If you have more time to write on this, curious if you can say more on common replies from other academics, that the bar for this type of “high quality” research in pediatric gender medicine may not be feasible, or in some cases would be unethical.
Postmodernism is a faith-based movement made by and for disaffected secular intellectuals, who pose as enlightened philosopher-kings but are still chained in Plato's cave imagining their shadows as the totality of existence. It certainly can't be a coincidence that at the precise time the prior Opiate of the Intellectuals, Marxism, proved to be a disaster and academia opened its arms (and provided great salaries) to all sorts of spurious Studies Depts, that all of a sudden Oppression (and all ego wounds) was suddenly situated in language—thus our soi-disant radical class could still fight for the Cause while never leaving the library and never relinquishing their places on the tenure ladder. (I am as anti-Communist as they come, but still have a soft spot for Pol Pot, who produced perhaps Communism's one smart and practical idea: send all "intellectuals" into the country to actually work with their hands and maybe build up some muscles and callouses—when you have to wake up at dawn, down a bowl of rice, and farm your food, perhaps then Reality is no longer a social construct and all of life is not situated in language.)
Language, professed morals and priniciples, ideology are all abstractions that people at the apex of the Hierarchy of Needs can play with their whole lives, but the real test of anyone is their DEEDS AND ACTS. Our postmodern intellectual class has produced one product that will define them, Deconstruction, which is essentially an acid that can be poured on all our social bonds, any conception of Truth and Beauty, and mar them until they appear as their opposites; and this is done in the service of the single idea they repeat ad infinitum: Nothing exists but Power and Oppression.
The old saw is "Those that can't, teach", well here the saw is "Those who can't build and create, destroy."
Recently listened to this conversation on the Cass report. I personally haven’t been through the report myself. It seems to me there’s so much nuance to this topic and there’s plenty of concerns and legit hesitation about proper care. https://www.youtube.com/live/WCD5bEDH7nk?si=Z6ngBYSdPp0QgOhC
Thanks a lot for this one again, Alan! While I am neither a "scientist" nor "practitioner" (medical doctor or the like), this "scientific thinking"/epistemology topic is one of my favourites I try and engage with a lot - especially as it, as your present essay so impressively shows (vielmehr, "einordnet"), has such enormous implications for various aspects of "human existence" (be it culture, history, medicine, you name it). Especially this postmodernization of science, as cultural zeitgeist :( , and its effects must really give us something "to think about" (pun intended)! Thank you for always taking up this topic, naming it - and "educating" (also in your "day job"/the Nutrition Literacy course!)!
Somewhat relatedly, I'm wondering if you've read Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine. It's not about transgenderism, but it critically reviews the research underpinning the concept of "brain sex." Would be curious what you make of it if you ever pick it up.
If you have more time to write on this, curious if you can say more on common replies from other academics, that the bar for this type of “high quality” research in pediatric gender medicine may not be feasible, or in some cases would be unethical.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/puberty-blockers-review-1.7172920
Postmodernism is a faith-based movement made by and for disaffected secular intellectuals, who pose as enlightened philosopher-kings but are still chained in Plato's cave imagining their shadows as the totality of existence. It certainly can't be a coincidence that at the precise time the prior Opiate of the Intellectuals, Marxism, proved to be a disaster and academia opened its arms (and provided great salaries) to all sorts of spurious Studies Depts, that all of a sudden Oppression (and all ego wounds) was suddenly situated in language—thus our soi-disant radical class could still fight for the Cause while never leaving the library and never relinquishing their places on the tenure ladder. (I am as anti-Communist as they come, but still have a soft spot for Pol Pot, who produced perhaps Communism's one smart and practical idea: send all "intellectuals" into the country to actually work with their hands and maybe build up some muscles and callouses—when you have to wake up at dawn, down a bowl of rice, and farm your food, perhaps then Reality is no longer a social construct and all of life is not situated in language.)
Language, professed morals and priniciples, ideology are all abstractions that people at the apex of the Hierarchy of Needs can play with their whole lives, but the real test of anyone is their DEEDS AND ACTS. Our postmodern intellectual class has produced one product that will define them, Deconstruction, which is essentially an acid that can be poured on all our social bonds, any conception of Truth and Beauty, and mar them until they appear as their opposites; and this is done in the service of the single idea they repeat ad infinitum: Nothing exists but Power and Oppression.
The old saw is "Those that can't, teach", well here the saw is "Those who can't build and create, destroy."
Recently listened to this conversation on the Cass report. I personally haven’t been through the report myself. It seems to me there’s so much nuance to this topic and there’s plenty of concerns and legit hesitation about proper care. https://www.youtube.com/live/WCD5bEDH7nk?si=Z6ngBYSdPp0QgOhC
Thanks a lot for this one again, Alan! While I am neither a "scientist" nor "practitioner" (medical doctor or the like), this "scientific thinking"/epistemology topic is one of my favourites I try and engage with a lot - especially as it, as your present essay so impressively shows (vielmehr, "einordnet"), has such enormous implications for various aspects of "human existence" (be it culture, history, medicine, you name it). Especially this postmodernization of science, as cultural zeitgeist :( , and its effects must really give us something "to think about" (pun intended)! Thank you for always taking up this topic, naming it - and "educating" (also in your "day job"/the Nutrition Literacy course!)!
This was music to my ears. Thank you.
Somewhat relatedly, I'm wondering if you've read Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine. It's not about transgenderism, but it critically reviews the research underpinning the concept of "brain sex." Would be curious what you make of it if you ever pick it up.