I heard some mocking talking heads on Fox News joking about this yesterday and it made no sense to me at all, so I ignored it. Then I found out what had provoked all of the giggling about turtles.
The state of Oregon has appointed JD Holt to an Oregon Mental Health Advisory Board. JD says her pronouns are “they/them/terrapin.” She/they/it is not kidding. So she is out of her frickin’ mind.
From Fox News: “JD Holt, who also goes by “JD Terrapin” on Facebook, is one of roughly two dozen “consumers” on the OHA’s Consumer Advisory Council (OCAC). The council, established by administrative statute, is appointed by OHA Director Dr. Sejal Hathi, who was appointed by Gov. Tina Kotek (D, of course.) The purpose of the OCAC is to advise Hathi on the state’s provision of mental health services, including through investigations and reviews of current practices.”
Only in Orgeon…well, maybe Washington state. OK, perhaps California. Oh, now that I think about it, maybe Maryland and Minnesota….would someone who openly “identifies” as a terrapin—not a mere turtle, now, let’s be respectful—be regarded as a responsible appointment to a government advisory board.
This video shows a meeting subcommittee of OCAC, the Trauma Informed Systems Subcommittee. Note that the chairperson, alone in her office, is wearing a paper mask, which would be useless if anyone carrying an infectious disease was in the room with her, but is pointless virtue-signaling in an empty room. Welcome to Woke World. JD Terripin is the second person to speak as well as the last. Before she introduces herself, you can see her eating what I presume is turtle food.
There is something on the web called Gender Wiki that documents non-binary genders. It describes “turtlegender,” sometimes called “tortoisegender,” as “a xenogender identity in which one feels a gendered connection to turtles.” “One may feel their gender is replaced by a ‘turtle,’ or their gender is best described with the use of turtles,” the site explains.
Oh. Any guesses what political party got the votes of those identifying as turtles in November’s election?
A concerned Oregon citizen who, I assume, identifies as “sane” wrote this eminently reasonable letter of protest:
Question to the writer: since you are sane, why are you still living in this bonkers state?
And The Great Stupid continues to spread its dark wings over the land…
Ethics Alarms 
I don’t see the problem. Surely someone who identifies as a terripin is in a unique position to advise on the state’s provision, (or apparent lack thereof), of mental health services. If nothing else, Holt’s appointment to the board screams, “WE NEED MORE MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES NOW!!!”
I actually, unironically, agree with this. If you listen to the people as they introduce themselves, they usually describe themselves as having “lived experience” or being “consumers” or being “survivors”, because they’re all mental health patients.
But are they mental health patients that happen to work in the mental health field, or people that work in the mental health field that happen to be mental health patients?
And the answer, I think, is “yes”. The Advisory board’s mandate is as follows:
If the question is: How do we make the experience of mental health treatment more pleasant and/or accessible to patients, having a patient or three on the advisory board isn’t a bad idea, and if those patients also happen to have experience in providing services, that’s probably good experience for this board specifically.
That said, While the experience might be good for the mandate of the board, I find it concerning that the people tasked with people’s mental wellness seem so… unwell. Physician, heal thyself. I also assume that they aren’t of the opinion that identifying as a turtle is an indicator of mental illness, which is also concerning.
I always admire lateral thinkers’ arguments to try to find value in otherwise irredeemable positions. You and EC are especially good at this. That said, I think any attempt to rationalize the presence of Terrapin Girl on a decision-making body or even an advisory panel is effort poorly spent. By definition, someone who identifies as a reptile and thinks that it is anything but credibility-destroying to procalim it publicly is critically handicapped in the ability to think, reason, or make responsible decisions. Therefore anyone who believes it is sensible to place such a person in a position of responsibility is also thus handicapped.
I meant to raise in the post the question of whether Oregon would allow JD to compete against actual turtles in turtle competitions.
“I think any attempt to rationalize the presence of Terrapin Girl on a decision-making body or even an advisory panel is effort poorly spent.”
If this were a decision making body, I’d 100% be there with you, but it’s an advisory board, and the people making the actual decisions will still be subject matter experts.
To take a complete devil’s advocate position: It’s probably irresponsible to have an advisory board on delivering services to a group of people and not have at least some representation from that group on the board.
When we are talking crazy, however, lines have to be drawn. Bi-polar? Fine lots of smart people are bi-polar. Schizophrenic? A bit tougher. Depressives? Easy-peasy. I think, however, we can draw a think line between those and human beings who think they are reptiles. No?
Wait just a durn minute! You mean someone who identifies as a turtle is mentally ill and is therefore qualified to advise the state on its delivery of mental health services? Uh, no. How can this person be deemed to be mentally ill when men who identify as women are lionized. They are NOT to be considered mentally ill. They are simply in need of gender affirming care. Clearly, this woman is only in need of turtle identifying affirming care.
Still going to Devil’s advocate:
The mandate of the board is to look into ways to facilitate communication and access. Dysphoric disorders are on the rise, the number of people “identifying” as something in Gen Z is staggering.
Tongue in cheek, but with a grain of sincerity: I don’t think someone’s level of crazy prevents them from advising better ways to communicate with people like them, so long as their brand of crazy doesn’t leave them non-communicative. If the turtle people like feeling sand in their toes as part of therapy, that’d be good to know.
At the end of the video, she talks about how she might be offended at what some people say. I’d guess, “Go ahead, go back into you shell!” will not be an option for the panel going forward.
Or, “She’s just going to have to grow a tougher shell.”
I agree there’s definitely non-zero merit to JD’s presence on the advisory board, but I’m fairly convinced that, all else being equal, it would be more helpful, if gender dysphoria representation is desired, to have representation from any of the hundreds(?) of other more prevalent gender dysphorias.
Then again, as I type this, I begin to wonder: is there actual value to have JD on the board as a one-in-seven-billion maximally-unique unicorn? My semi-informed instinctive answer remains no, but I concede I am not a expert in this niche field.
Yeah, I said I waThDevil’s advocating because this is probably the better answer; better to have someone with a slightly more prevalent dysphoria than being a turtlekin.
Speaking of pronouns, I was this close to contacting you, Jack, when I was once again put on the spot during a contracted theater gig. We had to go around the room and introduce ourselves and state our preferred pronouns. I was sorely tempted to say my pronouns are me, my, and mine and if you can’t figure out how to refer to me in the third person, I cannot help you. I chickened out however, and simply said “my name is Alicia. I am your deck captain” and then shut my mouth.
How does one remain professional in this situation? I love what I do and I want to keep my foot in the theater door. But this is becoming intolerable.
My standard response thus far has been “I don’t have pronouns. Use what you like.” It doesn’t seem to have bothered anyone thus far – or at least, not enough that they’ve brought it up to me. I’ve also noticed that going early in the obligatory circle of introductions and pronouns seems to give others cover to say likewise, which feels nice.
I have the same response. “I don’t have preferred pronouns so call me what you’re comfortable with.”
Our 20 year son had a summer internship with a Fortune 500 consulting firm this past summer. He was invited to an internship training program in Florida. During the program, he was called upon to state his name, which state he will be working and his preferred pronouns and identity. His response: “My name is John Michael Burger. I will be working in the Houston branch office in the acquisitions consulting division. If you can’t figure out my pronouns and identity, then we have bigger problems and I can’t help you out with that.” He sat down thinking he would be ushered back to Houston on the first flight out of Florida.
Well, to his surprise, Northeast heavy hitters contacted him, offering to transfer him to the main office in New York, with a living stipend/allowance to cover his housing costs. One of the VPs in that office took him golfing and told him that he was impressed that, at 20 years old, he demonstrated the strength of character to go against the herd. The VP also told him he thought DIE initiatives were bullshit.
jvb
I love this so much. Next time, I’m going with my first response. No chickening out.
Congrats, John.
Indeed. The Boy made us proud.
jvb
It is one thing to ask for customer feedback. It is another thing to have your mental health system designed by the mentally unwell. Asking crazy people to design a government agency is not the best idea, in my opinion. Look what happened at the DNC meeting recently. They let a bunch of mentally ill people control their meetings and look how dysfunctional it became.
They let a mentally ill person run the country for four years.
My bet is that the only real responsibility he was tasked with was watching the the power cord of the autopen to make sure is stayed plugged into the wall.
Too demanding.
Puts real meaning in the phrase the inmates are running the asylum.
“It is another thing to have your mental health system designed by the mentally unwell.”
Have you ever noticed how many mentally ill people are in the mental health profession? Jung was one of the most famous ones. I have dated a therapist, had and have friends and family members who are in the field from drug and alcohol counselors to psychiatrists. They all are a bit nuts and I have had to set major boundaries with these folks. It’s the wounded healer thing, I guess. Not sure how to avoid a whole system being run by people like this when from the start, the field has always seemed at attract this type of person.
It has long been “common knowledge” on campus that psych majors are at least a bit off, if not just plain nuts.
So, “xenogender identity” is a thing? That means that I, who identifies as “afrotheresgender” can participate as an advisor to this committee because I self identify as an aardvark. That makes me happy.
jvb
I think I shall choose to identify as a Kimodo Dragon. Not much in the world can compete with this animal (without a gun or major explosive).
But I have a question. If someone flips this he/she/it/turtle on its back/shell, will that eliminate it from their committee?