Civilization III Final Fantasy IX Valheim Kerbal Space Program Stellaris Empire Earth Borderlands 2 Morrowind Halo: Reach Rimworld

The must be mentioned: KOTOR Bioshock(and Infinite) Final Fantasy 4, 14, 5, 6 in that order AOE 2 Red Alert 2 Total War: Rome, Rome 2, Medieval 2, and Shogun Lords of the Realm 2 No Man’s Sky Horizon series Space Empires V Battlefield 1942 Medal of Honor(the first one from the 90’s, not that bullshit reboot from 2010) Smash Bros Melee, 64, Brawl in that order Crysis Warcraft II: The Tides of Darkness Theme Hospital MDK2 Chrono Trigger

It was tough leaving some of those mentioned ones out of the top ten, but the top ten belong where they are for me for how definining they were/are for me.

Oh shit! Independent Fundamental Baptist! I had to deal with living with that shit, too. At the end of the day, if the king james bible was good enough for Peter and Paul, it’s good enough for me. Also, rock music is the devil.

As a preface, I absolutely agree that the parents here are very likely to be wrong in that it seems like they were ideologically opposed to their son’s identity.

HOWEVER. I find it difficult to trust the validity and/or truth in the details given about this particular story as the article and title are both blatantly biased. On top of that, the claims made about the intentions and motivations of others are aggressively ignorant and just insanely unhelpful. You want people to double down on transphobia? Tell them they’re a terrible person and they’re only transphobic because _____. I get it, conservatives, Christians, etc should respect Trans people and their autonomy, but it’s better for literally everyone to find the best way to reach these people in a way they’d actually be receptive to, rather than trashing and dehumanizing them as monsters. If they’re conservatives, it shouldn’t be surprising when they act like it. We should also recognize that they’re people who are capable of learning to be better.

I used to be homophobic. I was a fairly conservative Christian back in the day and the justification came via biblical principles. I didn’t learn to be better by being characterized as “he only hates gay people because he’s secretly gay himself” or “he just wants to control what other people do in the bedroom”, but rather by actually engaging my own rationalizations. I would have rejected the premise that I hated anyone who was homosexual, so any rhetoric that mirrors the dishonesty of this article would have been a non-starter. In fact, it would have seemed to me that there were no legitimate arguments to be made against my position, so I would have felt more justified with the given approach above. Being in a few opposing positions on the topic, I never believed that my concurrent position was morally wrong, even though I would strongly submit today that my position before as a conservative Christian absolutely was immoral and extremely uninformed. The takeaway I’m trying to emphasize is that going on the offensive for any such position is not only ridiculous, but very counterproductive.

While I understand the frustration with what this article appears to portray, the added dishonesty is harmful in that we’re dehumanizing two parents who probably legitimately believe what they are doing is justified and moral. Attacking them would make them double down on their beliefs and who would directly suffer for it? Their son. So where I always found the blatant bias of articles or the always ridiculous non-argument “you just believe _____ because _____” inherently dishonest and icky, I think we should definitely take better stock of how we approach these topics for more than just the intellectual honesty, but also to recognize the second, third, and even fourth order effects our method of approach manifests. Outrage, especially about something moral, feels good, but what good is it when directed the way it is in this article? I could accuse them of being blind and only utilizing outrage as a clickbait tactic, and I have a chance of being correct, but I’m not arrogant enough to assert that I know for a fact what they believe and intend and post that on the internet.

Damn, man. You really gotta call out my disengaged ass, don’t you? I think you make an extremely important and overlooked point here. In any kind of social movement it’s imperative that you gain a following for that movement. On an individual level, you do that with good reasoning and specifically not using unnecessary antagonism. It reminds me of all the leftists who were recently bemoaning all the apathy in the 2016 election for what they perceived as “I like whichever candidate, but their supporters were mean to me”. I mean, they’d be correct that this is a childish reason to disengage completely, but these are the exact same people you need to join in your social movement. Too many times we get so obsessive with the academic structure of a movement that we become blind to the world that would benefit from it. We forget that we need to find a way that others would be receptive to our message in how we present it. Truth at all costs is admirable on the surface, but how admirable can it be when the cost is mass dismissal because we felt entitled to be antagonistic toward those who don’t agree yet? So maybe I should put childish ways behind me and begin engaging with others in charitable and good faith.

I will preface with the honesty that the people at that "institute"lack; I’m not a medical professional. I’m very good with philosophy, though, so I generally have a good bullshit detector.

I took a look at the website. These people are quacks and actively harmful. There was a self-described “doctor” that was accredited by the same scam company of “alternative medicine” back in 2003 that killed a kid with bone cancer by giving him an infection from the injections of ‘treated’ blood. They collect all these bullshit “certifications” to make it seem like they’re legit, many of them might even legitimately believe this bullshit. First red flag for me was seeing them trying to treat ADHD(a neurodevelopmental disorder) primarily through nutrition. Then I’m seeing buzzwords like “treating ADHD naturally”, fake ass degrees from places like some quantum holistic school of alternative medicine or whatever, and loads of meaningless “coaching” certifications like “epidemic answers health”. I won’t mince words; these are predatory shitheads that actively harm people with their made up bullshit. Stick with legitimately licensed professionals and adhd coaches. You should even be careful with adhd coaches and keep in mind the primary premise of them being supplemental to psychiatry and therapy.

Unfortunately, I’m quite familiar with evil predatory grifters that start shit like this. I’ve found in my own experience that many of these programs tend to start as corporate seminar pageantry that move the grift into the medical field. I have all the disrespect in the world for the assholes that start this bullshit since they actively make the world a much worse place and demonstrably KILL people with their intellectually dishonest bullshit.

By all means, don’t take my word for it. Read the about section for these assholes and look up the programs they display as their accreditations. If you have any questions or objections about my assessment of these people, please ask and I will provide my evidence. These are bad people and I’m 100% ready to die on that hill 1,000 times out of 10.