But what really caught my attention is in his second tweet, the almost-apology one above: |It was also not my intent to ally in any way with Republican bigots in US now exploiting this issue".
Two thoughts here:
(1) It is not "Republican bigots" who have gone after him, for a perfectly reasonable question in his first tweet: why do we treat trans-race so differently from trans-sex. It was the Left, especially the far Left bigots wot got him. It was not Republicans, but the Humanist Association that snatched back their quarter century-old award, the exquisitely Left Humanist Association. And Dawkins is a founder of that movement! So that's bitter. And they are the ones that -- against all their values that they held up to five minutes ago -- have attacked him. For his views. (Added: not even views, tbf, but a question, which I believe was posed in good faith)
Recall: "bigot" = "A person who is intolerant to those holding different opinions". Perfectly apt for those piling on against Dawkins.
(2) Is it not those on the Left who are "exploiting the issue"? I think so. Consider that the Left has taken over the "transgender issue" as the latest victim class, so that they, the Democratic Party, can come to their rescue, just as they have done -- in their minds at least -- with other minorities, Black, LGPBT, etc...
This led me to consider this a part of the "Incoherence of the Philosophers". That's a reference to the arcane battles within Islam back in the day. It's what led to the Closing of the Muslim Mind (a book I read some years ago which I found gave a compelling explanation of why Islam declined from its middle age glories into the ossified and anti-modern belief system we see today).
Today, it's the incoherence of the philosophers like even the wonderful Dawkins. That he cannot see, such as he is in a bubble, that his opponents are as much -- maybe more -- on the Left as the Right.
There are others: Sam Harris disappointed when he came out against the Kavanaugh Supreme Court appointment, by giving credence to his accusers, the three women. The first of whom gave "evidence" of sexual misconduct that was backed up neither by her family, nor her friends, nor any other contemporary students; and the other two of whom were quickly revealed as out and out liers. Their lawyer, Avenatti -- at the time touted as a potential for the Presidency (!!) -- is now in jail for fraud. All that has come out since then, since the time that Sam Harris gave up his featly to "the truth" and came out as as partisan a pundit as all the others he'd so despised to that date. That was disappointing.
And then there's Jerry Coyne over "Why Evolution is True", who wonders why African Americans would vote for Trump in greater numbers than in 2016. For me it was wondering why more had not. Given that Trump held out school choice, a really big deal for Black American families, against the Dems who are in hock to the Teachers Unions and so against choice. And given that the Republicans are generally more in sync with Black Americans more conservative views on things like religion and culture. But to Coyne, to wonder about why? is to show the extent that he is in his own bubble.
ADDED: James Carville is also in his own balloon....
