Contend In Vain

The full quote is “Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain”. It’s from the play by Friedrich Schiller titled Die Jungfrau von Orleans (The Maid of Orleans, as translated by Anna Swanwick). I remember the quote from reading Isaac Asimov’s novel 1972 novel The Gods Themselves. And no, I don’t carry all this around in my head. I had to look it up. Thank you Google.

If Asimov can appropriate the quote, so can I. When I’m not writing about my teeth or how much I love Stoker, my blog intends to ‘contend against stupidity‘. And certainly ‘in vain’.

My friends Joni and Doug just completed RAGBRAI, a week long bicycle ride across Iowa, on a tandem. Along the way they met an enterprising rancher who was offering a photo op for $5. They couldn’t resist.

The animal’s name is Bufford (not Buford, I asked). Joni referred to Bufford as a ‘cow’ but she grew up in Southern California where they think milk comes from a grocery store. It is pretty clear that Bufford is either a steer or a bull, but I’m guessing an animal tranquil enough to keep relaxed with Joni sitting on his back and talking non-stop has had some equipment removed.

Unlike Lia Thomas. When I first saw Lia Thomas’s photo, the obvious question occurred to me. Thanks to Riley Gaines, I now know the answer. Here is what Ms. Gaines wrote about her locker room experience at the NCAA Women’s Swimming Championships:

“I saw a 6’4″ biological male exposing male parts in our women’s locker room. To be perfectly clear, the anatomy I and many other women were forced to view, confirms Thomas is a male.

I asked the officials where I should change as I had no intention of undressing in front of a man. They informed me that there were no protections in place for me to change in a space that Thomas did not have access to.“

Thanks to Ms. Gaines, we know that Lia Thomas has something that Bufford doesn’t. Which raises the question, what are NCAA Swimming officials thinking? Do they think that all a person has to do to be eligible to compete as a woman is to self identify as one? Do they think taking a few pills to lower testosterone levels and using a few depilatories turns a person bearing male parts into a female for competitive swimming purposes?

I could write that the swimming officials are either being woke or fearful of woke backlash. But I’d rather call their decision what it is: stupid. Contend in vain…