-The Orwellian horror is that, had we been arguing in public, I'm not sure my incredibly smart and incredibly epistemologically sophisticated extended social circle would affirm that I wasn't wrong to want to talk about it (even if people might disagree about the facts). That, for educated liberals in the Current Year, appearing non-transphobic is more important than defending basic tenets of sanity that should hardly need to be stated, let alone defended, like _Words should mean things_, or _Knowledge is better than ignorance_.
+The Orwellian horror is that, had we been arguing in public, I didn't feel confident that my incredibly smart and incredibly epistemologically sophisticated extended social circle would back me up and affirm that I wasn't wrong to want to talk about it (even if people might disagree about the facts). That, for educated liberals in the Current Year, appearing non-transphobic is more important than defending basic tenets of sanity that should hardly need to be stated, let alone defended, like _Words should mean things_, or _Knowledge is better than ignorance_.