thank you for the thoughtful reply to my reply!

maybe the reason we can dialog - I used to be an engineer and so I try to take a step back and look at things from an objective viewpoint. This means that sometimes I have to acknowledge that I am wrong, but the best way to get me to admit that is to provide facts and data.

So for example, if my partner and I were arguing about housework (which would be unlikely to happen since I don't care that much about it, but just for argument's sake), and he pointed out he worked 60 hours and I only worked 40 - well that would be a legitimate data point and I'd concede.

The problem with society today is people get torn apart for merely stating a fact, such as that Harvard Dean, I think, who pointed out that women were less attracted to the hard sciences. He got fired. For stating a fact. That is our society today.