Stuck in Binary
April 7th, 2009
By Monica F. Helms
http://www.monicahelms.com/blog/gender-binary/stuck-in-binary.htm (http://www.monicahelms.com/blog/gender-binary/stuck-in-binary.htm)
also at http://www.bilerico.com/2009/04/national_car_rental_employee_to_trans_cu.php (http://www.bilerico.com/2009/04/national_car_rental_employee_to_trans_cu.php)
Think of how dull the world would be if everything came in just twos. We would only have two different colors, two different smells, two different tastes and two different sounds. People would appear in just two different varieties for each sex, and only thinking in just two different ways. From our diverse perspective, it would be a boring existence, except that in that world, boredom would only come in two forms as well.
Being a science fiction fan and writer, I can easily imagine how a world of true binaries would look. I'm envisioning a novel coming from that right now. We should consider ourselves lucky that Mother Nature can think beyond binaries. Unfortunately, even with all the evidence in front of us, Human Nature cannot think beyond binaries.
I should clarify that last sentence. When it comes to all that exists around us, we easily bask in the beauty of a world that goes way beyond binaries. We see flowers of all colors and varieties. Our pets come in all shapes, sizes, species and temperament. One could take a decade sampling all the varieties of food the world has to offer. Yes, we don't live in a binary world, yet in some forms, binary thinking exists in people.
Bob Dylan writes in some song that 'the human mind can only stand so much' and for a lot of people that's anything more than two. That's the 'us and them' 'yes or no' black and white, either/or, he and she, married or single - oh the list goes on.
Reminds me of someone who once said that historians count "one, two, three, alot."