r/MadeMeSmile • u/RoyalChris • 23d ago

Good News An old man who was going to speak against gender-affirming care in the Wisconsin state legislature, changes stance after listening to testimony for 7 hours.

80.0k Upvotes

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u/RoyalChris 23d ago

To be an elderly person like this, and able to listen to new information from people with firsthand knowledge, while simultaneously developing thoughts and opinions based on that to grow, is amazing to see in real time.

Bless him.

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u/pretty_face_gf 23d ago

Listening to 7 hours of testimony is no small feat

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u/CoolGuyBabz 23d ago

Ikr? 7 full hours is fucking madness, I can't even sit and pay proper attention on my 2 hour lectures let alone a 7 hour testimony.

I'm also impressed that someone was able to talk about the topic for 7 entire hours too.

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u/belt-e-belt 23d ago edited 23d ago

And you'd find countless young people, with a lifetime of learning ahead of them, who willingly act ignorant and refuse to educate themselves. The ability to accept that we don't know everything is something all of us must have.

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u/FilthyHobbitzes 23d ago

Self awareness is something this gentleman has. Some people become more aware as they age and some choose less awareness.

It’s uncomfortable to have an understanding that everything isn’t exactly how you believe it to be.

Most folks don’t like being uncomfortable.

Good on this gentleman. He reminds me of my dad.

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u/DeadHuron 23d ago

I long ago realized I didn’t know everything (like we all do at 16) and never would. But even as a clear minded adult, there are times I need to step back and reflect a bit. I say I’m open minded but did I listen to everything someone had to say or did I already have an answer in my head before they finished? I hope if I reach this gentleman’s age, I’m a thoughtful person who is flexible in judgment and is willing to reevaluate my judgment when new, valuable information is presented. I think I need to keep working on the now.

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u/FilthyHobbitzes 23d ago

Always have to keep working on it I think…

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u/Master_Muskrat 23d ago

The downside of this approach is when you meet someone who is an absolute moron, but so adamant in their false beliefs that their make you question your own knowledge. Like, yeah, I wrote my thesis on this topic, but this random person called me an idiot with such certainty that there must be something that they know that I don't...

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u/Maxamillion-X72 23d ago

When you consider that this man took time out of his day to come speak in favor of this bill, you know he had a serious commitment to his ideology. This is not someone who "never really thought about it much" being swayed. This is a die-hard.

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u/belt-e-belt 23d ago

It’s uncomfortable to have an understanding that everything isn’t exactly how you believe it to be.

Ideally, one would find that immensely comforting, no one knows everything about everything... and that's okay.

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u/FilthyHobbitzes 23d ago

Ego battles are notoriously uncomfortable.

That’s all I was saying. Not intending to blanket statement.

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u/Phatz907 23d ago

A man who knows everything can’t possibly learn anything.

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u/MrMMudd 23d ago

If I'm not learning, I am not growing.

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u/Bonerific_Haze 23d ago

"I have a lot to teach, but even more to learn"

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u/RogerianBrowsing 23d ago

Gen-Z are turning out to be the new boomers. Millennials had such high hopes for them too…

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u/MaintenanceWine 23d ago

It’s almost as if there are bad and good people in every generation, and generalizing each by their birth decade is stupid.

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u/t_krett 23d ago

With those words you make it sound like brainwashing

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u/arbitrambler 23d ago

Just when you think that the current climate is terrible and the American society is entrenched, this gentleman has got to come along and mess it up further, with HOPE!

Good on you mate!

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u/Whatsapokemon 23d ago

It does make me wonder if it's because of his age - he for sure grew up in a generation where media wasn't pushed directly into your brain via social media feeds, but rather you actively had to seek out media and consume it more intentionally.

I wonder if the constant bombardment with messages and media promoting a specific point point of view is actually conditioning younger generations to be less likely to change their minds than someone who grew up without that.

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u/DingasKhann 23d ago

Sometimes it's just the individual and how they measure the value of truth. Real truth. About themselves internally and externally. While some that value it less would shift and block information to protect their frail version of "truth", this was the kind of guy that only wanted to refine what the truth was to him, and was receptive. He listened and heard things that moved him.

Some people are strong enough to allow their reality to be tested, and he's proved to be one of them.

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u/I_Show_You_Pleasure 23d ago

This is a powerful example of how listening can change minds

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u/loud-and-queer 23d ago

I was between 4 and 6 when I started experiencing and expressing gender dysphoria. This was the early 90s. There was no social media to 'brainwash' me and I had two very Conservative parents who sure didn't 'put the idea in my head'. Trans kids have always existed.

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u/TaraxacumVerbascum 23d ago

And they always will, no matter how draconian laws become, or how hard people push against. Snuff us out, there will always be more of us.

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u/4DPeterPan 23d ago

I wonder how far back transgender actually goes.

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u/ZellHathNoFury 23d ago

I assume it's been around since the beginning of humanity. I think gender and sexuality have always been a spectrum, but societies that polarize gender create people living their truth in secret

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u/loud-and-queer 23d ago

Quite far. Google 'transgender history', I don't think I'm allowed to put links in here.

The first person widely known to undergo surgery to affirm their gender in America was Christine Jorgensen in 1952, but trans people were around long before that.

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u/Juco_Dropout 23d ago edited 21d ago

At least to Ancient Greece and India (according to Written records.) And as far back as the spoken record goes in North and South America.

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u/4DPeterPan 23d ago

What’s with the downvote? 🤔 I was genuine in my question.

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u/Juco_Dropout 23d ago

Wasn’t from me. I offered a response meant to continue the discourse.

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u/4DPeterPan 23d ago

Ah ok. Trippy.

I’m actually curious why this topic hasn’t come up before 2000s really.

I know the gays go back hheelllaaaa far in history.

But I’ve never actually heard about transgenders in history. Truth be told I don’t think I even knew transgender was a thing until like maybe around 2010? Give or take a couple years.

Not to bring too much tmi into this conversation but I know she males and such in hentai was a thing through my scrollings of porn growing up. But never actually did I hear about transgenders being an actual thing until around (like I said) 2010 give or take a couple years. Somewhere around there I think. Either way for sake of being transparent with my truth, I was born in 89 and the boys would say stuff like “chicks with dicks!” As insults or goofin around when I was a teenager. But i never heard about real transgenders in history, like, ever before they became popular and mainstream later on in life when acceptance for who people are really became a thing.

And seeing that comment just now was probably the first time I’ve ever wondered about the history of transgenders. Which is saying something for someone who has spent ALOT of years studying philosophy’s and spirituality.

You hear things about divine feminine and divine masculine and sometimes obscure quotes from apocryphal type books that say man and woman must become “one”. Or things like that. But never anything clear about it. So it’s just an odd moment of wonder for me just now about how it’s never really popped up in my life. Which is interesting because you’d think along the amount of years I’ve spent studying spiritual stuff or philosophical stuff the idea of transgenderism would be something that would come up, even if just for food for thought, ya know?

Anywho, Ty for letting me know.

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u/Juco_Dropout 23d ago

For the record I was born in ‘79. I grew up with Gay jokes being mainstream comedy. I was wholly in the dark about the various categories of “Gay” until the end of High School. I think this has more to say about growing up in America at the time than any kind of commentary on the youth. Before media, as it is today, I would guess… that Cable was only in 2-3 homes out of 10. Even then HBO/Cinemax did NOT cater to anything outside the mainstream. so I can relate to your experience. Here is a link with some bullets points+Sources that you can follow if you are interested in learning more about the long, long, long history of Transgender humans. Bear in mind as well that the terminology has changed frequently and NO ONE was teaching or explaining this to anyone until the past twenty, or so, years.

https://www.hrc.org/resources/seven-things-about-transgender-people-that-you-didnt-know#:~:text=Sometime%20from%20200%20to%20300,scholars%20as%20early%20transgender%20figures.

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u/agfitzp 23d ago

Transitioning was a HUGE thing in the 70’s, it was all over the media.

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u/Juco_Dropout 23d ago

I remember an early version of reality TV.. on PBS maybe?? And the Son transitioned to Female. To what extent I do not recall. This was also in the middle of the 80’s rock thing.. makeup was gender neutral and hairspray was for everyone.

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u/ali_rawk 23d ago

The term "transgender" itself wasn't coined until the 60s, but it has been documented throughout basically all of human history. "Non-binary" is just another term for "androgynous," which has also been a thing forever.

Go take a look at the Wikipedia for "Timeline of transgender history" for a super basic rundown of some notable, documented cases of transgenderism dating back to 7000 BCE.

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u/too-much-cinnamon 23d ago

Since there were people, really. Throughout all of human history around the world, if there are surviving records or archeological finds to be had of a culture, you can usually find some example of some way that gender was expressed beyond a binary concept. How it was treated in the society varies wildly, from revered, to tolerated, to completely normal or what have you, within certain bounds, completely fluid, related to particular types of jobs or seen as a hobby or indulgence - doesnt matter. But the idea that people are only one thing is stupid, and has never been true, and never will be true. 

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u/Eastwoodnorris 23d ago

The term is not old, but the phenomenon of gender dysphoria and non-binary gendering absolutely is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_history

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u/Due-Yoghurt-7917 23d ago

Jesus mentions eunuchs in the Bible. Matthew 19:12, Jesus states there are those born that way, those made eunuchs by others, and those who choose to live as eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, adding "Let anyone accept this who can".

He's talking about trans people, since the language for it wasn't created yet

I'm not a Christian but yeah the idea is as old as humans I think.

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u/joe_ordan 23d ago

When you’re unable to have empathy, have sympathy.

Bless him indeed.

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u/Sandra_Calivor 23d ago

Proof that open minds can change.

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u/LeoLion2931 23d ago

Absolutely, and he has no reason to apologise for being there as that's a beautiful turn around and that's exactly the results we want to see in this world 🙌🏼🕊️🌍

Thankyou for sharing!

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u/KoGJazz 23d ago

Bless him indeed. Near brought me to tears. Something about this video hits hard for me. I think that it’s just such a breath of fresh air to see this guy listen and think for himself in a world that makes me feel like there’s a hive mind of the boomer generation that just regurgitates all of their insane talking points with zero desire to even try and think about who they’re “against”. Gives me hope I guess

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u/_jamesbaxter 23d ago

Wow. Damn. I would like to personally contact this man and thank him for his bravery.

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u/Orophinl4515 23d ago

That’s why they attacking the department of education.

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u/undeadmanana 23d ago

Across most cultures, as people age our Oppenness goes up across the board in most people and we're considered open-minded to many things. When it comes to things that would affect everyday life, regular routines, or beliefs it becomes a little more difficult to change our perspective if we have little/no experience with the changes.

As we get older, we tend to change our way of thinking based on experiences and if most our life is experienced in one way, we tend to have confirmation biases about that way always working. Our brains recognize patterns and get comfortable with familiarity, the routines that always have worked are hard to let go, change is scary.

Change is inevitable regardless what year we're born in, the society we live in now will never be the same as the one we grew up in.

Routines are a lie, there is only change. Through change, we gain adaptability. Through adabption, we evolve. Through evolution, we thrive. Through embracing the Future our chains are Broken, the Future shall free us.

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u/ajtreee 23d ago

I agree with you, however that the bar is set so low that we can get emotional over someone learning.

Bittersweet doesn’t seem appropriate to describe how i feel about it.

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u/seabiscuit34 23d ago edited 23d ago

What’s that flexibility got to do with being elderly? Ageism: https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/ageing-ageism

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u/PIeaseDontBeMad 23d ago

Neuroplasticity generally decreases with old age

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u/FivePoopMacaroni 23d ago

You typically can't teach an old dog new tricks

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u/DoctorDefinitely 23d ago

No need to teach. They learn themselves.