Restroom Follies : Edward Cline
http://ruleofreason.blogspot.com/2016/03/restroom-follies.html
The object of the boycott is not so much to protest the North Carolina law, as to punish anyone who does not conform to the “settled science” of à la carte gender identity.
The traditional source of the law of non-contradiction is Aristotle‘s Metaphysics where he gives three different versions.
- ontological: “It is impossible that the same thing belong and not belong to the same thing at the same time and in the same respect.” (1005b19-20)
- psychological: “No one can believe that the same thing can (at the same time) be and not be.” (1005b23-24)
- logical: “The most certain of all basic principles is that contradictory propositions are not true simultaneously.” (1011b13-14)
In short, A is A; A cannot be A and non-A (or B) at one and the same time.
Aristotle did not deal in traditions. Traditions are not a fundamental basis for establishing facts, politics, art, or even gender. Traditions are “time-honored” actions or beliefs, which may or may not be worthy of observation. But they are not philosophy.
In today’s culture, a culture that has more or less repudiated Aristotle in its government, in its culture, and even in “gender identification,” it is possible for transgenders, gays, and other identity-deficient individuals to believe that they can be one gender and not what they don’t want to be. This phenomenon is possible only in a culture of philosophical disintegration.
This writer was banned and all records of his past columns “archived” out of public sight on http://capitalismmagazine.com/ over an article he wrote and posted in June of 2015, “The Prancing Unicorn of Bruce Jenner.” The article criticized Bruce Jenner, who decided he was Caitlyn Jenner, a woman. He claims he is no longer a man. But when he undergoes the emasculating surgery that will enable him (and all his fans) to pretend he is a woman, in fact, he will still be a man, but now a eunuch. Neither the blog host nor many of the site’s readers, cared for that logic. As a consequence, I no longer post columns on the site, and no longer read it.
Logic is the art of non-contradictory identification. Ayn Rand, the novelist/philosopher wrote succinctly and eloquently on the subject:
All thinking is a process of identification and integration. Man perceives a blob of color; by integrating the evidence of his sight and his touch, he learns to identify it as a solid object; he learns to identify the object as a table; he learns that the table is made of wood; he learns that the wood consists of cells, that the cells consist of molecules, that the molecules consist of atoms. All through this process, the work of his mind consists of answers to a single question: What is it? His means to establish the truth of his answers is logic, and logic rests on the axiom that existence exists.
Logic is the art of non-contradictory identification. A contradiction cannot exist. An atom is itself, and so is the universe; neither can contradict its own identity; nor can a part contradict the whole. No concept man forms is valid unless he integrates it without contradiction into the total sum of his knowledge. To arrive at a contradiction is to confess an error in one’s thinking; to maintain a contradiction is to abdicate one’s mind and to evict oneself from the realm of reality.
There are many people in the population now who believe they are contradictions, and prefer to be contradictions. It’s how they feel. They feel they are one gender but not the one defined by their physiology, because of their feelings. Feelings, or emotions, emotions they have not bothered to examine in any meaningful depth, to them are indisputable tools of cognition. Reality can be whatever they wish it to be. “Gender orientation” is based strictly on feelings, feelings based on what can only be mental disorders or some severe forms of neurosis that remain unexamined, uncorrected, and unchallenged by conventional psychoanalytic wisdom.
The chief subject here is not the political mare’s nest that governs local, state, and federal laws governing discrimination, freedom of assembly or association, and freedom of speech. These laws are themselves a consequence of statist premises. It is all part of the same, inexorable process of disintegration. North Carolina’s House Bill II, otherwise known as the “Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act,” has certainly touched off a reaction among those who favor discrimination in favor of the walking vehicles of feelings, of the abridging of freedom of speech, of forcing one’s association, under penalty of law, with people one would not otherwise choose to associate with, and constraints on speech because the speech – or idea – may “offend” another or hurt his feelings.
So, I’m not going to try to sort through whether or not the state had a right to override local ordinances or whether or not local governments had a right to pass ordinances governing who shall enter public facilities or restrooms. The Charlotte Observer on March 26th, in its article, “Understanding HB2: North Carolina’s newest law Solidifies state’s role in defining discrimination,” neatly synopsized the bill and its implications.
In a one-day specially convened session Wednesday, North Carolina’s legislature passed a sweeping law that reverses a Charlotte ordinance that had extended some rights to people who are gay or transgender.
The law passed by the General Assembly and signed that same night by Gov. Pat McCrory goes further than a narrow elimination of Charlotte’s ordinance, which had generated the most controversy by a change that protected transgender people who use public restrooms based on their gender identity. The new law also nullified local ordinances around the state that would have expanded protections for the LGBT community.
Moreover….
North Carolina’s new law sets a statewide definition of classes of people who are protected against discrimination: race, religion, color, national origin, age, handicap or biological sex as designated on a person’s birth certificate. Sexual orientation – people who are gay – was never explicitly protected under state law and is not now, despite recent court decisions that legalized same-sex marriage.
Transgender people who have not taken surgical and legal steps to change the gender noted on their birth certificates have no legal right under state law to use public restrooms of the gender with which they identify. Cities and counties no longer can establish a different standard. Critics of the Charlotte ordinance cite privacy concerns and say it was “social engineering” to allow people born as biological males to enter women’s restrooms.
HB2 does not affect existing local or state law governing the “protected” status of the LGBT tribe; it simply says local ordinances can’t amend or expand the privileged status of the LGBT tribe.
Out, a gay magazine, claimed in its March 29th article, “New York, Seattle, San Fran Ban Travel to North Carolina Over Anti-LGBT Law,” that the North Carolina law blatantly discriminates against gays:
Pro-LGBT corporations and government officials have turned their focus toward North Carolina and its’ HB2 after Georgia’s Governor Nathan Deal announced Monday that he would officially veto the state’s impending anti-LGBT legislation.
North Carolina’s legislation would allow discrimination against LGBT individuals and ban trans individuals from using the bathroom associated with their gender identity. Google, Facebook, the NBA and the NCAA have all spoken out against the law that was created in response to the passing of a non-discrimination ordinance in Charlotte, N.C.
However, speaking of “equality,” that’s for the LGBT tribe, not for heterosexuals.
In response to the discriminatory law, Seattle’s Mayor Ed Murray has banned official travel to the state.
“It is my hope for our nation that we do not allow issues of discrimination to divide us. Our union is only made stronger when all Americans are treated equitably.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio have joined forces in their North Carolina boycott. In an official statement, the Governor banned nonessential travel to North Carolina.
“From Stonewall to marriage equality, our state has been a beacon of hope and equality for the LGBT community, and we will not stand idly by as misguided legislation replicates the discrimination of the past. As long as there is a law in North Carolina that creates the grounds for discrimination against LGBT people, I am barring non-essential state travel to that state.”
These bans join a similar one invoked by San Francisco’s Mayor Edwin Lee on March 25:
“I believe strongly that we should be adding more protections to prevent discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in the United States, not taking them away.”
The key fallacy employed throughout the whole controversy, which, given the that LGBT “community” can turn ugly and rancorous, is the notion of “gender identity” vs. “gender at birth,” or the biological fact of a person’s existence. The New York Times was quick to side with all the groups, businesses, and organizations that have not given an iota of thought to the contradiction, if, indeed, they are even aware of.
So, if one were driving a convertible car, one could wish and fancy that one were driving a Tootsie Roll. Why not? Reality is malleable. One’s consciousness creates and defines reality. Didn’t philosophers from Descartes and Immanuel Kant forward say this was true?
The Times, in its March 24th story, “North Carolina Gay Bias Law Draws a Sharp Backlash,” reported the lemming-like rush to condemn the state legislature and the legislation.
A day after Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina signed a sweeping law eliminating anti-discrimination protections for all lesbians, gays and bisexuals and barring transgender people from using bathrooms that do not match the gender they were born with, the battle lines were clear in a bitterly divided state.
On social media and in public rallies, civil rights groups, businesses and politicians expressed dismay at the law, which was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed by the governor within just 12 hours during a hasty special session on Wednesday.
American Airlines, which employs 14,000 people in the state and has its second largest hub in Charlotte, along with other companies with operations in the state, including Apple, Dow Chemical, PayPal, Red Hat and Biogen, all issued statements critical of the new law.
The object of the boycott is not so much to protest the North Carolina law, as to punish anyone who does not conform to the “settled science.” It has been established that one can change one’s gender at will, and demand that others recognize one’s homosexuality, lesbianism, and transgender status as “normal” and uncontroversial. Heterosexuality itself is being automatically labeled as a form of “bigotry,” just as whites are being labeled bigoted against blacks by the fact of their “whiteness.”
Truth Revolt carried this story on March 30th about the latest episode of the American version of a Stalinist purge: “Conservative Prof Must Confess ‘Guilt’ for His Political Views or Be Fired.”
The subheading read: “Deems his views ‘reckless and incompatible with the mission and values of Marquette University and you [must] express deep regret for the harm’ they’ve caused.”
Because one of its professors defended a student’s view of traditional marriage against a leftist philosophy instructor deeming it homophobic, Marquette University has threatened the conservative professor’s job unless he confesses “guilt” for being “reckless” and causing “harm” to the offended instructor.
This incident dates back to November of 2014, when Professor John McAdams wrote a blog post chiding instructor Cheryl Abbate for trying to silence one of her students by telling him “some opinions are not appropriate.” The exchange was secretly recorded by the student and McAdams was able to hear what was said and included those quotes in his blog.
In her “Theory of Ethics” class, Abbate was going through a list of political issues for discussion and when she came to “gay rights,” she brazenly stated, “Everybody agrees on this, and there is no need to discuss it.” The conservative student took issue with this and confronted her about it after class, telling her he disagrees with many of the tactics of the gay lobby, especially when it comes to pushing same-sex marriage and gay adoption.
The politically correct speech enforcer, according to the article, has left Marquette for another teaching – or brainwashing – position, but Marquette is now punishing Professor McAdams.
But now Marquette, listed as a Catholic university, is bringing charges against McAdams for his blog post and a so-called diverse faculty committee has recommended his suspension without pay through the fall of 2016 first, and then his position terminated if he doesn’t confess “deep regret” for damages to Ms. Abbate.
The next step would be a show trial in the “tradition” of a Soviet prelude to execution. Already “global warmists” are calling for the execution of climate change “deniers.” The fact is that the “deniers” have never denied that climate never changes. They have demonstrated that climate changes all the time, and has changed over four or so billion years, even when the human race did not exist.
The piling on of North Carolina over HB2 by every anti-logic, anti-reason individual and group now in existence is symptomatic of a vitriolic hatred of anyone who does not conform to the collectivist, totalitarian notion of reality. It is not the first time this has shown its ugly face, and it will not be the last.
* * 30 * *
Edward Cline
Williamsburg, Virginia
March 2016
Links:
NC HB2 consequences public interest issue
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2016-03-30/lgbtqia-issues/a-national-punchline-nc-faces-economic-impact-of-hb-2/a51110-1
Transgender student sues UOP over locker room
http://www.buzzfeed.com/dominicholden/transgender-student-settles-locker-room-case-with-university#.xyaQPwRZ7
- Rule of Reason Prancing unicorns
http://ruleofreason.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-prancing-unicorn-of-bruce-jenner.html
Supreme Court gaities Rule of Reason
http://ruleofreason.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-supreme-court-gaieties.html
- New York Times North Carolina issue
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/us/north-carolina-law-antidiscrimination-pat-mccrory.html?_r=0
- Article Out on NC “backlash”
http://www.out.com/news-opinion/2016/3/29/government-officials-ban-travel-north-carolina
- Understanding HB2 Charlotte Observer
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article68401147.html
Professor must confess “guilt”
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/conservative-prof-must-confess-guilt-his-political-views-or-be-fired
- Rand on A is A non-contradictory identification
http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/logic.html
- Wikipedia on non-contradiction by Aristotle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_noncontradiction
- House Bill II North Carolina General Assembly
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2015E2/Bills/House/PDF/H2v0.pdf
Comments are closed.
