Should Transgender Women Be Allowed To Compete In Women's Sports?

 The topic of transgender issues, especially in sports, has been a common subject recently.  I've been reluctant to chime in just because I know some transgender women, and feel sensitive to their feelings on the matter.  However, I feel I finally do need to say something, just to add some perspective.

First of all, I feel sensitive to these people.  Anyone (teenage or older) with what is known as gender dysphoria, have a tough time getting through life.  People don't understand them.  Even their own families don't understand them.  I can see this being a very, very lonely existence.  And I've seen that even in the case where they are in a community of LGBTQ groups, often times they are even rejected there when it comes to dating or even having more than a casual relationship.  So the loneliness doesn't go away.

And I make a distinction between transgender women, who are men who have had surgery and transitioned to be women; and then there are a broader group of men who "identify" as being a women, although have not had the surgery, and may never have the surgery.

Where this applies to women's sports is where I feel the line needs some attention.  Generally speaking, males have more testosterone than females.  This gives a young male an advantage on growing and building muscles as he grows up.  And after training for years and eventually transitioning to female, this advantage doesn't go away.  This person has an unfair advantage over the women who have trained their whole lives without the higher levels of testosterone, and so their muscles and athletic performance suffers in comparison.

Women who would otherwise make the team, suddenly are edged out, because someone who benefitted from testosterone during those formative years, has edged them out.  It isn't fair.

Consider that currently, no sanctioning organization allowed for females to take testosterone injections to enhance their abilities through the years.  So they don't even get a chance for enhancement, whereas the person that transitions from male to female, does get the enhancement.  It's not fair.

The whole point of women's sports, is so that girls and women would be able to compete just like the boys and men do.  It is not fair for them to be elite athletes in their field, only to be edged out by someone who was born male.  And in many cases, the transgender women, as a male, if competing against men, wouldn't even be able to make the men's team.

And if you think it is fair, consider that we don't see females transitioning to male, and then wanting to compete in men's sports.  It wouldn't make sense.

Testosterone is an advantage.

Like I said before, I sympathize with the life of a person that doesn't feel at ease in their own bodies.  But in my opinion, transitioned or just identifying as a female, I think if they have XY chromosomes, they should be competing against other athletes with that same set of chromosomes.  That is the more fair approach. 

The American System Aint Perfect, But It's the Best Thing We've Ever Had

 It feels like lately, it appears that more and more people are attracted to socialism (or even communism).  It's like they have contempt for the American system, despite the fact that socialism (and communism) has never worked in the history of the human race (not long term).  Everywhere that those systems have been tried, it has pushed the majority of the people into poverty, and power to a select corrupt few.

The American system has brought more people out of poverty (not just in the United States, but elsewhere in the world) than any other system in history.  And although it is true that power seems to fall into the hands of a select corrupt few, that does not discount the fact that more people have been elevated in lifestyle with this system (led by the corrupt, or not).

Unlike the totalitarian systems of socialism and communism, at least the American system has a built in system to expose and remove the corrupt.  From time to time, corrupt politicians go to jail.  From time to time, even the rich end up going too far, get caught, and end up in jail.  It happens.  It doesn't happen in those other systems.

The critics of the American system, complain that the system doesn't work for the people on the bottom.  This criticism ignores the fact that even the people on the bottom live a better lifestyle than the poor in any other country in the world (in history).  The poor in the United States have assistance programs that provide meals, shelter.  and although they don't have healthcare directly, they all have some form of healthcare in emergency rooms at hospitals all over the country.

The critics assume that all the things that we have in this country are just here and have always been here.  They ignore the sacrifices and the work and the struggles that people before us went through to give us these things.  The paved roads we have, didn't just happen.  People made them happen. Businesses made those things available to us, and there were people that sacrificed so that they could create those businesses, create those products, so that we'd have these things.  People gained jobs because of those businesses.

Prior to this age where almost everyone works for someone else, or some company.  Before the economy as it is now, most people were self employed.  They had to have some skill(s) that they could use to create value in the form of a product or service that other people would pay for.  There was no safety net for people who had few or no marketable skills.

As average people sacrificed and saved, and came up with innovations, they used their savings, created companies and employed people.  Some of these companies and products failed.  But a few succeeded, and slowly our economy evolved where the average worker had a 40 hour week, and a paycheck every two weeks.  And we have a social safety net now for the people at the bottom with little or no skill; including people that have bad habits and can't keep a job.  The system even provides for them in a limited way.

None of that just happened.  People made it happen.  Our system allowed people the freedom and incentive to try new things until they found things (products) that worked.  That has benefited the majority of the people in ways that the old system never did.  Under the old system, almost everyone was poor.  A whole middle class evolved out of the innovations that the American system provided for.  Everyone has benefited in some way.  Everyone is better off than the average worker was a hundred and fifty years earlier.

Every time I hear about the corruption that is out there, I am sometimes encouraged that they get caught, exposed, humiliated, and occasionally jailed.  And I keep coming back to the fact that none of the people that complain about this system, would be better off with the system we had a hundred and fifty years ago, and they wouldn't be better off with socialism or communism; and this is proven when looking at those as they are practiced in places like Venezuala.

Some of the detractors will point to certain countries and claim those are shining examples of socialism, but then if you look at those countries, they are not really practicing full socialism (yet), but every one of them is failing economically.  Their economy cannot support those systems long term, and many have had to scale back some of the social programs they initially had that made people support them.

Regardless of those countries though, the fact is still that the American system (with all of its faults), has still brought more people out of poverty, than any other system in the history of the human race.  This is an undisputed fact. 

I don't do video

 From time to time, people ask me to video various events.  I rarely (very rarely) do that.  I really don't like doing video.  In my opinion, almost anyone can take video.  The real magic that sets the pros apart from the amateur is knowing what angles to use and keeping perspective (without correction).  Plus, the pros are good at doing the actual editing of the video.

None of that interests me.

From an artistic viewpoint, I like shooting photographs so much more.  It's a challenge to get the emotion and the essence of a moment.  The action is captured with the emotion, whereas with video, there's no magic in capturing the action.  Anyone can do it.  The camera does it for you, and you just have to keep perspective (the true vertical and horizontal perspective) for it to feel professional.

I know I'm over simplifying what good video is, and the talent that it takes to be a good videographer.  It's just that none of that interests me.

I've done video a few times.  But for the most part, I just don't do it.

 

Lightroom: White Balance

 In the past, I have used custom white balance based off of a white balance card, and I've also dialed in the kelvin color temperature.  There are pros and cons to both of these.  I thought I'd briefly revisit this subject.

In the most recent years, I've taken a simpler approach.  I have shot most of my work using auto white balance in the camera, and then adjusting white balance in post processing (mostly in Lightroom).  As it turns out, this is much easier, and in the end, with modern cameras, it's probably just as accurate in most shooting scenarios.

I think I will continue to work this way for the foreseeable future.

 

Covid Took a Part of My Life That I Haven't Gotten Back

 I'm a bit frustrated.  Covid came along and cancelled hockey season in the middle of it.  But then hockey returned the following season with restrictions.  As a result, I was not allowed event level access at Tulsa Oiler games.  That meant no access to the photo holes.

It went this way for a whole season, and I was led to believe that it would be temporary, and that eventually things would return to normal.  However, the following season, we had similar restrictions, although there was a team photographer that had floor access (event level access) and could use the photo holes.  Not only that, but visiting photographers from other teams, and even bloggers with inactive blogs were able to get access.  Just not me.

I'm frustrated.

I did some of the research to find out the specs for the photo holes and worked with another photographer to lobby to get the photo holes in the first place.  The other photographer is no longer coming to the games, but I'm still there.  and I don't get access to the photo holes.

I'd be fine with this arrangement, but it's getting harder and harder to find an empty seat along the glass, as well as clean glass.  A lot of the glass has so many smears, that I can't get good photos.  I end up throwing away a lot of what would be great shots, if not for the smears.

I have also noticed that another photographer is lately getting some access that I'm not getting.  I'm not against him having access, but sure wish I could get access.  The idea that my status as media, has been diminished because I'm part-time, as opposed to full-time media (the newspaper) who rarely show up at games.

The "full-time media" get access to the photo holes, but I don't.

I'd give anything to be able to use one of the photo holes for just one period a game.  I fear that I might not live long enough to get my life back.

A Divided Society

I'm not even sure where to begin with this, except to say that we are a divided society, and becoming more divided every day.  It's not just the racial divide, but a divide based on ideology.  And this division has become violent and hateful; not just a difference of opinion.

I grew up in the 60s and 70s when it was clear that there was racial inequality.  To me, this inequality was more to do with a lack of respect and a lack of opportunity, and not so much a lack of equal outcome.  People were willing to make the sacrifices and hard work to get a better life, but they just weren't allowed to have those opportunity.  Dr. King spoke of being judged by character and not by color.  We all came to believe that this was a noble goal that every American should want.  and we did want it.

Fast forward a couple of decades and we actually had achieved a lot of that.  More people of color had entered the ranks of the middle class, and even rich.  Television didn't only depict people of color as pathetic or as criminal.  There were role models on television (and in movies) that were people of color.  These were role models for any kid, not just kids of color.  It was truly a big step forward from the goal spoken of by Dr. King.

But the problem with this is that politicians like having division.  It's much easier for them to be elected and stay elected if they can convince people that they are victims and that someone else is the enemy; and that the politician (or political party) is their only protection.
Never mind that the politicians promising to make things better, have done nothing for the poor in decades.  Matters for the poor have gotten worse.  But it's easier for politicians to get elected on division, than it is for them to actually solve some problems.  Politicians are lazy.  It was predictable as to the path they would take to maintain power.

I don't like writing about this, but I feel that I must because so many other people are saying things in anger, and it's just getting worse.  No one is looking at the big picture and looking for an end-goal that will actually solve the problems.
The fact is, as far as racial matters, division is worse than it has been in my lifetime.  Not only are the strides made since the 1970s gone, but it's worse than before I was even born.  This is horrible, but no one is talking about it.  They're just lashing out against the last thing the "other side" said when they were lashing out against what they call "the other side".  Both sides are doing this and it just gets worse.

For the record, almost everyone that I know that is white, cares nothing about race.  Certainly, they didn't prior to the atmosphere in the last decade when all the progress disappeared and we started going backwards.
People really don't care about race.  The proof is in the number of black entertainers on television now that "all" Americans know and love.  We enjoy the movies of Denzel Washington, Samuel J. Jackson, Danny Glover, and others.  I remember seeing "The Equalizer" and thoroughly enjoying it.  I remember seeing the TV series, which starred a white actor, and it was an awesome tv show, but Denzel Washington played the role naturally.  He played it so well, no one would question that he wasn't natural for the part.  Race really didn't enter into the picture.

And almost everyone loves Steve Harvey.  He's funny.  He has common sense opinions on a lot of topics common to American families.

But politicians have pushed the race card because its easy to get people to believe you're on "their side" if there are actually "sides".
And the news media isn't helping with their seemingly endless hunt for sensational stories.  And if they can't find one, they will make one.  I'm remembering a case in 2012 when two white guys drove around north Tulsa shooting indiscriminately at black people.  They killed several and injured others.  There was immediate outrage in the community.  News outlets from all over the country flew to Tulsa the next day to cover this story.  But what story they actually published had already been written before they even got their plain tickets.
Tulsa citizens identified these guys and they were turned in and arrested in less than 48 hours, yet the news media didn't cover that as much as they wanted to paint a picture of racial division.  The truth is that people turned these guys in.  White people turned them in.  They did it because it was the right thing to do.  They did it because they were good people, but to listen to the news media, Tulsa is full of racists.
Stories like this are reported from all over the country.  And although I'm sure racists are out there and that they need to be stopped, the truth is that majority of people are trying to do the right thing.  But the news media would have you believe that there is more and more division.  So the division we see now, is caused because of that perception created by the news media to sell advertising with their sensationalism, rather than doing the right thing, which would be a more upbeat story following a tragic shooting, but the upbeat story wouldn't sell as much advertising.

I recently read a great article by Walter Williams, in which he cites the "Welfare State" as the main culprit for why black young people aren't progressing economically.  You read this article and give it fair consideration, it makes some uncomfortable conclusions for black men in this matter; but Walter can do that since he is black.  I suspect that if I wrote that, or anyone not black, in today's political climate, they would receive a serious backlash, if not outright violence.

As far as athletes taking a knee during the national anthem, no matter what they say, the fact is that this is disrespect.  It is disrespect for what the flag stands for, and what the nation has struggled for.  People aren't perfect and neither in the nation, but things were getting better.  If there is division now, we need to step back and look at the big picture and figure out why.  This didn't just happen overnight.

If athletes want to protest, I think they should be able to do so, but when you insult the flag, you are insulting a significant part of the society, and this will just cause more division.  There are certainly more constructive ways to bring attention to the problem, than just making the problem worse and then complaining because its getting worse.

The national anthem was one of the few things left in our society that had unity.  We were Americans.  and now, the Left have taken that away from us too.  Soon, there wont be anything left that unites our society.  We'll be irrevocably divided.

Another point of division is the political ethnic division, which is being created, again, by political leaders.  They think that this "tribalism" is a good thing because people of different ethnic backgrounds get to express their pride.  However, it would be much more comfortable for people to be united under one banner, and still maintain their ethnic pride.  That's not mutually exclusive, but political leaders have convince people that it is.

I know our country has done things wrong, or stood by while wrong things were happening.  But it's not exclusive to the United States.  And its not exclusive to one race either.  That fact is that this is strong trait in the human race.   Human beings do horrible things to other human beings, or they sit silently and let it happen.  It's all the same, and despite what politicians might want to make you think, "all" human beings are guilty, not just one particle segment.

I would hope that we could come together as human beings and work towards unity, rather than insulting each other over differences.  Is that too much to ask for?

Americans Are Turning Against Americans (without thinking)

There is a lot of emotion going on in politics today, and the political battles are being fought via lies, distortions and tugs on the heart strings of Americans, turning them against other Americans.  Politicians are lazy.  They don't want to work in order to get the vote.  Instead, it's much easier to just villianize other Americans and instill fear as a means to get the vote on their side.  This happens all along the political spectrum, but it just seems like the Left take it to an increasing level.

I will cite Saul Alinsky's "12 Rules For Radicals", and it's suggested reading, by the President himself, as proof that this is going on, and that it is going on purposely.  And of course, those on the right, such as Ann Coulter and Karl Rove also do this to a degree.

What really gets me is that our president makes appeals to the public (using distortions and/or outright lies), and then gets his followers to take it from there.  And then when something horrible happens such as a shooting, then he comes out as "presidential" and says that we need to tone the rhetoric down.  And of course, his followers have pushed the rhetoric way beyond those on the right.

I don't condone those on the right of their distortions.  And I recognize when they are using fear as a tactic to raise funds, to get people involved in their mailing lists, etc.  These are all tactics that are much easier to do than to come up with real solutions and actually make the calls necessary to actually fix our ever increasing budgetary problems.

While the country slides further and further into the inevitable crash (which will only hurt those on the bottom the worst), both ends of the political spectrum continue to divide.  And unfortunately, so many Americans just jump on the bandwagon of their political choice, and attack those that disagree with them.

This is unamerican, but it seems that people don't care anymore.  They're more interested in saying that they are right and the "others" are wrong, than to just "agree to disagree" and get on with our lives.  We would all benefit if people could just have their opinions, even share their opinions, but not demonize those who have other views.

There used to be a saying in this country of "I might not believe what you believe, but I'll fight for your right to say what you believe".  The truth is, no one says that anymore.  In fact, they no longer think you have a right to believe anything other than what they want you to believe.  Everyone seems to want a totalitarian style of public discourse on every subject surrounding our lives.

I only wish that people would come to realize what is going on and start to change this, but I don't see it happening.  I see it only getting worse.