Is this an art form? Would it work better if we saw Colin Wright's public writing as a form of art? It is full of fictions, that is certain. Needs work on style.
Sex-based rights aren't a thing (see linked thread).
And about biological sex: that we aren't all riding the biological sex horse so incessantly and unnecessarily as you, Colin, doesn't mean we're jettisoning the concept entirely. Biologists are welcome to have it and take it out for a trot.
"*We're* the ones 'using trans people as a wedge issue in a culture war,' not those bending so far over backwards to not offend anyone that they'll willingly jettison the concept of biological sex and, as a consequence, all sex-based rights."
It claims that there are: "those bending so far over backwards to not offend anyone."
Those are the baddies in Colin's mind. Whoever they are. With their amazing back bends.
What is so bad about their back bends? According to Colin, that it means they will "willingly jettison the concept of biological sex."
Does this make sense to you? If true, would this be damning evidence, would this demand severe judgement?
Nah.
But wait!
What is baddie bad about the alleged jettisoning of the concept of biological sex is that, laments Colin, it would jettison sex-based rights.
Which don't exist.
So, there's nothing here. But Colin is mighty angry.
What is this man always so upset about? I really wonder.
I can tell you that despite his harping on about the objective purity of biological sex, and despite his constant issuing of cute pronouncements like the one below, Colin's concern is not really with how to uncover universality of scientific knowledge.
For, if that were in fact his interest and concern, he'd talk much more about his own scientific research. He'd more clearly address the kind of fraud that exists in his discipline, fraud that sullies scientific knowledge, and of which he has first-hand experience.
If he was truly so concerned about securing universal pieces of scientific knowledge, particularly as regards his favourite topic "biological sex," he'd have studied it. His dissertation, for instance, has nothing to say about it.
(@nevaudit did a thread on references to sex in Colin's dissertation, but I can't link to it as Twitter has permanently banned his account and deleted all his work.)
“I do not think that it is mere thin-skinned sensitivity on my part to believe that I would have fared no worse had I discussed my affairs with an avowed enemy.”—#JordanPeterson’s reaction to the piece.
Perhaps, though, it is more than mere thin-skinned sensitivity?
#JordanPeterson on his website details his daughter’s exceptional medical history in a long paragraph as argument against the reporter crediting the source she used for information about Mikhaila’s medical history: “according to her website.”
A few thoughts on the writing and publishing strategy of McWhorter‘s piece. In the long tradition of such pieces, he details a few cases that have received much recent blog and Twitter discussion: Princeton, Bryn Mawr, Dalton School. 1/
But this is not a piece of reporting. Nobody at these schools has been contacted for comment. The people involved in the organizing of protest or are not asked. The evidence from on which very dramatic conclusions are drawn is wishy-washy. 2/
Every once in a while, students at a university or college will lose a few weeks of formal learning. That can be due to a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, a strike, or a protest. 3/
Helen lectures on systems of power and falls on her face.
You see, it's ridiculous that "critical social justice" or "the woke" believe that there are systems of power that are hard to see. That sounds like dew-pearled faerie webs, doesn't it. You say you see them? Really??? 1/
Balderdash, says Helen. Most people don't see such webs. Webs of power are therefore an ideological hallucination. There; done with that argument.
Now, as for racism more particularly. It does exist!, Helen assures. We'll know it when we see it is the implication, I suppose. 2/
When we see racism, springing like a predatory animal into the circle, we may recognize its bloodthirsty face, unsheath our individual swords, & individually slay it for the good of all. That's liberalism! Ra ra ra!
Or, slay it because you like slaying. You libertarian, you. 3/
I‘m not certain my nagging about foregoing a few hours of Roblox in order to pursue other projects—maybe even make something!—is to be credited.
But.
My child designed this set of cards.
And devised the rules to a game called *1...2...3...Page!*
The rules are meant to prevent players from holding onto cards „like a wall of rock,“ and instead make the game „flow like water.“ And they do.
One of the rules is that the card(s) with the higher number always beat the card(s) with the lower number. (This means that pigs always beat humans, unless one plays the human card combined with another card above 2.)
I'll note that her ongoing confusion about the concept of free speech is concerning. Nobody is limiting James Lindsay's right to speech. What is at stake in this case is how wrong and harmful his speech is. I hope she recognizes that. That is the point I hope she's making.
I'm not glad that she's deflecting from the point that she can't condone his views anymore. She does so by implying his right to speech has been limited (it hasn't) and that her help is needed to protect it.