Blog
We are the book we’re talking about
And we are what’s at stake in truth-telling. If the interlocutor opposes me because of who I am, will they be impressed that I read a book? No. Even if it is a book they have heard of? No.
Humility: A needed balance
On early modern philosophers and online trolls. In Lewis Carroll’s ‘You Are Old, Father William,’ a young person asks: ‘You balanced an eel on the end of your nose - / What made you so awfully clever?’
What is human dignity?
Where does it come from? How do we know it exists? Does dignity need to be pinned to God, or can it have secular grounding? Is it about humility, pride, or both? What does interdependence have to do with it?
‘We are in trouble,’ but not for the reason you think
Douglas Murray defends prejudice in ‘The Madness of Crowds’. If he were inclined to support trans people, he wouldn’t find basic affirmation ‘the hardest part.’ He wouldn’t say we need to argue more.
If we have a fundamental moral disagreement, why are we still talking?
Holly Lawford-Smith shows up for the self-appointed ‘heterodoxy’ at Colorado State University. The Heterodox Academy supports ‘gender-critical feminism,’ whose entire purpose is to exclude trans women and misrepresent trans men.
Barnes: ‘Just think why’ some don’t want their marriage to turn gay!
Journalist Hannah Barnes gets in a dig against same-sex marriage. Why does it matter whether one spouse’s gender change happens before or after the couple’s legal split? This anti-trans article is homophobic.
Books like this cause ‘Irreversible Damage’
Even if you see through it, it wastes your time. What definition of “traditional gender dysphoria” is invoked here? It’s politicized misinformation about transgender identity, using kids as a punching bag.
On Kathleen Stock’s ‘Material Girls’
My reality matters too. She claimed to ‘enthusiastically support’ protecting ‘trans people against violence,’ yet she wants to funnel us into a transgender bathroom.
Helen Joyce’s anti-trans messaging is predictable
She was interviewed by Jay Fantom on ‘The Story Box’ podcast. Every Helen Joyce interview has this basic content. This one’s from 2023. She works from her principle that cis people’s feelings matter most.