(07-26-2017, 08:36 PM)wrong_box Wrote: (07-26-2017, 08:23 PM)TJBender Wrote: My relation to the term "liberal" ends at the "liber" part, but I'll take a stab at this anyway because I know I'm considerably left of you in these matters.
There is sound scientific data showing that the earth is warming, there's a hole in the ozone layer, greenhouse gases are contributing to it and that climate is changing. There is sound scientific evidence in the form of a fossil record that goes back millions of years indicating that life, as it is today, is not as it always was. These are both topics up for debate.
If a sister of mine were to walk up to me and say, "T.J., I'm a man," what scientific data could I possibly pull out to convince them that they are not who they believe they are? And what decent human being would dehumanize someone like that?
That's the difference for me. Two of your examples deal with impersonal things, with no attachments or feelings intrinsic to them. Your third example involves weighing the value of a person against the value of a book. I don't necessarily agree with the concept of transgender, but I don't necessarily disagree with it either. You can prove climate change, evolution and creationism to some extent. You can't prove that a person born with a penis who is otherwise mentally sound is not actually wired as a woman.
Or, in my case, an attack helicopter.
ok what defines a man and what defines a woman?Pretty sure if you gots ya a natural winkie between your legs you are classified as a man...If ya gots ya a natural woo hoo between your legs you are classified as a woman...Its really easy to prove gender...maybe someone doesn't feel like a man, but if he has a natural winkie he is a man even if he doesnt feel like it...Gender is not about what you feel like, its what parts ya got naturally...
But what if the parts down there don't match up with the chromosome or the brain chemistry? There's a lot we don't yet know about how the human brain works, and it's possible that brain chemistry has as much to do with gender as the downstairs equipment does.
Like I said, I don't necessarily agree with the concept of transgender, but I won't discount it either. That's my sniff test on that one. If my brother walked up to me and said that the climate is not changing, I'd laugh in his face and point him to all the proof that it is--and the studies which suggest that we don't know exactly how much of that change is manmade vs. natural yet. If he walked up and said that the world simply popped into being as-is 6,000 years ago, I'd collapse on the floor crying with laughter. If he walked in and told me in all sincerity that he is a woman, I couldn't laugh that off and I couldn't find it in myself to dismiss him or tell him he was wrong. The person gets the benefit of the doubt.
