"I am white man. Hear me roar." (2/3)

In the United States, it is, of course, almost always straight white men who spend their time trying to keep others from being "uppity." (But plenty of white women praise those men.) According to those straight white men:

Straight white male views and interests are the default. 

Only straight white men can be objective and dispassionate. 

It isn't just the U.S., however. Anne recently listened to a German podcast about attempts there to make language less gendered and less "default male." Of course, a straight white dude came on and said things like, "It is only a grammatical gender. No one should feel excluded." 

Other straight white men say things like "Sex is real." And, "It is important medically." 

I honestly don't understand why it is so hard to just treat people with respect and grant everyone basic human dignity. 

Yes, I understand you might find gay sex gross and repulsive. You may find it impossible to imagine having a penis and being anything other than a "man." You might be uncomfortable around people of certain races. You might think others' traditions are weird and they should "assimilate." You might think women should be married, mothers, and stay home with kids, and definitely not be allowed to "murder her unborn child." You might think that you have nothing to do with prejudice in society. You might find it ridiculous what some people get upset about ("It's just words!"). 

Fine. 

But as I discuss in the chapter "Why Reason Is Needed" in Losing My Religions, we shouldn't base our ethics and laws on our personal emotions or experiences. 

Everyone should be granted the right to live as they want, regardless of how they make us feel. 

And those who are being actively persecuted should be granted extra protection. 

It is not "brave" to "push back" on those who are working for basic human rights, who are asking for respect and dignity. It is not "intellectually courageous" to spend your career telling people they are "wrong" in how they use words, how they think about gender, how they think about people's different roles in society.

What is brave and moral is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. 

Meanwhile, this.