Mr. Orwell put it in a nutshell many years ago: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." He was good at that. We should emulate him as best we may.
I quite agree that the ideology of gender is a toxic concept, an invitation amounting to a demand that all of us abandon the concept…
Mr. Orwell put it in a nutshell many years ago: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." He was good at that. We should emulate him as best we may.
I quite agree that the ideology of gender is a toxic concept, an invitation amounting to a demand that all of us abandon the concept of objective reality in favor of "tolerance" and "inclusion." This demand extends to other dogmas of postmodern progressivism as well, such as "anti-racism." And as Ms. Shier notes, the demand is backed up by the threat of persecution and punishment. At my age (72) that's really not much of a threat. But for young people just beginning to make their way in the world, it's a serious one indeed. Yes, female athletes should speak out against the ideology that makes nonsense of all their hard work and dedication—and what is worse, the demand that they smile and nod along as a mockery is made of women's sports. But when I remind myself of the near-universal condemnation and hymn of hate that would descend upon those young women, I can well understand their reluctance to raise a protest.
But I also see reason for hope. The very virulence of the gender ideology mob, its willingness to blame, bully, blight reputations, destroy lives, betrays a knowledge that the cause is not just, that it cannot be sustained by rational argument or appeals to justice. The devotees of this inhuman ideology know that power and power alone, in the sense of compelling people to do and say what they would not otherwise do and say, is the only way of imposing their will on the rest of us. That may look like their strength but in reality it's their great weakness.
Mr. Orwell put it in a nutshell many years ago: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." He was good at that. We should emulate him as best we may.
I quite agree that the ideology of gender is a toxic concept, an invitation amounting to a demand that all of us abandon the concept of objective reality in favor of "tolerance" and "inclusion." This demand extends to other dogmas of postmodern progressivism as well, such as "anti-racism." And as Ms. Shier notes, the demand is backed up by the threat of persecution and punishment. At my age (72) that's really not much of a threat. But for young people just beginning to make their way in the world, it's a serious one indeed. Yes, female athletes should speak out against the ideology that makes nonsense of all their hard work and dedication—and what is worse, the demand that they smile and nod along as a mockery is made of women's sports. But when I remind myself of the near-universal condemnation and hymn of hate that would descend upon those young women, I can well understand their reluctance to raise a protest.
But I also see reason for hope. The very virulence of the gender ideology mob, its willingness to blame, bully, blight reputations, destroy lives, betrays a knowledge that the cause is not just, that it cannot be sustained by rational argument or appeals to justice. The devotees of this inhuman ideology know that power and power alone, in the sense of compelling people to do and say what they would not otherwise do and say, is the only way of imposing their will on the rest of us. That may look like their strength but in reality it's their great weakness.