Politically Non-Binary
One of the things I really like about the Rationalist community is that it doesn't care about forcing anyone into any sort of roles. I've gotten so used to it, that I was recently shocked to encounter enforced binaries out in the wide world again. (I haven't been forced to interact with anyone I don't want to since my lay off).
In the midst of the Google Memo kerfuffle I participated in some interesting conversation that changed my mind about the memo itself. Which is what conversation is for, in my community.
However in some places it appears that much of conversation is to signal loyalty rather than refine knowledge. I guess in the wider world there are only two positions one can have on the memo: it is either a sexist screed, or a brave thesis. This breaks the world into the two political camps - Left and Right.
The interesting part is that one is not allowed to hold to the tenants of the Left - that gender equality is a good thing, that society still has some issues there, and that equal rights are a great thing to fight for - while simultaneously holding that the memo isn't a clarion call for raging sexism. Even giving the writer the benefit of the doubt, and pointing out that some things being claimed in the media didn't seem to have a basis in the text of the memo, immediately marks the person saying so as a Rightist by those who believe in the political binary.
The really shitty part of this is that those who believe in the political binary also believe that those on the Other Side are morally reprehensible, and therefore any signs that someone isn't on Our Side are interpreted as proof of moral decrepitude. Which, nowadays, is license for hatred, blacklisting, and violence. Because apparently the wider world is too damn stupid to think that maybe one can hold that there are some differences between groups while also believing that all people are equally deserving of respect, all rights are universal and inalienable, and someone's physical characteristics or emotional disposition or intellect has no bearing on their worth as a human.
Well you know what? Screw anyone trying to force me into a political binary like that. If someone's position is that people deserve equality and respect only because they are indistinguishable in aptitude, they have a horrible fucking philosophy. If someone's position can be reduced to "sexism is OK if the sexes are different," than no wonder they have to silence any research into sex differences. It's like the church tying their position of "Murder is bad" to "The sun revolves around the earth." It's only in their deranged minds that someone interested in heliocentricism will cause the collapse of social order and rampant murder in the populace. Any decent person is able to say "Maybe the sun circles the earth, or maybe it's the other way around, but that is an empirical question and has NOTHING to do with whether it's OK to murder people, WTF is wrong with you??"
I am politically non-binary. I can question whether the minimum wage is harmful on a empirical level without that implying that I think "the poors" deserve to starve and wealth is a sign of strength of character. They are unrelated. I can state that street violence without due process is a bad idea without believing that minorities should be ejected. They are unrelated. And I can believe God is a figment of the collective imagination without believing that murder and rape are fine if you can get away with them. Those are unrelated.
Stop trying to force me into your political binary.