[Aliantha]

Originally, I personally did not see this thread as an attack on Ib, and in all honesty I still don't.

What I do see wrong with it is the fact that Henry has posted it in a 'philosophy' forum, but he's looking for some kind of scientific justification for why he should be forced to do or say something which he clearly has no intention of doing, even in order to support a member of a community which he frequents, regardless of whether there is a cost to himself or not.

He claims some moral high ground about 'lying' to himself if he addresses a transgender person by their preferred pronoun, but to date has failed to explain how there can possibly be any cost to himself outside of cracking through the barriers of understanding to extend a little courtesy.

I say to you, if someone is introduced to you as Mr Schiznit, and then says, 'yeah, but you can call me Al'. would it be at some high moral cost to you to call that person Al instead of Mr Schiznit? Seriously, even if for some reason you held that person in high regard and felt comfortable calling them 'Mr', we can all get used to addressing people by their preferred name. Maybe Mr Schiznit really hates his surname and by addressing him as such, even if it feels right to you, it really sux for him, and you're not doing yourself any favours by continuing to do so, particularly if Mr Schiznit happens to be your boss or some other authority figure. In fact, not following Mr Schiznit's wishes may in fact end up being 'at great personal expense' to you!