NROP: “Do not ask who I am.” – Identity in the age of fluidity.

It is my belief that we want to be happy, and we want others to be happy. The problem arises when others are happy, but we are not. Then, we become jealous and bitter. Usually, though, if it does not impede our lives too much, we do not want others to suffer. We want them to be happy. We do not want them to have problems. (I am generalizing, since some people, like psychopaths, might not want any of that.) While such an approach is very noble, it can be blinding at times.

Sometimes our intentions are pure at heart, and we just want to help others. Other times, we feel guilty about something, so we try to repent for our sins by helping others. Again, that is an amazing thing. We, as humans, need compassion. However, as much as we want to make other people’s lives easier, we need to think and remind ourselves that there can be unwanted consequences to our kind actions.

Analyzing things is what I like to do in my past time. Especially when it comes to things that surround me and impact me on a daily basis. In the past couple of days, I have been reminded that it is much harder to think of ALL the potential consequences than I thought. It might be because once I see a single fault in the plan, I do not go looking for more issues with it. I just scrap it and search for a new one that would be better. Unfortunately, there is not always a solution that has only positive effects on the world. I am aware of that, and I have to admit that it is something that I obsess about sometimes.

Implementing a solution that causes problems is a controversial one. There are people who voice their opinion against it, and there are people who ask: “Do you have a better idea?”. The answer often is: “No”. But does that disqualify the arguments against the case? I certainly do not think so. We often rush into finding a solution, because we want to fix a problem. What we fail to realize is that the faulty solution can cause more problems, which could be even greater than the original one.

They say: “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, but we all do exactly that. While some years ago, one could look at another human being and make a few accurate assumptions, the same is not so easy today. It is a lot more difficult to distinguish if some people are biologically male, or female. It is a complete guess as to whether they prefer the he, she, or ze pronoun.

Today, I choose to talk about a sensitive topic of identity fluidity.

What is going on in the news? Well, you know how when you are booking a plane ticket you have to choose whether you are a male or a female? Now, in order to be more inclusive, certain airlines decided to add two more options so that some people would not feel left out. Aside from M(ale) and F(emale), there will also be U(ndisclosed) and X to stand for “unspecified”. Among the Mr./ Mrs./ Ms. options, you will soon find “Mx”. How do you pronounce that? Would it be “Max”? How would it make a larger person feel to be called a max? When I read that, all sorts of alarm bells went off in my head.

There was a time when booking an airplane ticket did not require as much information as it does now. Do you know why? 9/11. By providing certain facts about yourself, you help the TSA keep you safe. They pre-screen everyone on the flight list to make sure that people who might pose danger do not get on. However, the National Center for Transgender Equality, calls these TSA measures “intrusive“. They argue that transgender people face “unnecessary, invasive, and discriminatory scrutiny“. Excuse me, but when it comes to my safety, nothing is unnecessary.

Imagine checking in at the airport. Or going through border patrol checkpoint. The airline employee/ officer looks at your passport, then at you, then at your passport again, and then… they let you go, only because they had no clue what to do with you. You did not look like your passport photo from a few years back. You chose not to disclose your gender. You wanted to be referred to as “Cher”. Otherwise, had they questioned your identity, you would threaten to sue them while recording the whole situation and posting the video on social media.

Picture Osama bin Laden at the airport cussing up a storm, because he is being discriminated against. Surely all Arabs must look like terrorists to the white, male, privileged TSA worker. Also, Osama identifies as a girl now, so (s)he cannot be that terrorist everyone is looking for. (Yes, I am aware that he is no longer alive.)

Identity theft has been happening for years. Identity fluidity or not. Recently, when applying for a job, a woman in Florida learned that she had a criminal record. Only she did not. It turned out to be her estranged sister, who was charged with prostitution, who used her identity. It is unclear whether the older sister used a fake ID, or if she had none on her person, and just provided the false information verbally to the arresting officers. It was not easy for the younger sibling to clear her name, as the court required proof of her not being where and when the arrests took place.

A man in Tennessee got caught red-handed when he tried to use a stolen debit card. The owner of the bar the guy tried to pay at, said that he was CLEARLY not whom he was trying to impersonate. When I read that, I shuddered, fearing a lawsuit was coming the bar’s way, because they “discriminated”. However, what really happened was that the bar got an alert that it was a stolen card once it was used. Because of that, an ID was requested, in order to exhaust all avenues and ensure that it was an imposter. The identity thief looked nothing like the person on the stolen ID. Can you imagine if he just threw a fit and cried discrimination? Other patrons filming the situation and it going viral? How much hate would the bar get? Just because they were suspicious?

There already are bad people out in the world. And now, while trying to make some people feel more included, you give other people the tools to do evil in an easier way.

When considering your opinion about gender fluid/ transgender people, have you thought of the effects it would have on flight safety?

What do you think is the future of airport security?

Do you think about ALL possible consequences when considering a solution, or is it enough for it to fix your immediate problem?

Stay golden,

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