What is the purpose of competition?
Does Inclusivity Trump All?
Rights and Obligations of Transgender Athletes
In a concise opinion piece, a Choate high school junior argued that it was to society’s benefit to allow transgender athletes to compete in competitive sports regardless if that athlete retains some biological advantage.
I see this opinion piece as a quintessential example of society’s shifting values as it enters a post-Rationalist/Humanist Age (you must name a demon to control it). Fundamentally, we must consider the purpose of competition in our society. Essential to any competition is assuring that we have limited any systematic deviation in a predictable manner. Depending on the sport, this metric of measurement has been age (little league baseball), weight class (wrestling and boxing), or sex (NBA and WNBA).
BACKGROUND
Just a few weeks ago in Atlanta, top athletes competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Swimming Championship, including transgender athlete Lia Thomas. Since the 2020–2021 season, when Thomas received the green light to compete for the University of Pennsylvania’s women’s swim team, Thomas has been the subject of a fierce debate about the participation of transgender athletes in sports.
Against women, she was still extremely fast in the water. At November 2021 meet against Princeton and Cornell, Thomas posted the NCAA season-best times in the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle, set Penn records in those events, and won three individual races. She beat the second-place finisher in the blowout 500 free by nearly 13 seconds.
ATHLETICS COMPETITION’S ROLE IN SOCIETY
The values at play here must address the purpose of competitions of physical prowess. We compete, as evidenced by the Greek-inspired Olympics, to inspire completion and mastery of sport and self. Competitiveness generally serves two purposes. The motivation to achieve an outcome-oriented (winning) enhances performance-oriented (performing masterfully). Competition in Sports
In the case of transgender athletes, such as Lia Thompson, her desire to win (outcome-oriented) has come at the cost of enhancing performance (of other members of the sport) and represents a loss to our society.
I agree with the parents of female athletes who have written,
“At stake here is the integrity of women’s sports,” read the parents’ letter, which was sent to Penn and the Ivy League and later made public. “The precedent being set — one in which women do not have a protected and equitable space to compete — is a direct threat to female athletes in every sport. What are the boundaries? How is this in line with the NCAA’s commitment to providing a fair environment for student-athletes?….
“We support Lia as a trans woman and hope she leads a happy and productive life, because that’s what she deserves,” one parent of a Penn swimmer says. “What we can’t do is stand by while she rewrites records and eliminates biological women from this sport. If we don’t speak up here, it’s going to happen in college after college. And then women’s sports, as we know it, will no longer exist in this country.”
However, according to the Choate high school opinion writer,
While there’s still a question of fairness in whether a transitioned male or female athlete — who ultimately acquires the physical characteristics of their identified gender — retains some biological advantage as a fully transitioned athlete, there is a broader argument that is more compelling — one based on equity and inclusion. Even if the transgender athlete has an edge, the benefits of allowing transgender athletes to compete as their identified gender and not their biological sex far outweighs any question of fairness. A transgender athlete is no different than a cis athlete luckily born to parents who are tall, strong, and fast athletes. Is it any wonder that Alex Ovechkin, one of the greatest hockey players of all time, has a mother who was a two-time Olympic gold medalist and world champion in basketball and a father who was a good football player?
This values shift has not gone unchallenged. 16 Penn teammates sent an unsigned letter to Ivy League officials, requesting that Thomas be held out of the conference championship meet. “If [Thomas] were to be eligible to compete,” the letter read, “she could now break Penn, Ivy, and NCAA women’s swimming records; feats she could never have done as a male athlete.” The Ivy League later issued an unequivocal statement that Thomas would be allowed to swim. ‘I Am Lia’: The Trans Swimmer Dividing America Tells Her Story
We seem to be facing many paradoxes in our post-rational era beyond letting gender-transitioned males compete with females. At the core is our empirical science-based reason’s inability to convey the valence required by our humanist worldview that creates these paradoxes. We have supplanted objective truth with Humanist Truth. The hidden valance-charging of facts inhibits rational decision-making.
HUMANISM’S RISE
Western societal values have transitioned from religious thought as blind faith — to skeptical science-empowered — to a post-scientific Western liberal humanism (individual feeling as truth) that reigns today. The best summary of our current civilization’s conversation with humanism can be found in Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. Humanity’s belief in the value of human life (first as religious souls, now as humanist universal human rights) is what brought us to today. This belief has infected every facet of our civilization from science to politics.
Religious Knowledge = Scripture x Logic. Read the Bible as authority itself to answer your questions.
Scientific Knowledge = Empirical data x Math. Run experiments, and calculate conclusions professed as theory.
Humanist Knowledge = Experiences x Self-awareness. Search your feelings, and choose what you know to be true.
Humanism, a revolutionary new creed that conquered the world during the last few centuries. The humanist religion worships humanity and expects humanity to play the part that God played in Christianity and Islam, and that the laws of nature played in Buddhism and Daoism. Whereas traditionally the great cosmic plan gave meaning to the life of humans, humanism reverses the roles and expects the experiences of humans to give meaning to the great cosmos. According to humanism, humans must draw from within their inner experiences not only the meaning of their own lives but also the meaning of the entire universe. Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
What is unacknowledged by humanists is that they consider their ‘rationality’ equivalent to reasoning based on empirical facts. However, anything based on scientific theory can be measured, while Humanism has given rise to universals (e.g., universal human rights) that cannot be measured by definition. What Humanism has created in society is the rise of emotional empathy as ‘the highest good.’ THIS IS THE ESSENCE OF THE FAILURE OF HUMANISM AS PRACTICED TODAY.
“Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion” by Paul Bloom details the consequences of reliance upon emotional empathy in the decision-making process instead of cognitive empathy. With the recognition that emotional empathy “distorts our moral judgments in pretty much the same way that prejudice does,” the risks of relying upon Humanist Knowledge can come into focus.
Humanist Truth is powered by the replacement of morality with emotional empathy. By identifying with only an individual within the athletic population (transgender athletes over the majority of female athletes), each side faces an obstruction to any reasonable compromise. Entranced by emotional empathy (valance), our Choate High School junior opinion writer believes that Thomas must be allowed to compete, regardless of the consequences.
Once valence-charged, a fact becomes a magnet. Its new power can even convince a substantial proportion of our society to allow transgender athletes to compete against female athletes. Valence-charged facts are why we can no longer share a civil discourse or rely upon critical thinking skills like rational objectivism based on empirical science-validated facts. Subjective reality (based on a communal narrative) has always overlaid objective reality (facts) and we are in the process of rewriting our communal narrative using Humanist Truths.
This is a systemic problem. The same pattern manifests itself across our society.
IMMIGRATION POLICY MADE IMPOSSIBLE BY HUMANIST TRUTH
The current immigration debate seems controlled by a never-ending attempt to engage the emotions of either “Look at my pain/need” or “Justify my fear/anger.” No one wants to let others suffer or be afraid. I take no pleasure in it.
On average, the USA has accepted more than one million legal immigrants since the late 1980s. Legal Immigration to the United States, 1820-Present
The Department of Homeland Security estimates that 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the United States on January 1, 2018. Slightly fewer than 50 percent of the unauthorized immigrants in 2018 were from Mexico, compared to nearly 55 percent in 2015. About 15 percent entered since January of 2010 and 40 percent reside in California or Texas.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization 1.66 million times in the fiscal year (FY) 2021 (a number that rises to 1.73 million when interactions at ports of entry are included), much is being made of the fact that these numbers top the 1.64 million apprehensions that occurred in FY 2000, making this the highest year on record. More than 2.1 million unauthorized migrants would have crossed into the United States without being apprehended in FY 2000, based on that year’s estimated 43 percent apprehension rate. It Is Too Simple to Call 2021 a Record Year for Migration at the U.S.-Mexico Border
The focus of illegal immigration claims to be the 12 million undocumented. However, Humanist Truth compels us to identify the undocumented as DREAM ACT members (less than 800,000) or felons like the one that killed a San Francisco tourist, Polly Klaas, who was a 5-time deported illegal alien (less than 700,000 are convicted felons). Intuitive decision-making (powered by emotional empathy) is the natural result of electronic media that demands we ignore the vast majority of the 12 million undocumented and identify with 800,000 (DACA-love) or 700,000 (felon-fear). While at the same time, not considering the 44 million (U.S. foreign-born documented population).
My realization is that we sit in judgment in our modern secular world. As we have decoupled from religious institutions/teaching as the moderator of judgment (morality), we now are unhinged (unpredictable emotional empathy). What used to be the righteous indignation at injustice of the pious is now manifested as wokeness by progressives. This sharing of social consciousness, made possible on a media-enhanced global scale, is the cause of guilt-feelings and compels society to act — often in unpredictable ways.
Any important decision — trans-gender rights, criminal justice, diversity policies, immunization programs, gun control, or immigration — will inevitably have winners and losers. Decision-makers should resist the pull of emotional empathy and identifying with EITHER SIDE OF THE ISSUE. This is counterintuitive.
WHO ME? I DON’T BELIEVE IT
The greatest danger is believing only your opponents are infected with Humanistic Truth. While I hate to admit it, I am basically intuitive, not rational. Just like all people, practically all the time, I make hasty judgments. These are not based on reason. My false reason comes from the hidden operations of cognitive predispositions and a two-track brain. Instead of my mind acting as a judge weighing the facts, it acts as a press secretary seeking to justify my beliefs.
That’s right, “Humans are not designed to practice reason. We are designed to make arguments that aim to support our preconceived conclusions, not yours,” The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion.
I find humor to be central to any effort to recognize the hidden force shaping our new post-rational era (you must name a demon to control it and best to use humor in the naming). Just consider wokeness in our post-rational era (see example below): Brad & Chad Best Friends Forever video. No real spoilers are given and only 1:44 long. THE BEST TWO MINUTES YOU’LL SPEND ON YOUTUBE GUARANTEED!
As demonstrated in the video above (showing the adoption of the exact same language by both Woke and Racist groups), critical thinking is a real challenge today. Even when the facts are exactly the same, the valence charge of positive (Woke) or negative (Racist) determines which view is accepted as a societal norm.
OTHER WAYS TO CONTROL PASSIONS
I feel lucky to have lived in different countries. Each one relies on different mechanisms to make hard choices and keep emotions in balance.
In Argentina, it is the Catholic Church. The government even pays the salaries of the Catholic priests there and abortion is still illegal. Faith is a traditional tool to control emotions, but it has costs.
When I lived in Korea, I discovered they use respect for elders and positions represented by titles. Korea taught me the value of titles as a means of control. You do not ever question the expert and always respect a person by calling them by their title.
If you watch Korean dramas — much more popular in prison than one might think — on SUNNY AGAIN TOMORROW, titles allow for people with good reason to dislike each other to work together in peace. In MARRY ME NOW! No one would question a doctor’s diagnosis.
THE AMERICAN WAY
In the United States, we rely upon laws. We have more laws than any country in the world — or at least more lawyers!
We regulate the impact of emotions on our civic life with laws. Institutions make laws that we are to follow in order to not overreact — either in punishment or in mercy.
In the case of trans-athletes, I would recommend we consider applying a standard equivalent to that with performance-enhancing drugs for professional athletes. Given the enhancements from previously being male and having transitioned to female, these trans athletes would not be able to compete against natural-born females.
Is this a cost? YES
The trans-athlete may not be able to perform in competitions of their chosen sport; however, the benefits to society outweigh the cost. The reason we honor competitive sports is not merely to see who wins. We use competitive sports as a symbol of dedication, discipline, and desire. All society benefits from such displays of prowess.
For those who would claim the trans athlete is not using PEDs but has had surgery/hormone treatments to meet the standards of testosterone allowed in female athletes, I would point to Tommy John surgery as the limit of this defense.
Pitchers in Major League Baseball throw slower and less frequent fastballs after ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction; however, this may have minimal impact on their performance each inning. The Effect of Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction on Pitch Velocity in Major League Baseball Pitchers
There is clear evidence that being born and passing through puberty as a male dramatically enhances trans-athletes capacities. Accordingly, transitioned athletes have an inherent advantage. Allowing these women to compete in women’s sports is unfair.
To create in any form takes courage, I have found mine through the chrysalis of prison.
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