Episode 9: Accountability

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Season Two, Episode One.

Hello world. I’m the dad of a trans kid.

That was how I started my first post to address the explosion of false accusations and conspiracy theories stemming from another parent outing our family on Facebook. I went on to explain that our young trans son was not actually a threat to God and country, or his 2nd grade class.

That was back in the Spring of 2016.

It seems like another lifetime ago when our son first made it clear that someone got it wrong on his assigned gender. And he was right. Gender, like many other things in nature, is on a spectrum. The year was 2011, and he wasn’t yet three years old.

The need for Scientific Rebellion grew out of my experience advocating for the trans community over the past decade and a half. The world unfortunately, is now a far more dangerous place than it was just a few short years ago.

While I still believe sharing our story is worthwhile and even necessary, it has become painfully clear that it is in no way sufficient. It will take a heck of a lot more to overcome the intentional dehumanization and vilification of the trans community and its allies.

And it is not just the trans community that faces persecution and elimination from American life. Critical thinking and scientific discourse itself are under fire, and anyone who does not fit the far right’s white patriarchal Christian standard may find themselves an enemy of the state.

Every generation has its challenges. But the youngest generations inheriting the world today face trials across the spectrum of existential threats, including some that could make the planet itself uninhabitable. From social injustices to genocide. From environmental disasters to climate crisis. From terrorism to nuclear war. It is no wonder why so many young people today disengage from the political process altogether. We seem to be trying the same things over and over again, hoping for a different outcome.

So how do we motivate our young people in the face of such daunting challenges? How do we reconcile the America that exists today against the vision of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution? How do we confront an American culture that has benefited so greatly from the technological advances of the modern age while simultaneously rejecting scientific discourse on the issues that matter most?

It may seem a tall order, but there is a path. And it represents the single greatest opportunity we have to create a world where critical thinking rises above religious beliefs and speculation; where logic and reason triumph over fear and rage; where the value of human beings is not measured by caste or coin; and where the rules of law are not divined by men masquerading as messiahs.

The tie that binds us together as rebels is critical thinking.

All things being equal, I believe each generation is more inclined to challenge and reject the biases, and irrational assumptions of previous generations. Unfortunately, all things are not equal.

We see how the long-lasting effects of colonization, slavery and segregation have become so ingrained in our institutions, that even today we still struggle to excise it from our systems and culture. We see it in the generational indoctrination that persists like an undetected virus, replacing learning and reason with a preconceived, insidious narrative. We see how easily wealth and power can influence legislation and policy at every level of government, from school boards to the halls of congress, all the way to the Supreme Court. We see how that same wealth and power can be used to convince voters of even the most logic-defying conspiracy theories and big lies.

The Scientific Revolution gave humanity the tools to challenge organized religion, but each generation has fallen short in seeing it throug