a chair is something agreed to be called chair by those speaking and those listening. linguistic definitions are inherently subjective, affected by the culture and beliefs of those using the words. there is nothing that is, inherently, in its very essence, coded "chair" in our universe; only intentions mutually understood through shared experiences.

this is the flaw in demanding one define womanhood as well, as the definition is altered by both the speaker and listeners' perspectives.

when we don't agree on a definition, we cannot come to a mutual understanding, and that's not a gotcha like terfs would have you believe, it's a trait of human communication even more ubiquitous than mutual understanding.

the fact that people keep arguing about such things makes me think they're either being intentionally disingenous (less likely than my impulse is to assume) or simply don't understand this yet.

i was told one to stop overestimating people. Hanlon's Razor tells us to never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

ignorance is only an excuse for hostility when it is chosen repeatedly in an observable way when truth is equally accessible; this is very rarely how conversations work, and even less so when discussing things online.

#terfs #trans #definitions #woman #chair #horse #linguistics #being-and-not-being #the-immutable-nature-of-identity #misunderstandings #ignorance