Blog

FBI flew to Cuba to save a girl from trans healthcare…
…where was this energy for Jeffrey Epstein’s victims? When a Boeing 757 comes for a trans parent and their child, the plane, not anyone’s gender, concerns me. Plus, no one sent a plane for Epstein’s victims.

‘Other people didn’t have to like it.’ Nope! But raise a glass to respect!
Kathleen Stock on her limited understanding of whether gay rights are about being ‘liked’. When Kathleen Stock says undecided people should publicly go for drinks with anti-trans people, she’s imagining a cis audience seeking cis solidarity.

Who you are (is someone who will not give up)
Learnings from being a person. We are here to be here together. To accept each other’s identities, to listen, to build. What survives is made of our knowledge, intention, and hope.

10 ways trans people are told we shouldn’t exist
Here’s why transphobia sounds like an eradication campaign. If someone were denying your gender, would you understand them as literally telling you to stop having your gender? Comply, and everything will be OK?

Do we shine a light into the dark ages…
…or does it illuminate what we know of ourselves? Gabriele and Perry’s ‘Bright Ages’. We might see a time that isn’t “isolated, savage, primitive,” but “messy and human.” Studying medieval Europe can teach us more about ourselves.

What do we talk about when we talk about vaccines?
The 2014 book ‘On Immunity’ by Eula Biss. ‘On Immunity’ reflects on the human immune system and on vaccination. There are broad philosophical implications: balance, safety, interdependence.

3 things I learned from ‘The Disordered Cosmos’
Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein’s 2021 book on physics and identity. Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein shares meta-insights about how science and society can prevent us from asking questions and obtaining insights. Who’s included?

Does Moll Flanders know whether her mother is cheerful?
The Gettier problem in Daniel Defoe’s novel. Moll’s justified true belief (“My mother was a mighty cheerful, good-humoured old woman”) wasn’t knowledge. The novelist put an irony there.

Toward a better epistemology: Why do we care about what we know?
A reaction to the ‘Gettier problem’. Maybe there isn’t just one definition of knowledge. Maybe every type of knowledge is related in a “family resemblance.” Some are propositions. Some aren’t.