3 hours ago, Linkey said:

The West has adopted the ideology of protecting LGBT and other minorities.

Western democracies generally include protecting the rights of minorities, yes. It’s not difficult to find abuses of majorities where these protections are absent or ignored. If you’re not a minority you might not care, but if you are, you probably care quite a bit.

3 hours ago, Linkey said:

I am not a homophobe and I rather support the original idea, but now this policy has led to some abuses (Putin's propaganda loves to talk about them in order to instill in Russians hostility towards the West and democracy). As examples of these abuses I can name transgender people in big  sport,

There are few examples, and (speaking as a moderator) we aren’t going to litigate that here. But this seems like a common tactic of trying to present uncommon cases as being typical, and also is based on not knowing biology past grade school level

3 hours ago, Linkey said:

or gender-neutral toilets.

That’s a problem? Most people have them in their homes.

3 hours ago, Linkey said:

I hope you respect Sabine Hossenfelder, and even she has become concerned about this topic:

I respect her views in physics. Outside of that it would be the fallacy of appealing to authority, and presenting opinion as fact.

4 hours ago, swansont said:

Western democracies generally include protecting the rights of minorities, yes.

I would go further and argue that any liberal democracy (liberal as an "free") requires universal principles, such as the recognition of human rights, that are uniformly applied. As a consequence, liberal democracies always struggle more with the implementation of these policies as just implementation is difficult and there will be many edge cases which have to be litigated.

In contrast, autocracies, which in my book includes illiberal democracies (such as Russia), which only have the appearance of democratic structures (such as having elections but no processes to ensure that they are free or fair, for example), have always simple and clear answers. The only thing they need to look out for is to ensure that the ruling class benefits from whatever policy they implement. Minorities do not further that goal other than being convenient scapegoats.

On 6/6/2025 at 5:39 PM, swansont said:

Western democracies generally include protecting the rights of minorities, yes. It’s not difficult to find abuses of majorities where these protections are absent or ignored. If you’re not a minority you might not care, but if you are, you probably care quite a bit.

I believe that there is a very easy way for Trump to stop the war in Ukraine: he must initiate an all-US referendum with suggestions to prohibit big sports for transgenders, and establish that there are only two genders, men and women. If such a referendum is performed, Russians will experience a cognitive dissonance – they will realize that democracy leads to prohibiting gender diversity – and their worldviews will evolute, so they would stop supporting Putin and his war. This is so simple… Now I have a questions – what does Trump do now, to prohibit big sports for transgender people?

43 minutes ago, Linkey said:

I believe that there is a very easy way for Trump to stop the war in Ukraine: he must initiate an all-US referendum with suggestions to prohibit big sports for transgenders, and establish that there are only two genders, men and women. If such a referendum is performed, Russians will experience a cognitive dissonance – they will realize that democracy leads to prohibiting gender diversity – and their worldviews will evolute, so they would stop supporting Putin and his war. This is so simple… Now I have a questions – what does Trump do now, to prohibit big sports for transgender people?

An absurd premise, and an absurd non-sequitur.

6 hours ago, Linkey said:

I believe that there is a very easy way for Trump to stop the war in Ukraine: he must initiate an all-US referendum with suggestions to prohibit big sports for transgenders, and establish that there are only two genders, men and women. If such a referendum is performed, Russians will experience a cognitive dissonance – they will realize that democracy leads to prohibiting gender diversity – and their worldviews will evolute, so they would stop supporting Putin and his war. This is so simple… Now I have a questions – what does Trump do now, to prohibit big sports for transgender people?

This suggestion is ignorant, offensive, and represents the worst aspects of humanity. Disgraceful behavior, imo.

34 minutes ago, Phi for All said:

This suggestion is ignorant, offensive, and represents the worst aspects of humanity. Disgraceful behavior, imo.

These reactions are expected, since I know that all people who could support me have been already banned long ago ("we had some pro-Trumpists here before, but we banned them because they lied" ©). Can I ask the members one more question - who is sponsoring this forum and determining its moderation?

4 minutes ago, Linkey said:

These reactions are expected, since I know that all people who could support me have been already banned long ago

For odious personal beliefs and actions? No, the people like you always break the rules in some way, usually standing on soapboxes making vile assertions like you. Your reasoning is flawed, it's pointed out in exact terms, but you don't accept the reasoning because you haven't bothered to listen. You just stand on your soapbox with your fingers in your ears.

No amount of explanation as to the diversity we see in nature will persuade you from your hate and your objections to people who don't act like you. You and those like you are holding our whole species back with your insistence on religious and societal beliefs. You just can't seem to grasp that there's no single way of living with billions of people involved.

In the US, people like you argue about their taxes paying to help those less fortunate. They pay an average of about US$37/year for welfare and bitch about it almost constantly. Meanwhile, they pay an average of over US$700/year for corporate subsidies, taxpayer dollars for already successful companies. How can we possibly "support you" when this is what's really happening, and people like you just keep handing our rights away to corporations?

15 minutes ago, Linkey said:

("we had some pro-Trumpists here before, but we banned them because they lied" ©).

Lying isn't against the rules, actually. But when it's pointed out that you just lied, and evidence is presented, if you stand by the lie then you're soapboxing. Nobody wants to discuss anything with anybody who can't be persuaded by good reasoning.

18 minutes ago, Linkey said:

Can I ask the members one more question - who is sponsoring this forum and determining its moderation?

It's a science discussion forum, with a section for Politics. We have conservative members like you. It's not a problem until you start in with hard right propaganda, authoritarian posturing, and blatantly fascist points of view.

Nobody sponsors us. Volunteer moderation staff. It's usually not a problem until we get paid provocateurs pushing non-science agendas.

If y'all are willing to give up your liberties and democratic powers and go to a meaningless war for the sole reason that the gender orientation of a tiny fraction of the population confuses you, you probably didn't deserve those powers in the first place.

36 minutes ago, Phi for All said:

It's a science discussion forum, with a section for Politics. We have conservative members like you. It's not a problem until you start in with hard right propaganda, authoritarian posturing, and blatantly fascist points of view.

Nobody sponsors us. Volunteer moderation staff. It's usually not a problem until we get paid provocateurs pushing non-science agendas.

This forum is owned by a person from Europe?

28 minutes ago, Linkey said:

This forum is owned by a person from Europe?

No

2 hours ago, Phi for All said:

In the US, people like you argue about their taxes paying to help those less fortunate. They pay an average of about US$37/year for welfare and bitch about it almost constantly. Meanwhile, they pay an average of over US$700/year for corporate subsidies, taxpayer dollars for already successful companies. How can we possibly "support you" when this is what's really happening, and people like you just keep handing our rights away to corporations?

This does not contradict to what I wrote. If I say that a politician A, which is supported by you, does something bad, and you reply that a politician B does some other bad things - even if is this true, this does not mean that I was wrong relating the politician A.

If we compare USA with Europe, I suppose, Europe looks like USSR: it has more equality, but less freedom. In Europe, it is too difficult for a smart person to start his own business. The state controls almost everything, and the numerous laws make small business too difficult.

12 hours ago, Linkey said:

If we compare USA with Europe, I suppose, Europe looks like USSR: it has more equality, but less freedom. In Europe, it is too difficult for a smart person to start his own business. The state controls almost everything, and the numerous laws make small business too difficult.

You obviously don't know much about life in Europe (says I, a Dutchman living in Switzerland). You are suffering heavily under rightwing propaganda.

15 hours ago, Linkey said:

This does not contradict to what I wrote. If I say that a politician A, which is supported by you, does something bad, and you reply that a politician B does some other bad things - even if is this true, this does not mean that I was wrong relating the politician A.

If we compare USA with Europe, I suppose, Europe looks like USSR: it has more equality, but less freedom. In Europe, it is too difficult for a smart person to start his own business. The state controls almost everything, and the numerous laws make small business too difficult.

That is not what this survey says:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/freedom-index-by-country

According to that, in 2024 the USA scored 83 points while most European countries scored 90 +/- 1 or so.

Of course you have to read the report to understand the ranking criteria. But whatever the criteria, I would expect the ranking of the USA to fall further in 2025 and 2026, due to loss of media and academic freedom, the loss of independence of the justice system, the collapse of the Legislature in controlling the Executive, and all the other things we read about daily.

On 8/7/2025 at 12:33 PM, exchemist said:

Of course you have to read the report to understand the ranking criteria. But whatever the criteria, I would expect the ranking of the USA to fall further in 2025 and 2026, due to loss of media and academic freedom, the loss of independence of the justice system, the collapse of the Legislature in controlling the Executive, and all the other things we read about daily.

As far as I can see, scienceforums.net is not an US forum. So which country is it from? Maybe Canada or Australia?

21 minutes ago, Linkey said:

As far as I can see, scienceforums.net is not an US forum. So which country is it from? Maybe Canada or Australia?

IMO, You need to do your own homework.

1 hour ago, Linkey said:

As far as I can see, scienceforums.net is not an US forum. So which country is it from? Maybe Canada or Australia?

What has this to do with my post?

I either know nor care what country the forum is "from". The members seems to be an international bunch. Some of the mods appear to be from N. America, but so what?

I am British by the way. And you are - what? - a Russian troll? 😆

4 hours ago, Linkey said:

As far as I can see, scienceforums.net is not an US forum. So which country is it from? Maybe Canada or Australia?

Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby, specifically.

Harihua, umui be kamonai!

On 8/6/2025 at 5:16 PM, Phi for All said:

This suggestion is ignorant, offensive, and represents the worst aspects of humanity. Disgraceful behavior, imo.

I live in Russia, and I know the mentality of Russians. The Putin’s propaganda manipulatively states that Russia needs a “tsar”, not the Western model. The Russians use the word “Gayrope” (Gay Europe), and many of them connect LGBT with the democracy in Europe (at least unconsciously). Some Russians use the word “dermocracy”, the word “dermo” in Russian means “sh…t”. As far as I know, only in German 80 years ago there was a similar word – “systemzeit”. This is caused by the fact that both Germans and Russians had been living under democracy with very big economic problems – the Weimar republic in Germany and the Yeltsin’s time in Russia. But I am sure that if Russians see that under democracy people can vote against transgenders, they (the Russians) will experience a cognitive dissonance.

6 hours ago, Linkey said:

I live in Russia, and I know the mentality of Russians. The Putin’s propaganda manipulatively states that Russia needs a “tsar”, not the Western model. The Russians use the word “Gayrope” (Gay Europe), and many of them connect LGBT with the democracy in Europe (at least unconsciously). Some Russians use the word “dermocracy”, the word “dermo” in Russian means “sh…t”. As far as I know, only in German 80 years ago there was a similar word – “systemzeit”. This is caused by the fact that both Germans and Russians had been living under democracy with very big economic problems – the Weimar republic in Germany and the Yeltsin’s time in Russia. But I am sure that if Russians see that under democracy people can vote against transgenders, they (the Russians) will experience a cognitive dissonance.

The fact that you feel that many of those in your country are ignorant, have offensive attitudes, and represent the worst aspects of humanity doesn’t excuse the point of view.

7 hours ago, Linkey said:

I live in Russia, and I know the mentality of Russians. The Putin’s propaganda manipulatively states that Russia needs a “tsar”, not the Western model. The Russians use the word “Gayrope” (Gay Europe), and many of them connect LGBT with the democracy in Europe (at least unconsciously). Some Russians use the word “dermocracy”, the word “dermo” in Russian means “sh…t”. As far as I know, only in German 80 years ago there was a similar word – “systemzeit”. This is caused by the fact that both Germans and Russians had been living under democracy with very big economic problems – the Weimar republic in Germany and the Yeltsin’s time in Russia. But I am sure that if Russians see that under democracy people can vote against transgenders, they (the Russians) will experience a cognitive dissonance.

If you live in Russia and have capacity to think logically, then surely you recognise the cultural stereotypes for what they are?

1 hour ago, dimreepr said:

If you live in Russia and have capacity to think logically, then surely you recognise the cultural stereotypes for what they are?

Sorry, I don't understand your question.

23 hours ago, Linkey said:

Sorry, I don't understand your question.

It relates to the topic title, Russia has never really embraced the concept of democracy bc it's never really tried to...

Therefore the idea is foreign to our Russian brothers, and we're all against a foreign/er 'looking' idea...