I agree that thinking you know something when you don't, or, more precisely, being committed to the idea that you know something or should know something that you don't really know, can be a huge barrier to learning.
That is particularly true if you have invested a great deal of energy, even if it's just mental energy, on thinking you know, and is even more true if the thing you think you know is something you wish were true. You might wish it's true because: (1) if it's true, that's a good thing in and of itsself (e.g. if you know you are really smart and capable at math, that's just great); or (2) if it's true, it explains something about your experience (e.g. I'm sad because I have a condition that makes me sad or because my life has been harder than most and unfair); or (3) if it's true, it gives you a solution to a problem (e.g. I find life hard because I'm "trans," - satisfying at least the second idea of explaining why you aren't happy, and the third because being "trans" means that, if you take the requisite steps to "transition," you will become happy).
Many trans-identified individuals fall into this trap. They think they know they are "really" "trans," which explains why life has been hard for them, and also gives them a path forward toward their true destiny. Therefore, anyone or anything that makes them question that knowledge makes them particularly angry. Allies think "trans kids are magic" and want to think this is true because they are then the heroes in the story, helping these kids to become their true, authentic selves. They are likewise angry at anyone who questions their heroic journey, and this is particularly true of parents who have put their own children on a path to transition.
Cue CEC2 meetings, where trans activists and allies alike are extremely angry at Maud Maron, Charles and the others who dared politely question one tenet of gender ideology - the one that puts boys and young men into girls' sports, and they are also angry at anyone in the audience who supports the Board's questioning of this tenet.
In short, your theory makes perfect sense and explains why people are so intractable on this issue.
Gender ideology is certainly one huge, looming consequence of shame culture: the appearance of truth is valued above truth, due to the immense social pressure of challenging the lie. They're willing to accuse sex realists of hate, bigotry, and genocide, throw whatever they can and see what sticks, take our livelihoods and families, threaten, and destroy our sense of peace and safety. We're not willing to go to those lengths because deep down, we can empathize with them, and see that this false belief is hurting them too.
As a result, the pressure happens in mainly one direction, the direction of those who are willing to lie and coerce to achieve their ends. Snake-oil salesmen can promise a panacea. Honest doctors can't.
I don't think it'll be possible to break the cycle entirely without giving people defenses against manipulation tactics. That means cultivating true humility, providing better tools for analyzing arguments, building communities that don't rely on means of artificial cohesion like overriding plurality of thought, restoring the joy and creation that shame culture kills, and other things I've, again, had limited success implementing. But more on that later.
Yes. We ultimately have to immunize people against indoctrination. That is a valuable goal, and one that we must prioritize.
At the same time, we also have to figure out how to extricate ourselves from the mess we are in presently. We have to get people to recognize that something has gone amiss. I agree that we should do this in a way that doesn't demonize those who fell into this, but instead empathizes with the pain or efforts to be kind that led many of these people in the wrong direction.
And I agree that it is always harder to expose the truth than to proffer up lies. (I think of that Mark Twain saying about how a lie can spread around the world faster than the time it takes the truth to put on its shoes.)
Oh, yes, of course! The ideal solution—inoculation, as you've pointed out—is no longer available to us. It's going to cause a lot of tension that could have been avoided to pull people out of the spiral they're stuck in.
I'll talk strategy in the meantime but think a better solution is through fiction, using story as allegory and offering an indirect means to process these strong emotions. That's why I've not been publishing essays; I've been using my writing energy somewhere else. But now that the ideas are solidifying, it's a lighter lift.
Thanks for sharing the insights from your time teaching, Liz.
Here’s how I recently broached the topic of “gender identity” dogma, via a private message to a colleague: “How much do you know about medical & mental health treatment with respect to gender dysphoria?” The answer was: “Not much.”
That acknowledgement, I saw as setting the stage for more learning. Just as you’ve described.
I agree that thinking you know something when you don't, or, more precisely, being committed to the idea that you know something or should know something that you don't really know, can be a huge barrier to learning.
That is particularly true if you have invested a great deal of energy, even if it's just mental energy, on thinking you know, and is even more true if the thing you think you know is something you wish were true. You might wish it's true because: (1) if it's true, that's a good thing in and of itsself (e.g. if you know you are really smart and capable at math, that's just great); or (2) if it's true, it explains something about your experience (e.g. I'm sad because I have a condition that makes me sad or because my life has been harder than most and unfair); or (3) if it's true, it gives you a solution to a problem (e.g. I find life hard because I'm "trans," - satisfying at least the second idea of explaining why you aren't happy, and the third because being "trans" means that, if you take the requisite steps to "transition," you will become happy).
Many trans-identified individuals fall into this trap. They think they know they are "really" "trans," which explains why life has been hard for them, and also gives them a path forward toward their true destiny. Therefore, anyone or anything that makes them question that knowledge makes them particularly angry. Allies think "trans kids are magic" and want to think this is true because they are then the heroes in the story, helping these kids to become their true, authentic selves. They are likewise angry at anyone who questions their heroic journey, and this is particularly true of parents who have put their own children on a path to transition.
Cue CEC2 meetings, where trans activists and allies alike are extremely angry at Maud Maron, Charles and the others who dared politely question one tenet of gender ideology - the one that puts boys and young men into girls' sports, and they are also angry at anyone in the audience who supports the Board's questioning of this tenet.
In short, your theory makes perfect sense and explains why people are so intractable on this issue.
Gender ideology is certainly one huge, looming consequence of shame culture: the appearance of truth is valued above truth, due to the immense social pressure of challenging the lie. They're willing to accuse sex realists of hate, bigotry, and genocide, throw whatever they can and see what sticks, take our livelihoods and families, threaten, and destroy our sense of peace and safety. We're not willing to go to those lengths because deep down, we can empathize with them, and see that this false belief is hurting them too.
As a result, the pressure happens in mainly one direction, the direction of those who are willing to lie and coerce to achieve their ends. Snake-oil salesmen can promise a panacea. Honest doctors can't.
I don't think it'll be possible to break the cycle entirely without giving people defenses against manipulation tactics. That means cultivating true humility, providing better tools for analyzing arguments, building communities that don't rely on means of artificial cohesion like overriding plurality of thought, restoring the joy and creation that shame culture kills, and other things I've, again, had limited success implementing. But more on that later.
Yes. We ultimately have to immunize people against indoctrination. That is a valuable goal, and one that we must prioritize.
At the same time, we also have to figure out how to extricate ourselves from the mess we are in presently. We have to get people to recognize that something has gone amiss. I agree that we should do this in a way that doesn't demonize those who fell into this, but instead empathizes with the pain or efforts to be kind that led many of these people in the wrong direction.
And I agree that it is always harder to expose the truth than to proffer up lies. (I think of that Mark Twain saying about how a lie can spread around the world faster than the time it takes the truth to put on its shoes.)
Oh, yes, of course! The ideal solution—inoculation, as you've pointed out—is no longer available to us. It's going to cause a lot of tension that could have been avoided to pull people out of the spiral they're stuck in.
I'll talk strategy in the meantime but think a better solution is through fiction, using story as allegory and offering an indirect means to process these strong emotions. That's why I've not been publishing essays; I've been using my writing energy somewhere else. But now that the ideas are solidifying, it's a lighter lift.
Thanks for sharing the insights from your time teaching, Liz.
Here’s how I recently broached the topic of “gender identity” dogma, via a private message to a colleague: “How much do you know about medical & mental health treatment with respect to gender dysphoria?” The answer was: “Not much.”
That acknowledgement, I saw as setting the stage for more learning. Just as you’ve described.
I look forward to reading the next installments!