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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   31722 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 24, 2023

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Do you think if you asked Joe Biden “what is a woman” that he would say a biological woman or “someone who identifies as a woman?” Biden might fuck up the answer but still.

Honestly? Complete wild card. Dude could start talking about his childhood and I wouldn't be surprised.

Thing is, we're getting pretty far removed from "thinking reality is socially constructed." Gender issues are a good example of how the party line sort of awkwardly stumbles when it approaches constructivism and other rhetorical extremes. I am reluctant to say that nodding along with the fringe of one's party is the same as really accepting their premises about reality.

Compare the kritik from (college) debate.

But that seems impossible to prove. It amounts to “When we nod along (and indeed support things like so called gender affirming care) we don’t really believe it.” Maybe but that’s damning of itself.

Yeah. I think it’s pretty common for tribal beliefs, where closing ranks is more adaptive than studying philosophy. “What is a woman?” triggers those instincts—notice how both your sample answers are tribally charged. “Biological woman” is a phrase that basically only exists in this CW context.

There is definitely a fringe of liberals with really strong opinions about gender. In the process of playing this definitional game, they will say constructivist things. Sometimes normies will parrot them.

The real question is whether they will apply that logic anywhere else. I think the answer is usually “no,” even among the ones who are coming up with constructivist slogans. Racial self-ID, sovereign citizenship, it’s all outside the Overton window for most people. It’s way easier to apply rhetoric to a narrow field than to try and generalize it.

I think this is why legal scholarship gets constructivist really quickly. Since the subject of a case is so narrowly defined, suspending disbelief and reasoning about definitions is an easier sell.

"Listen Jack! A woman is a woman and she knows it! God save the Queen!"

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