>I like the distinction. Differences exist but stereotypes should not. Hard
>isn't it? We are driven to classify. I don't that's my science background
>talking, I think it is human. But to classify is to risk error. Not to
>classify is to risk chaos and meaninglessness.
To not risk at all is to lose the vital spark that makes us alive. When we
classify, we do so in the framework of a metaphor or paradigm that defines
the world we live in. We do so, partially for the sake of sanity, and
partially to allow us to comprehend in some sense the world around us.
There are times however, when we have to step back, and examine the
metaphor, or paradigm, for what it is, and test it to see if it continues to
fit.
>I think many of the next century's challenges will touch on classification.
>When is someone dead? What is intelligence? When is a fertilized cell
alive?
>Should language-capable apes have rights to match a human vegetable's?
>
>The scary thing is I don't think we're good at the grey zone. As a species.
I work in a courthouse, and many of the legal issues that come before the
bench are beginning to border on science fiction. When is someone alive?
Should borderline intelligence be a mitigating circumstance in the
commission of a crime? Do trees have standing to sue in court?
>>Something to think about. I was reading one of Katherine Kerr's fantasy's
>>during my lunch break at work. One of my female coworkers saw the book,
>>read the blurb in the back, and told me that she likes reading romance
>>novels too. I don't think that telling her I found it in the science
>>fiction section of the bookstore would have convinced her that it was not
>>romance. It is, and I enjoyed the story, regardless of the label.
>>
>That's refreshing to hear. And brave. It is less acceptable for men to
>do anything that smacks the least of being 'female' than visa versa. I
>think it is a nasty, lingering proof of historical status differences. It's
>okay for women to step "up" but not for men to lower themselves.
A man has to get in touch with his feminine side every once in a while.
Seriously, as a species, we need to cast off our "mind forged manacles" and
recognize male and female as different, but without doubt, capable of being
equal. Another classification that needs to be reexamined. I appreciate,
and enjoy the differences between the sexes.
>I may have said this before but personally I've always felt there are
>three genders. Men, women and intelligent human beings who happen to
>also be one or the other. Ditto for people from different cultural
>heritages. Those capable of thinking their way into someone else's shoes
>transcent their own biases in ways that people who don't think outside
>the box are never able.
At some point we stop growing taller. We may get a little thicker around
the midsection, but our growth has to be emotional, intellectual, and
spiritual if we are to continue to grow at all. If we are fortunate, I
think that we could have epiphanies on a regular basis, as doors and
opportunites open to us that didn't exist before. May we can all grow to be
"intelligent human beings." Perhaps we'll stand a better chance of dealing
with the gray areas.
Your message reminds me of a movie I saw this weekend, "The Sixth
Sense." We often see what we want to see without being aware that there
might be more going on than we realize. The signs are often out there that
there's more going on in the world then we dream of, or that we let
ourselves see. It's good to see someone looking.
Bill
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