The manipulation of scientific language

SpareOom (New Messages)
1

Latest post in my blog on popular science:
The manipulation of scientific language
https://populscience.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-manipulation-of-scientific-language.html

Regards,

2

There is a current “scientific” term which infuriates me: “gender-affirming”, i.e. the attempt to make a male or female body into its opposite. This, of course, is actually gender “negating”, not “affirming”. And someone who opposes such an “affirmation” is called a “homophobe”, whereas, in fact, a person who SUPPORTS such a process is the “homophobe”, since he or she is inflicting a great deal of harm on the person being “affirmed”.

Dimitry

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)

3

There is a current “scientific” term which infuriates me: “gender-affirming”, i.e. the attempt to make a male or female body into its opposite.

This is not a scientific term, but an ideological term: gender ideology (or sex ideology, possibly).

This, of course, is actually gender “negating”, not “affirming”. And someone who opposes such an “affirmation” is called a “homophobe”, whereas, in fact, a person who SUPPORTS such a process is the “homophobe”, since he or she is inflicting a great deal of harm on the person being “affirmed”.

And it also inflicts harm to many others: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11799445/Trans-athlete-WINS-womens-1-500m-event-Canada.html

Regards,

4

‘Gender’ is a term used in social sciences in reference to cultural and psychological rôles, as opposed to biological functions. Obviously, ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ will overlap conceptually to varying extents.

5

Yes, that’s the story that’s told to attempt to justify the nonsensical and patently false notion that, e.g., Richard Levine is actually a woman. At least as used in this way, it’s a lie from the pit of hell.

6

It’s fascinating to me to observe the mental gymnastics that go along with the manipulation of scientific language. I think it’s actually in the name of “kindness” and we try to bash the science (and our interpretation of Christianity!) to fit into the current zeitgeist. There’s currently a big hullabaloo about Hershey’s having a trans woman as part of their Her/She campaign in Canada for women’s history month. We just finished black history month, and if a white person had worn blackface and claimed to represent black people for that there would have been outrage (a point I borrowed from Ben Shapiro). The inconsistency and illogic beggar description. How have we Christians been so buffaloed by the rhetoric that we’ve placed current societal “morality” above the mere Christianity that we know has given us everything?

While I’m resurfaced from lurkdom (hi everybody!) I’ve also been appalled at the way the pandemic has affected the church. At least in the US the number of folks who simply couldn’t handle the way their church leadership chose to navigate it (there was no “win” on this one), and have used that as a valid reason to walk way, sickens me. I can only imagine Screwtape gloating as we allowed our particular news sources to tell us that our leader failed, and thus we no longer needed the accountability/community of coming together. I love CS Lewis’s description of worshiping with all sorts, and how badly we need it.

1 Like