Since we are on the subject, it is tbe height of unfairness for a transgender male to compete in women’s sports. Let them compete against other men and take the loss. As the father of an athletic girl, it would infuriate me that all of her hard work should be taken away by a guy who can’t hold his own against other men. But that seems to be the point, to radically disrupt the social order.
I assume you posted this because you believe Kulldorf makes good arguments or points?
Yeesh this isn’t even a real journal. I don’t know where to even begin, but the attack on real science by this right wing propaganda machine is exhausting. It’s been decades in the making starting with evolution, then climate change, and now is pretending there’s some big coverup of true scientific discourse. It’s the same old tired playbook by people who fail to do actual real science- it’s much easier to claim foul than to publish real papers.
Here’s one writeup about this pseudoscientific journal amongst many:
https://www.science.org/content/article/new-journal-co-founded-nih-nominee-raises-eyebrows-misinformation-fears
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I have very much found over the years these posts are not really for the OP so much. Typically when coming in like this post, they double down on their position when confronted with any evidence. Maybe years from now they will look back and change their mind like some of my students, but maybe not. Thus, these threads are moreso for others to learn and improve their thinking and arguments. Or just to not feel so insane surrounded by people who repeat fox news propaganda nonstop. I know a lot of people like different OPs over the years and the threads and forum have helped me personally a lot independent of having some OP “come to the light.”
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It seems some have spied out my freedom to make true statements without a PhD in the field and without a DSM code. I will not answer how but leave you with the Prophet Lewis to contemplate.
- A reasonable justification.
- “The Prophet Lewis”???
- Ahhh, … this guy:
- C.S. Lewis and Evolution [22:51]
- C.S. Lewis on Evolution and Intelligent Design [33:55]
- “Apr 12, 2024. What were C.S. Lewis’s real views on evolution and intelligent design? Dr. John West, Vice President of Discovery Institute, explores this topic in this lecture from the 2024 Dallas Conference on Science & Faith sponsored by Discovery Institute. Dr. West is editor of The Magician’s Twin: C.S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society and co-editor of The C.S. Lewis Readers’ Encyclopedia. Find out more at Dr. West’s website, www.johngwest.com.”
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The truth value of your statements about depression as well as Lewis’ status as a prophet consists of no more than that you make the statements. You haven’t provided any actual support for the claims except that you make them and they make sense to you.
People who see it they way you do, might agree with you because they see it the same way, but you’ve provided no actual support for your claims.
Indeed, they can.
Rational people will seek, however, to limit the implimentation of any religious authority as civil law. My impression of Truman’s goal in SNW was that it is not limited to how he thinks Christians ought to think in order to bring glory to God, but that his view of biblical authority should also have legislative and legal reach.
Rational people will also expect christians who claim to want to honor Christ to tell the truth as well.
I think this is a legitimate concern that does need an answer. I don’t think Trueman offers one that is reasonable in a pluralistic society, though.
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What does he propose with regard to biological males being allowed to compete in women’s sports?
That’s not necessarily the problem here IMO Doug. What is then? Honestly, a LOT of people here would probably have agreed with your posts 5-10 years ago, but now today they believe, myself included, that your posts contain some errors. Specifically, one charge is that whatever reading and learning you are doing on this topic, it doesn’t appear that you are too familiar with more recent research. The only thing I’ve noticed you cited was a non-expert’s opinion book on the topic as if it was a well-done or well-researched synopsis. As far as the particular reference goes, I think that neither of those are even remotely close to being true.
None of this is a bad thing per se but it is what I meant by an earlier post where you have an option to either double down in your current understanding or try to humbly learn about a new and complex topic from people who might look and think differently than you do.
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It used to be that education and experience were valued by conservatives.
But then these aren’t conservatives, they’re reactionaries.
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Sorry. i don’t remember if he spoke about such specifics.
My interest would be on the theological side of that, how to get across to Christians that not getting vaccinated isn’t a sign of faith, it’s putting God to the test – something Jesus rejected quite firmly when Satan tested Him.
Thus applying scientific knowledge whether she knew it or not: the virus survived poorly in both salt air and sunlight.
One more who couldn’t grasp the difference between a mask protecting the wearer and a mask protecting others – or was too selfish to think about anyone else.
It’s kind of like saying that there shouldn’t be safety signs or speed limits on highways – let safety be “voluntary and optional”.
Or from being fundamentally idiots. More people should heed Martin Luther’s warning: better someone who knows what they’re doing even if a pagan than an incompetent Christian!
Stupid theology! God created rats, too – does this guy let them roam his house freely? and wasps; would he let them build a nest in a child’s room?
If someone wanted to destroy any claim to America being exceptional, this would sure be a great way to do it!
But reactionaries don’t want that known; it would not surprise me at this point if it was discovered that the goal is to be able to decide what counts as mental illness and use that to persecute “undesirables”.
Science can study “emotive process[es] influenced by unaccountable factors” to learn what’s going on.
So your argument is “made up”.
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And it was once the assumption of all humanity that the Earth was found, flat, and covered by a solid dome.
Getting past assumptions is called “learning”.
Ah – Aristotle, I see, not scripture. The “right use of reason” once asserted infallibly that all bodies in the heavens are perfect spheres. It also once asserted that people with darker skins were obviously closer to the Devil.
Well, I rebuke that in the name of Jesus! That is spoken from ignorance, a view that comes from a lack of interest in or concern for those undergoing something that compared to “common acedia or melancholy” is like a devastating hailstorm compared to a gentle snowfall.
Yes. The difference is fairly simple: common depression can be countered by happy events; clinical depression tends to be made worse by happy events. When I was “down” in grad school after completing a project, going out ice skating with hot chocolate standing by could pull me out of it; when in depression if the Publishers Clearing House team had showed up and brought me a million-dollar check it would have made me suicidal. Mere melancholy, what most people think of when they hear “depression”, can be countered by events with emotional content; real depression is only magnified by emotional content regardless of whether positive or negative.
Or total ignorance of how things work, sort of like the morons who think that the expense of buying a new airplane shouldn’t be deducted from an airline company’s income before taxes because “expenses should come out of profits” – it’s a total failure to grasp how paying for things works.
It’s the kind of arrogant incompetence that the word “sophomoric” was invented for.
I’ve actually heard that (from the same people who said, “You have depression because you didn’t read your Bible enough”).
We had that sort of weather swing a lot when I was in the Midwest in grad school – once in a single day (which also included tornadoes).
I wouldn’t be surprised if one motivation matches that of something I overheard by the grocery store down the street: the conviction that vaccines are only needed by “dark people”, so they shouldn’t be given at all.
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Here’s the deal folks: I am something called a deductive argument. This one happens to stem from very reasonable premises: there are only two genders observed at birth and they persist in observation throughout life; therefore, there are only two genders. Now this is hardly even represents a deductive movement, so close are the premises from the conclusion. And the argument is thrown out based on an emotive opinion that “I just don’t understand” and it’s too complicated to go into now…but you’re wrong. I get it: the first time I read Augustine my reaction was: “he can’t just do that” (that being reason from true and logical premises. I too thought he needed to have a pHD in the field and have conducted a double blind study. I was wrong; he could—and did—discover the truth from this method. You can too.
I tried recently to explain what it was like having the measles, spending what seemed like a month in near-total darkness, drinking grape juice (to the point where I still think of being sick when I smell grape juice) and slurping chicken soup. Younger folk today just can’t grasp what it would be like to be that sick!
[I didn’t tell them that to me the worst part wasn’t being allowed to read!]
For those known as “Baby Boomers” and “Generation Jones” (born 1954-1965) it is baffling.
It is troubling. In high school Christian Club members got mocked for always being willing to help out; Christians in high school now get mocked for hating others and believing stupid things.
I know a physician in Australia who leads his department at a research hospital; they’ve already spent thousands to bring two doctors and their families to their facility.
The family of a friend claims that vaccines don’t work because all of them got COVID whether vaccinated or not. Knowing the situation, I pointed out that those who had been vaccinated (1) didn’t suffer as badly and (2) got it fewer times (his step dad has had COVID three times yet still talks about natural immunity).
I love what he had to say about knowing (ANE) languages!
Also about realizing it’s never possible to know everything about a subject.
Ah, “inference to the best explanation” – a familiar phrase from ancient language studies as well.
I’m going to be checking out more of his stuff.
BTW, Huff has a creative mind–
Appreciate the passion, but there are a few issues here that are hard to overlook.
First, the argument you’re making is neither as deductive nor as airtight as you suggest. You conflate “sex observed at birth” with “gender,” which are not the same thing—social scientists, psychologists, and even biologists have pointed this out for decades. Gender involves identity, roles, and cultural norms, which are not reducible to chromosomes or genitalia. This is an extremely important distinction that you have glossed over or ignored several times now. But even if you were right in that sex and gender were the same thing, you’d still be wrong about there being only two obvious sexes from birth.
So now then, the idea that “sex observed at birth” is always clear-cut just isn’t true. There are intersex individuals—people born with chromosomes, gonads, or genitalia that don’t fit typical definitions of male or female. In some cases, external genitalia can appear ambiguous, and in rarer cases, they can even change naturally over time (for instance, in conditions like 5-alpha-reductase deficiency). So the premise that “only two sexes are observed at birth” doesn’t even hold up biologically, let alone socially.
For reference, you can read about conditions like this one:
5-alpha reductase deficiency is a condition that affects sexual development before birth and during puberty. People with this condition are genetically male, with [one X and one Y chromosome in each cell, and they have male gonads. Their bodies, however, do not produce enough of a hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT has a critical role in male sexual development, and a shortage of this hormone disrupts the formation of the external sex organs before birth.
Many people with 5-alpha reductase deficiency have external genitalia that appears female. In other cases, affected infants have male-typical external genitalia, often an unusually small penis (micropenis) and the urethra opening on the underside of the penis (hypospadias). Still other affected infants have external genitalia do not look clearly male or clearly female.
During puberty, an increase in the levels of male sex hormones leads to the development of some secondary sex characteristics, such as increased muscle mass, deepening of the voice, development of pubic hair, and a growth spurt. The penis and scrotum (the sac of skin that holds the testes) may grow larger. People with 5-alpha reductase deficiency do not develop much facial or body hair. Most affected individuals are unable to have biological children (infertile) without assisted reproduction.
Your method of figuring out what’s true isn’t working here Doug.
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Much has changed during the last few decades. In my childhood, there were no measles vaccines available, so when a child got measles, mothers gathered with their babies/small children to that family (measles party). The rationale was that an infection at an early age was likely to cause less damage than if the infection would come at a later age. Some sort of ‘real stuff vaccination’.
The mothers had themselves gone through the infection in their childhood, so they were not in danger of becoming sick. Practically all got the measles during those days.
I have been told that by the age of three years, I had gone through most of the common childrens infections that circulated then - measles, chicken pox, scarlet fever, mumps and others as well. I guess that was not rare. Doctors did not give medication to childrens fevers so when I got scarlet fever and the body temperature went above 40 C, the advice was to sink the child into icy water to lower the fever. Those were the days.
I am happy that we do not live in that world anymore. Thank God for vaccines.
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A better analogy is in thinking the cost of an airplane should just reflect the direct labor and materials that went into building it. This ignores all of the infrastructure needed to support a company that makes airplanes, such as HR departments, safety, investment into new technology, training programs, etc. Indirect costs from NIH grants support research infrastructure, everything from supporting administrative staff to supporting grad students and researchers themselves when there is a gap in grant funding. There’s also the need to invest in new technology.
Currently, there are line items in a grant that are considered indirect costs and therefore can not be part of the budget for the research grant. My guess is those rules will be loosened, or people will find workarounds. In the end, it will result in less money going to the actual research, but at least these research programs can still get grad students, post docs, and the people they need to function. This assumes there still are grants in the future.
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- So, I was wondering …
- I came across Dr. John West’s lecture on C.S. Lewis on Evolution and Intelligent Design (April 12, 2024).
- What did you think of it?
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