On the left, they want to use anecdotes or outliers that show how a small number of people are being oppressed or disadvantaged to re-write the rules and norms. This is what the far left is doing when they talk about the idea that gender is just a social construct and that we should really just get rid of the gender question on forms and gendered bathrooms. This extremely is silly if you ask me. It fails to understand what a rule is and what normal means.
On the right, they want to keep the old rules and norms, not change them and refuse to admit that there are any exceptions, outliers. This is just as silly. For a person to have a gender is the norm, that is true. But, not all people are normal and those that aren’t shouldn’t be treated as if they are horrible or evil, or whatever. They are different and we need to understand that and accept it.
In the end, I think it is about being realistic about what is normal and useful: the rules and norms. At the same time we have to have tolerance and realize that there are exceptions and deal with them in a constructive way.
The rules and norms are useful for society in general, and I don’t think we can give that up, nor should we. But those norms and rules shouldn’t be used to vilify or attack people. Rules like this are rules based on what is normal, in other words most prevalent. That is what this kind of rule should be, not something based on the unusual or anecdotal. But, rules always have exceptions because what is normal is never 100%. So the idea that there should be no exceptions is ridiculous.
How we deal with exceptions is what makes us human and not machines or computers that just follow rules unthinkingly and without compassion.
