I have been listening to podcaster, his name is Stefan Molyneux. He has been my current voice of reason whenever Sofie isn’t busy keeping me grounded (she works a lot and i have a lot on my mind.) He often reminds me of the troubled childhood I had and I feel liberated to start journaling or blogging. (Special thanks to Sofie for starting this.) I have thoughts constantly, train of thought is more than just an expression, its literally a train that never ends, and my train is especially long in the wee hours of the night when I am awake doing homework for my masters online. Back to the voice of reason, lately its come to my attention on the cultural differences between Sweden and America. For one, Sofie and I talked about having kids and whether we would have our boys circumcised. At the time, I didn’t give it a second thought, but sofie explained that it was illegal to get circumcised here in Sweden. (We found out later, its not illegal but requires both parents approval.) This was a few years ago when I was battling an undiscovered condition in my body called Vitamin B deficiency. (It led to me developing very low energy throughout the day and I would have maybe 2-4 hours max of feeling alert. Sofies been a great help and we both discovered this horrible health condition in January. (Im much better now.) Im also prone to wild and voracious tangents so I will have to come back and shorten this.
Circumcision, or known as genital mutilation is something I have investigated for my future children and family children because I never understood how horrible this procedure actually is. Its brutal, its barbaric, and I hurt thinking about Stefans video showing an actual baby being circumcised, with no anaesthetic, and is strapped spread eagle. How could doctors think babies did not feel pain again? I hear it was recently discovered in 90s that children can feel pain, and it makes me wonder what effect this procedure had on me as a child. Statistically, Im more prone to feeling pain. I used to be scared to death of the shots I would get as a child. Now I know why. I literally would fight my doctors and my own mother when I would get a shot. I am still contemplating how I will confront my parents about how they could let this happen to me. If they saw the video I saw, or investigated the way I did. We wouldn’t have this discussion, I hope. At least give me the fucking courtesy of having a choice about this as an adult or teenager. Um, let me think about this, do I want half my erogenous tissue chopped off and causing 4.5 times greater chance of developing erectile disfunction? No. I will take the time to pull things back and clean up shop every time I shower, just like I do anyways.
Im sitting here thinking to myself, am I really starting a blog talking about the discussion of circumcision… You’re probably reading this and saying Im not sure if I even like this person yet, but I will continue anyways. Because this needs to be said. Male/Female circumcision is wrong, especially when done to babies who have no fucking anaesthetic and even the topical anesthetic given today doesn’t come close to covering the pain felt. I dare you to go watch it being done and think I would let this happen to my child. Because you are a barbarian. I will update everyone how it goes when I do talk to my mother, and then my father. Ive lately opened up some deeper channels via self-exploration and talking to my grandparents opens up why I am thinking about these issues. Because it comes down to my earlier mentioning, child abuse. My father beat me with a belt if I misbehaved and up until I was 24 years old I thought this was acceptable because I was being a mischievous boy. When I told my counselor this, she told me a child can learn from right and wrong without a belt or spanking, and thats why it is illegal. Truer words couldn’t have been spoken, because the abuse, circumcision all pain damaged my brain literally and re-wired it into this machine looking for answers.
I recently discovered why I get angry at myself for dropping something, or tripping, or having an accident. Because my fathers voice is instantly in my head telling me I’m a fucking moron, idiot, coming up short, etc. However, when my dad fucks up, he’s in denial and refuses to admit he was wrong, until recently when I corrected him for calling me a name. He was so quick to blame others for his name calling, but wouldn’t actually own up to it until I discussed its about respect. I would never call him a name and its out of fear and respect for him, and he taught me respect goes both ways and must be earned, etc. How can you hold someone else to these standards if you aren’t holding them to yourself? Which brings me to my competition or grounding mechanism. Universally Preferable Behavior and the Non-Aggresson Principle applied by libertarians, meaning the use of force or violence will never be used on another person. This includes spanking, yelling, name calling. Three iron clad rules Sofie and I have are: Never yell at each other, Never call each other names, and never hit or discipline each other because we are human beings, its the 21st century. We can use our minds and our mouths and ears to communicate our disagreements instead of beating each other. Just because you are a parent does not give you the right to hit a defenseless child who cannot choose his parents or circumcise him against his will.
Justin
American living in Sweden 