: They say women are discouraged from studying mathematics. Well,
: I'm sorry. No doubt, the poor dears are discouraged. When I see them
: eating one meal a day and spitting blood, then I'll know they are
: serious.
To which QueeneMUSE replied:
-> Ouch, how come so much hatred?
->
-> (feeling ill)
Good. Now you know what real art is. (I can hear the reply already:
"Oh, so that's what real art is. It makes you sick!" No, dear... but
it has an intense effect, for better or worse. It gets things in focus
so you can't help responding.)
The point I am making is the same point made by Eugene Leitl, which
you agreed with --
-> But I also think that ignoring this brutal truth about willingness
-> and hard work would be a big mistake. The same thing holds true
-> for every one of our "sanctioned victim" beliefs.
Brutal truths require brutal prose.
Women may be discouraged from being great mathematicians, but then
*everybody* is discouraged. The obstacles women find in their path
are no worse than the obstacles Abel had to overcome. The fact that
women are discouraged is not an explanation for the lack of female
mathematicians. In fact, women do overcome obstacles. It's just that
they don't do it on the way to becoming mathematicians.
This should be too obvious to require explicit argument. Why isn't it
obvious? Why do we have to waste our time debating this point?
*Because history, like art, has become a memetic billboard.*
The phenomenon of "political correctness" makes us blind to the
way things are. Anyone who cares about the truth, or the Truth,
has to fight his way through a maze of illusions.
Why the hatred? I hate lies. I hate whatever or whoever it is that
makes it impossible for us to see ourselves as we are.
Lyle