From Great Hills Park on June 17th, here's one ripe fruit of many I found growing on an Ibervillea lindheimeri vine. Common names are balsam gourd, balsam apple, and Lindheimer's globeberry. The typical size for these fruits is an inch or a bit more across.
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You're welcome to read Kevin Ray's June 27th article "The 'LGBT Community' Fallacy," whose subtitle is "A population doesn’t make a community. Communities of affinity exist when members participate in events together and have a shared set of values." Here's how it begins:
I’m a gay man who is skeptical of the existence of a so-called “LGBT community.” The idea of this community is a belief rather than an objective truth, and I don’t affirm its existence for the sake of social niceties. Endorsing subjective beliefs to “be kind” is the behavior that landed society in the wreckage of Critical Social Justice activism. People have a right to their beliefs, and I have the right to write about why I don’t share those beliefs.
Although there are indications that the tide is incrementally shifting, on much of the left, it is still the fashion of the day to view any dissenting arguments to popular subjective beliefs held by or about minority groups as anything from “not nice” to outright “hate.” I’d like this trend to go the way of bell-bottom jeans. That’s not going to happen until people get back into the habit of voicing their opposing views. In the interest of taking one small step toward ending “Cancel Culture,” I don’t ever say, “LGBT community.”
© 2024 Steven Schwartzman
