Lack of Empathy for Women and Other Groups

meandering_vines · 2021-01-12T16:51:07+00:00

I worry too that California's bad policies will be brought to the national level. It is stunning to me that taxpayers in the state are now forced to contribute money toward making the state LESS safe (by transferring men to women's prisons, covering "gender reassignment surgeries" for children, etc.). Meanwhile, there are numerous pressing issues in the state that must be solved, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, homelessness, and wildfires.

meandering_vines · 2021-01-12T16:38:00+00:00

Yeah, did he want to take a selfie of himself with the needle in the arm to show the world how much he "cares"? I told my sister about his post, and she found it ridiculous too. She was like, "What is the issue? Like, he was turned away and now DOESN'T have to sit there with the discomfort of a needle in his arm. What is the problem? LOL." He also literally lied to the medical professionals and evidently sees nothing wrong with that. These health guidelines are set by medical researchers, statisticians, epidemiologists, etc. and are about reducing risk. If he disagrees with the guidelines, he can debate them later, but flat out lying to the professionals is wrong.

meandering_vines · 2021-01-12T16:22:26+00:00

This is in the US. I also thought that blood donors are not paid in the US. (I used to donate blood in high school without payment. Then in college I started donating plasma, which was paid, because I needed the money. But the plasma donations went toward making products containing human plasma, rather than being given directly to a patient, and I answered all their questions honestly of course). It seems then that he added in the claims about money to help his argument, even though it's blatantly false.

That is really sad about the HIV contamination in the 80s. I wish I could comment that on his Facebook post, but I don't want people going after me on there. I already got a few attacks from former friends when I posted a few months ago about men in women's prisons (SB132). I think some people (including this guy) don't realize the difference between "treating people differently in some contexts for legitimate reasons" vs. "illegal discrimination". He also seemed bothered that straight people could have sex within the past year and still qualify for donating blood, while MSM could not. However, I have always been asked before donating if I "have had sex with a man who sleeps with men", so straight women could be turned away too for this.

meandering_vines · 2021-01-12T00:31:11+00:00

I have lost so much respect for Nature, which has made clear that it will publish anything for "impact". Journals like Nature with high impact factors have higher rates of journal retractions than journals with lower impact factors. Some people believe that it's because journals with high impact factors are more widely read, are more likely to respond to claims of errors, and publish more "risky" content anyway. Others suggest that the prioritization of impact incentivizes researchers to exaggerate the claims of their work or even commit research fraud to push a certain narrative. The link is to an editorial, not a research article, but I still think it's inappropriate for Nature to publish this.

meandering_vines · 2021-01-12T00:20:17+00:00

I used to view using pronouns as a matter of politeness, but now I can't bring myself to refer to anybody with pronouns other than those based on sex. In the workplace this mostly means that I also avoid speaking about these people in the first place or use their name if I have to speak about them. Once activists started pushing for "misgendering" to literally be against the law or against workplace policy, the time for politeness ended. Also the concept of using somebody's pronouns if requested has now changed to "everybody must announce their pronouns when introducing themselves" and "you better make room in your Twitter bio to declare your pronouns!". It's also silly how activists constantly use the phrase "pronouns are about dignity and respect", as if correctly referring to somebody's sex is somehow the worst offense possible and as if women and people of color aren't routinely referred to with actual slurs.

meandering_vines