The courage OR THE EXPERTISE

Written by

Ophelia Benson

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Jerry Coyne says what I say. Everyone should be saying it.

As of yesterday, the letter was signed by (according to my count) 211 people, 31 of whom who refused to give their names and appear as “anonymous”, 65 who say they are graduate students, and 57 who say they are undergraduates. (See the signers by clicking on this link.) While there is some overlap between these groups, it’s fair to say that about half the signers lack either the courage or the expertise to call out Byrne for “lack of expertise”. What kind of person would refuse to give their names when engaging in such a dogpile?

And note that the “expertise” of those judging Byrne’s expertise (probably without having read his book or the rest of his work) include students or professors in mathematics, mechanical engineering, women’s history, urban studies and planning, aerospace engineering, computer science, chemical engineering, bioengineering and a even “Anonymous (Staff)”. (I didn’t bother to look up some of the others whose fields weren’t specified.)

Emphasis added. “You got no expertise to say men are not women,” shouted the furious sophomore in Drama.

Comments

7 responses to “The courage OR THE EXPERTISE”

  1. twiliter Avatar
    twiliter

    A five year old has the expertise to know what a man and a woman is. Even an illiterate president does. “Person, woman, man, camera, TV” for example.

    Good to see there are still some actual philosophers out there.

  2. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    Good to see there are still some actual philosophers out there.

    Yeah, but Coyne’s not a philosopher, he’s a scientist. (If he’s the one you meant.)

  3. twiliter Avatar
    twiliter

    Coyne was referring to Byrne, that’s who I meant. Sorry, I was a little unclear. :)

  4. guest Avatar
    guest

    I have to wonder about the anonymous signers – how do they get their virtue cookies if no one knows they did the virtue act?

  5. twiliter Avatar
    twiliter

    Dawkins has an agreeable comment about this on his site Why Evolution is True.

  6. What a Maroon Avatar
    What a Maroon

    So out of curiosity I clicked on the sign the petition link. Here is how they frame the links for further background information:

    For details about the allegations about Alex, see: https://dailynous.com/2025/05/05/philosophers-apparent-role-in-governments-treatment-for-pediatric-gender-dysphoria-report-revealed-by-metadata/

    For his confirmation of these allegations, see: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/06/26/hhs-review-anonymous-author/

    Ah, yes, allegations. They’ve nailed the criminal, and he’s confessed to his crimes.

    But still we must be gentle with those who want to burn him at the stake sign the petition but are too scared to bring a torch reveal their names.

    Note: We wanted to acknowledge that there are a million different reasons why someone might hesitate to sign something like this, especially in this moment. While we would certainly appreciate your support, please don’t feel any pressure at all to sign.

    Of course every right thinking person agrees with them, so not signing the petition is effectively the same as signing it.

  7. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    Ugh god. They’re so piously in love with themselves.

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