I took a day off from the extended comments I have been making about Marx because this morning I appeared as a guest in a freshman writing course at Cornell University where the students just got finished reading my little book In Defense of Anarchism. It was a lovely experience and seeing them all on my computer on gallery view cheered me up no end. I have spent the last two weeks binge watching the trial of Derek Chauvin. That has been somewhat depressing, I must confess
It is hard to be 87 years old and see what this country is becoming, but then Prince Philip just passed away at 99 so perhaps I will get to see a little bit more of what the better half of my fellow Americans can make of this place.
Tomorrow, I want to try to respond to some of the responses I have received both on this blog and in email messages to what I have been writing.
On a cheerier note: for once I hope that "America's financial titans" know what they are talking about (and yes, those are scare quotes). Felix Salmon is one of the more sensible economic/finance journalists around today.
ReplyDeleteAnother cheerier note, New Mexico has ended qualified immunity. That should have some impact on police conduct.
ReplyDeleteStill another.....
ReplyDeleteThe Maryland legislature has overridden [The vastly overrated} Governor Hogan's veto of a "police reformation" bill, which should change police procedures in the state.
S. Chase
ReplyDeleteMy understanding from reading a bit about that case elsewhere is that the 6th Circuit reversed the dismissal and sent the case back for trial but did not make any substantive holdings on the merits. It just said that Meriwether should have a chance to prove his contentions in the trial court.
I'd say that Merriweather has a right to express his view that gender (or rather sex) is determined at birth, but not to use the pronouns of his choice.
ReplyDeleteWhether gender (or sex) is determined at birth seems to me to be a subject which could be debated. Probably, someone who believes the gender (or sex) is determined at birth thinks that there is no difference between sex and gender or that gender is just a ridiculous concept.
On the other hand, it's just a matter of basic courtesy to address people by the pronoun which they prefer to be addressed with.
However, I'm not a lawyer and I have no idea of the legal doctrine involved. That is, the above is my ethical outlook.
Suppose a student's legal name is Murgatroyd William Firefly. He prefers, vastly, to go by "Bill". The professor insists on Murgatroyd. The university, let us say, has in place a nickname policy, etc. How would this variant case be adjudicated?
ReplyDeleteResponse to the lawyer who needs multiple aliases,
ReplyDeleteIf you 1) have read New Mexico Civil Rights Act, and 2) have a line of reasoning to support your claim this Act will not withstand judicial review, please let us know. Otherwise, ....
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