Let's imagine a world where some people are born with blue hair. However, society has decided not to allow people with blue hair to use certain public facilities. If having blue hair cannot transmit diseases or harm people who do not have blue hair, is this society's decision fair?

Engaging in philosophy means moving away from the concrete to reflect deeply. To truly reflect, we detach ourselves from our concrete identity: our self-love, our tastes, and our preferences. Not necessarily out of humility or politeness, but rather because we recognize that a myriad of events beyond our control have shaped the individuals we have become. Our ancestors come from a certain region of the world rather than others, our parents took certain actions rather than others, and we had access to certain opportunities rather than none.

This is essentially the message conveyed by Jerry Colonna when he was a guest on the "Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris" podcast. Jerry Colonna is known as the "CEO whisperer" in the Silicon Valley startup universe. A practitioner of Zen and meditation, he provides coaching that is both gentle and robust.

Skillfully, the podcast host explained that Colonna's remarks could be interpreted as "virtue signaling." "Virtue signaling" refers to expressing moral or political values primarily to socially position oneself or gain the approval of others, rather than out of genuine conviction. In short, Colonna had personally explained that his success in life was likely due to his privilege as a white heterosexual man. And then, he protested against a law in the state of Florida that prohibits transgender individuals from using toilets designated for a sex other than their biological one.

The Inexorable Limit of the Concrete

Abstract thinking has allowed philosophers to contemplate themes such as justice and knowledge.

In geometry, for example, it deals with points, angles, and theorems from which various concrete shapes can be drawn.

The greatest evil of humanity is no longer being able to think abstractly. We are chained to the shadows of particular cases. Geometry has become the collection of concrete forms: circles, squares, octagons, etc. As if the concepts of angles and theorems were discovered by studying these concrete forms (laughter).

The same goes for the question of sexual identity. Instead of reflecting based on the principles of human psychology and conducting a reflection on power, the debate is reduced to a question of using public toilets.

Before the fall of Rome, we remember that the most violent political debates revolved around the placement of statues in public spaces...

Reframing Jerry Colonna's Position

To save Colonna from the accusation of "virtue signaling" or being canceled, I believe we can rephrase his position by relying on abstract thinking.

The CEO whisperer has taken it upon himself to use his social influence to reframe the debate around sexual identity.

Right away, he points out that he himself likely benefited from being a white man when a university professor arranged a scholarship for him to complete his education while he was broke.

I believe the message he wants to convey through this anecdote is that to take an enlightened stance on a social or ethical issue, we must step out of our concrete framework. We must ask ourselves: if I were born in another country, with different genes, would I hold the same beliefs that I defend today?

In philosophy, we often use thought experiments to reflect on fundamental questions like justice and morality. It's a way to free ourselves from our prejudices and preconceived ideas in order to draw universal conclusions; ideas that are valid for everyone.

For the "public toilets in Florida," we can practice a simple thought experiment called the veil of ignorance to help us decide if excluding certain people from using certain toilets is fair.

Let's imagine a world where some people are born with blue hair. However, society has decided not to allow people with blue hair to use certain public facilities. If having blue hair cannot transmit diseases or harm people who do not have blue hair, is this society's decision fair?

The veil of ignorance is a philosophical concept developed by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Immanuel Kant, formalized by John Harsanyi, and adopted by John Rawls in his work A Theory of Justice (1971). It is a method for establishing the morality of a problem that relies on the thought experiment of placing oneself in an original position and abstracting from one's tastes, attributes, and position in social space.

Behind this veil of ignorance, individuals are supposed to make fair and just decisions, as they are not influenced by personal interests or biases favoring a certain social or economic position. The goal is to arrive at principles of justice that will benefit all members of society, regardless of their initial position.
wikipedia.org, "veil of ignorance"

translated from french by chatgpt3.5 following prompt: "can you translate this blog post in english while correcting grammar mistakes and keeping simple words "

Sources

Deep, Provocative Success Strategies From the “Yoda of Silicon Valley” | Jerry Colonna