"Fucking up kids' lives" in a general sense, is indeed really bad. Surely you agree that there are specific actions in that very broad subcategory that are both far more common and far more egregious, even assuming that the worst description of the story you're alluding to is accurate.
Thanks for your thoughts.
I think there are few actions in that category that would do that kind of irreversible damage. Kids, in my estimation, are pretty resilient. So, for example, verbal/physical abuse are way more common than giving children hormone blockers, but I think only the most severe forms of abuse (e.g., causing the kid to lose physical faculties permanently) can really compare in terms of degree. In terms of frequency, I do think you are correct that this kind of severe abuse is still more common. However, I think that sort of abuse would be much more difficult/costly to prevent at the policy level. By contrast, banning the testing of hormone blockers on children would shut down the trials entirely at very low cost/difficulty. So it's an ROI or cost-benefit argument on top of moral one. Hope that clarifies it.
I think your racial thing and general obsession with scouring the globe for things to get worked up about are both kind of creepy. To kind of elaborate, I think that you have a severe problem with understanding the proportion of various problems that leads you to get worked up over things that most people would regard as non-issues, and that's pretty disorienting, and "creepy" is the word I'd apply to that. Imagine if you're in the park and chatting with someone, and they keep reacting to movement in the environment or sounds with disproportionate fear. That's kind of what your posting seems like at times.
What is my "racial thing"?
I'm pretty confident I don't have a "general obsession with scouring the globe for things to get worked up about". I browse different headlines daily to see what's going in on the world. I don't do this in order to get myself "worked up". It's good to be aware of what's going on out there. You're also wrong that I learned about this (and other phenomena) by 'scouring the globe'. I learned about the hormone blocker thing in our very own Sherdog War Room. Took me no effort and very little time. To be candid, I think you probably threw that comment in there to try to annoy me and to get some of the bots in this thread to cheer you on.
The specific accusation (that I supposedly fail to understand proportions) is more interesting. I don't think you'll be able to come up with many examples beyond illegal immigrant crime and the hormone blocker thing. I think I explained the latter above quite well. The former can also be viewed as an ROI issue. Imagining there were a cheap, easy, and humane way to stop all illegal immigration today, my understanding is that you (unlike open borders advocates such as
@Essie, with apologies if I'm mischaracterizing her) would take that deal. So the debate is really one about cost effectiveness.
Finally, I think your characterization of my emotions on these issues as including "fear" is unjustified. You aren't living in my head. I am though, and I can't think of anything I fear in the sense of sitting around and worrying about stuff. Maybe you meant something else though.
