Absurd notions that hurt Sept 3, 2019

The main ideas from this information are: - The atheist John Gray argues in his book "Straw Dogs" that the belief in progress and things getting better is a matter of faith, not fact. - A recent survey shows that trust in science is eroding in Canada, especially when science contradicts personal beliefs. - The feminist movement has challenged traditional gender roles, but the idea that men and women are the same has not been widely accepted. - The belief that individuals can change their gender simply by wishing it is being criticized as an absurd position by the speaker. - The speaker argues that science supports the existence of only two sexes, male and female, and that pretending otherwise does not make life easier for those with gender dysmorphia. Most people today think they belong to a species that can be master of its destiny. This is faith, not science. We do not speak of the time when whales or gorillas will be master of their destinies. Why then humans? This is the opening statement by the atheist John Gray in his very popular book Straw Dogs. The main thesis in Gray's book is that the notion of progress and things getting better and better is simply a matter of faith in contradiction to established scientific beliefs. That is, the humanist belief that things will continue to get better is a matter of faith and not fact. There was an interesting new survey that was conducted and the results were just released today, September the 23rd, 2019. That survey showed that Canadian trust in science is eroding. One area where that erosion is taking place is when science seems to contradict the personal beliefs of the individual. In this time of woke culture, it is quite common for the so-called progressive thinkers to believe something different than has been believed for generations. Here are some examples. Men and women are the same. Attempts to get the greater society to believe this particular fantasy began seriously back in the 70s. I remember when the women's movement began in earnest. The first manifestation that I recall occurred in the fashion industry. It was called unisex dress. It was getting men and women to dress exactly the same. Now as I recall, the design of the clothing was particularly ugly. Needless to say, that didn't last very long. The next manifestation of the feminist movement, when they couldn't get women to behave like men, they attacked men for not behaving like women, which they still do today. The problem the women's movement faced in the 60s and 70s, especially when they attacked men for not behaving like women, was the message rolled off men like water off a duck's back. You see, we were raised during a period of time when men were actually valued. Nobody gave serious thought, or perhaps even any thought, to the notion that men and women were the same. During the 50s and in the 60s, men and women married and raised families, each fulfilling their role to accomplish the common task of husband and wife. They accepted the belief that men's work was outside the house and women's work was inside the house. What didn't exist during that period of time were all the modern conveniences that we take advantage of today. Most tasks involved physical labor. I remember my mother cooking on a wood stove summer and winter. Virtually everything was prepared from scratch. There was no prepackaged foods. I also remember her pickling beets and beans, as well as making preserves. I also remember her churning butter in the kitchen. My mother worked hard, but my father also worked hard, but his hard work took place outside the house. In the spring he planted two huge gardens. Of course, these had to be maintained throughout the summer. We lived on a 100-acre farm. The field of hay had to be mowed and brought into the barn, and that was done with a horse attached to the haying equipment. Hoisting the hay from the field into the barn was accomplished by men with pitchforks. Hoisting the hay into the wagon being drawn by the horse. Getting the hay from the wagon into the barn also involved men with pitchforks. Our small farm also had cows, chickens, and pigs. The cows had to be milked every day. This was done by hand. If you think milking a cow by hand is not hard work, just go ahead and give it a try. I mentioned that my mother cooked on a wood stove. That wood didn't march out of the forest, saw and split itself so it could be burned in the stove. Now, I can go on with hundreds of other examples that my father did to ensure that the house functioned as a safe haven. All of these tasks required long hours, stamina, and strength. I should also add this work had to be done regardless of weather. That meant working outside in sweltering heat in the summer, rain and soggy ground in spring, snow and some brutally cold weather in winter. Men and women worked together to provide a home and both worked hard. There was not time for contemplating the foolishness that men and women were the same. Now the second foolish idea that is being foisted on society today is that men and women can decide that they can become the other sex simply by wishing it so. As I understand some of the rhetoric from those advocating such an absurd position, you can also be something else other than male and female. What that something else is, I still haven't figured out. When one looks at the science, scientists are pretty rigid in their opinion there are only two sexes, male and female. For millennia, people operated as if this were true. Things came and went, and in the West at least, our standard of living kept improving. People understood that this was a good arrangement for the propagation of the species. People who didn't hold to the notion that if they had a penis, they were a man, they were thought to be crazy. Today we call it being mentally ill. The same was true for a biological woman who thought she was a man. There have always been those who have had trouble fitting in with the majority of society. Being different is never easy. Children can be especially cruel to the child that doesn't fit in with the rest of the pack. Adults, however, if they have been properly socialized and live by the teaching of the Christian Bible that all men and women are created in the image of God, make allowances and do their best to help these people fit in. What didn't happen, though, was to pretend that their skewed sense of reality was real. Life is tough, and for some it is tougher than others. Pretending that reality is different than it is does not make life easier. Trying to change reality to fit one's belief is not an act of kindness that only makes matters worse. Those who suffer from gender dysmorphia still commit suicide today at the same rate they always have. Pretending that they can be a woman when they are a man or a man when they are a woman does not remove the trauma that exists when the mind contradicts what the biology says.