American Society Can Accommodate Absurdism
And we do not need to completely reorder society to do it.
It is not necessary to allow the absurdism of our contemporary times to destroy America.
The fact is that the absurdism is a minority event, the larger issue is that there are those, also a minority, who care little to nothing for the people who challenge reason and nature in a quest to find their place in the world but seek to use the malignant social deviance as an opportunity to reorder society – mostly for their own benefit. Those people have convinced those in the absurdist camp that, in order for them to have their rights respected, the rights of others must be compromised.
The roles of transgendered individuals are more easily assimilated in general society and the business world due to non-physical attributes (education, intellect, experiences) but perhaps the most salient example of difficult accommodation is that of transgender women directly competing with biological females in sports.
I know it is a tradition more than an enumerated right, but America has always respected the principle of fair play, rejecting situations where unfair advantages or disadvantages are present. We do not allow performance enhancing drugs or the breaking of rules in competitions, and we go to extremes to prevent one competitor from gaining advantage through extraordinary means.
And yet, that unfairness is a cause célèbre supported by the woke and the elitists in our society.
We see transgender females competing in weightlifting, golf, track and field, wrestling, handball and field hockey (all spots where size and strength matter) – but I find it curious there are no transgender males (biological females who claim to be males) clamoring to compete in the NFL, NBA, MMA or any of a vast cornucopia of sporting events where biological males compete?
Could it be that reality bites?
Could it be that there really is a difference between biological males and females and transgender sporting women are just taking advantage of their male biology for personal reasons?
Transphobia may well be real, but it is not manifested in sport. This is not hatred or fear, it is a simple and fundamental issue of fairness, of people using a psychological condition to create an unfair advantage and their enablers in government, the governing bodies of sport and society.
I have the freedom to live as I choose – with one major limitation. I cannot compromise the rights of another person without consequence, and neither should transgender females OR transgender males be allowed to do so.
Even though I lean libertarian believing the “You do you and I’ll do me” proposition, it is clear that is not a solution that works for those in the absurdist camp. The libertarian view presupposes no one has a right to impose any sort of moral code or social mores on another, but that is exactly what happens in the absence of such codes and mores. The “You do you” ethos leaves a vacuum that can be filled by those who wish to enforce the societal changes that advantage their positions.
Transgender people have a place in society, as do we all. Society can accommodate the absurdists, but not at the expense of others who do not share their perception of their world – for those of us who have no wish to switch sexes, genders, or societal constructs, we are not obliged to surrender our rights, traditions, or social mores to accommodate them any more than a biological female should be expected to compete with a male athlete loaded with hormones designed to suppress their natural state.
Two scenarios seem obvious: 1) there should be three sporting classifications – biological male, biological female, and non-gender specific or 2) in sports where individual performance is recorded, some sort of handicapping system (such as is used in golf) should be developed and in team sports, transgenders should see restrictions in time on the field or court. There are quantifiable performance metrics (strength, speed, physical body dimensions) that can be used to develop a handicapping system for both individual and team sports.
Some will say this is treating transgenders differently, and that difference amounts to discrimination, but the transgender community IS different and to accommodate their rights without compromising the rights of others, a different approach is warranted. Anything less will condemn biologically female athletes and their sporting events to extinction. Nobody has the right to do that to anyone.
There are ways to live together while respecting each other’s rights without completely reordering society.