Wow.

Your illustration of the ants at the end was truly frightening.

Much of the blame -- not all -- for the current social conflagration is due to the conflation of a medical condition and its treatment protocol (gender dysphoria) with an interpretation of it ("being transgender"). The former is fact, the latter a belief. Arguing for social policies based on being afflicted with gender dysphoria is a slam-dunk, and should prevail in court as the issue of hormone therapy is fought in the courts over the next few years. Arguing for social policies based on "being transgender," on the other hand (e.g. "trans women are women"), is a clear loser. It is a metaphysical or quasi-religious position, and cannot be proven.

Both sides conflate fact and belief in this battle. The trans activists started it, seeking equal rights based on "transgender" status; and, eventually, the political Right responded in kind (Matt Walsh, Michael Knowles). The former regards "being transgender" as fact, the latter as fiction; and now medical treatment -- which is based on the fact of gender dysphoria, not the belief in "being transgender" -- is being attacked legislatively throughout the country.

I'd like to think all this was unnecessary; and, in an ideal sense, it wasn't. But reason has been in decline in America for quite a long time, now; and, perhaps, this conflagration was impossible to avoid.