You and I are inward beings, creatures of consciousness. Whatever, if anything, is outside, has to pass through our sense organs in order for us to become aware of it. So our awareness of it is never direct; it is always mediated by our perceptions. We know our perceptions of things, not things-in-themselves.

Remember that the purpose of a safe space is not to protect people; it’s to protect people’s feelings, to set their feelings beyond rational debate. To render them true by virtue of their being sincerely felt.

Sexual classification is not something you get to decide, as desperately as you may wish it were. There is no natural right to overrule reality. You are what you are. Nothing more and nothing less.

Theories are falsifiable beliefs that are logically analyzed and empirically tested to determine their validity. If a theory doesn’t hold up, it’s either revised or abandoned altogether. Axioms, on the other hand, are systemic starting points; they are methodological givens.

Believe the accuser, clearly. Unless the accuser is white and the accused black, in which case disbelieve the accuser and believe that the accused is a victim of systemic racism. Or unless the accuser is male and the accused female, in which case take into account the contributions that the accused has made to her field. But if the accuser is a

Saying true things, in other words, is not your only job if you’re attempting to produce a fair and accurate account of the past.

Notice, however, that Einstein isn’t arguing for the plurality of truth. Rather, he is saying that from any specific position, there will still be one and only one true measurement of the motion of an object, and that that one true measurement is calculable and in no sense open to negotiation.

if you control for frequency of interactions—that is, if you take into account the fact that black people are far more likely, per capita, to be contacted by cops—you find that the police are no more likely to use lethal force against black suspects than against white suspects.

How you react to the truth, of course, is a matter of conscience. You can ignore it and hope that no one notices, or you can adjust to it. But if, for the sake of people’s feelings, you can be made to admit, or even worse to believe, that what’s true is false, or what’s false is true, then you’re lost. Intellectually and morally, you’re lost.