I don’t know, sometimes the though of “what if all my leftist ideas are false? What if trans people are just mentally ill? What if gay people are just deviants?”
I honestly really don’t like it…
It’s good to question your beliefs I guess, it’s how you grow, but it sometimes makes me really uncomfortable. Why does this happen? Can I stop it? Should I?
If you feel crazy because you don’t fit in, it’s entirely possible you’re not the crazy one. It’s entirely possible a large portion of society is on another bender.
I found the book, “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” by Charles Mackay helpful.
It was first published in 1841, so it’s in the public domain and available online. I found my copy in a used bookstore for a $1.
Mackay documents many of the public manias that overtook society up to that point. He describes dozens of them and remember, his list stops in the mid-1800’s.
Being aware of this pattern helps me to realize that a large number of humans are highly illogical. It helps me to understand that yes, a large number of people can all go off the deep end. It’s not me, it’s them. Notably, I can’t do anything about it. All I can do is lie low and ride it out.
You should always Question everything, If someone tells you not to question it, question it Harder.
If it is the Truth then it doesn’t matter if you Question it or not, and nobody should care if you question it
If it’s a Lie, then You need to know why you’re being lied to, you need to know who benefits from it, you need to know if the Lie was worth suppression of the Truth.
If your life is truly better with the Lie it is always better to know and make that decision for yourself, never let others dictate what you believe because it is better for them, If you are going to follow a Lie make sure it is in your best interest. Because anyone will tell you a lie to help themselves but no one will willingly work against their own self interest.
I always look at it this way. So what?
What if I’m wrong and gay people are deviants? Well if I’m wrong, they get to live life like they want to. No problem there.
What if trans people are mentally ill? Well, we don’t stop boob jobs or tattoos, and if we’re claiming trans is ill then those are too. So no problem with that either.
Think of the consequences of your actions, and if those consequences are OK even if you’re wrong, then you can stop worrying.
No way, that’s just science, baby! (Edit: OK, and philosophy)
I think those questions need to be followed through with a chain of reasoning and questions, not denial. There’s usually lots of options.
So for that “gay people are deviants” question, a “no they aren’t” answer isn’t helpful, because it’s faith based, which leads to a shutdown of thinking and curiosity.
Another line might be: if they are, then does that mean that the tens or hundreds of other animal species with documented existence of homosexuality are also deviants? Can an animal be a deviant? Seems unlikely… Does that mean that maybe deviance is a dodgy concept? What does it actually mean? Does it mean a thing is fundamentally bad, or does it just mean that it doesn’t fit with a particular value system? If that’s the case, and I personally know a bunch of gay people who are really lovely people, is it possible that it’s the value system that’s the problem, not the gay people?
There’s usually plenty of other chains of thought that will get you to a place like this. Doing this kind of thought exploration also means that when you come up against someone making that argument in public, then you have a better idea where you stand, and you can potentially engage constructively with them, if they seem open to it.
EDIT: Fixed grammar with AI.
The word deviant doesn’t have a concrete meaning in scientific terms.
So, no—objectively speaking, gay people are not “deviant,” since morality is a human construct. (And even if it weren’t, that would be a philosophical question.)
The best way I could reframe this question is:
A. Are we evolutionarily predisposed to find people with alternative* sexual preferences distasteful or unpleasant?
B. Are alternative* sexual preferences evolutionarily harmful to society?
C. Are alternative* sexual preferences harmful to an individual’s own evolutionary success?
D. If any of the above are true, is the psychological or societal damage so detrimental—either to the individual or to society—that it would still be preferable to engage in alternative* sexual desires?
In this context, “alternative” refers to anything outside of a heterosexual relationship. However, these questions can be narrowed down to whatever specific sexual preferences you are inquiring about.
I won’t offer my own opinion on this, nor will I present any scientific evidence. But I will say this: I don’t think the issue is as black and white as some might assume.
