangerous for children--plenty of publications on this).

What has this got to do with Bruce Jenner? Just as the sensationalist and ever-present reporting of very rare threats has caused us to believe these threats are more prevalent than they really are, it seems possible that the non-stop media obsession with bizarre, aberrant, or just very rare behaviors seems likely to cause us to believe that they are more common, and acceptable, than we'd previously believed (or than they really are).

Traditionally, societies have made it a point to tell and retell stories of virtuous behavior in the belief that it encourages these behaviors. I wonder what our present stories and "heroes" will encourage.

[RetireAge50]

People cut off their junk? I guess I do live in a bubble, I only watch Leave it to Beaver and the Seattle Mariners. Never heard of Bruce Jenner until now.

[Running_Man]

Didn't watch the show didn't care to, it was and is a publicity interview for his upcoming show. To judge what is real with that family is a fool's task but they are extremely adroit at pulling at heartstrings to loosen American pursestrings into their family pockets.

[redduck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Options Exactly what does this topic have to do with early retirement? What could possibly be posted here that would be remotely actionable for anyone interested in retirement? The moderators have suprised me with this one.

This topic has EVERYTHING to do with early retirement (okay, everything is an exaggeration, but it does have a lot to do with ER).

Women live longer than men. So, now Bruce Jenner has to re-figure the amount of money she will need to retire. She may now have to work more years than he (as a man) originally planned. And, of course it works the opposite way. If a women becomes a man, the odds are he will be now need less money in retirement (because as a man he gets to die sooner) enabling him to perhaps retire earlier than she (as a woman) originally planned.

To answer your questions, I am certain that the moderators took the above into account and therefore allowed this thread to thrive.

[Letj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by redduck This topic has EVERYTHING to do with early retirement (okay, everything is an exaggeration, but it does have a lot to do with ER). Women live longer than men. So, now Bruce Jenner has to re-figure the amount of money she will need to retire. She may now have to work more years than he (as a man) originally planned. And, of course it works the opposite way. If a women becomes a man, the odds are he will be now need less money in retirement (because as a man he gets to die sooner) enabling him to perhaps retire earlier than she (as a woman) originally planned. To answer your questions, I am certain that the moderators took the above into account and therefore allowed this thread to thrive.

ROTFL



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[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireAge50 People cut off their junk?

Quote:

...Leave it to Beaver...

[haha]

Actually, it is OK to be straight if one other condition is fulfilled. You are also female. Some passes may be issued to other groups, at the discretion of the authorities.

Ha

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireAge50 People cut off their junk? ....

Please......let's not derail this into a thread on decluttering.

[RetireAge50]

There has to be something not right (at least unnatural) about this and no explanation (to my kids) will be necessary.

[M Paquette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireAge50 There has to be something not right (at least unnatural) about this and no explanation (to my kids) will be necessary.

Tell that to the joker that decided that 0.3% of the population would grow a basal cingulate gyrus substructure for body image mapping appropriate to a person of opposite gender while still in the womb.

Nature is pretty good at ignoring opinions of what is natural.


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[HFWR]

I'm pretty good at the old eye-rolling routine when it comes to "different" behavior, whatever that is these days. But, due to some friends and acquaintances who have dealt with mental health issues, and my reading, in an attempt to better understand, I've concluded that, like most of life, there's very little black and white, and a large continuum of gray.

Some folks are a danger to themselves and others, and in those cases society has a compelling reason to intervene, hopefully in a sober, science or fact based way. Other than his/her driving skills, Bruce Jenner doesn't seem to be endangering anyone with his/her gender identity, and, therefore, should be left alone.

I share others' opinion vis a vis "victim/malady of the week", but then I'm sure society got tired of those uppity women and minorities demanding equal rights as well, decidedly unconventional ideas at one time too.