Non-Mormons didn't have trouble understanding the stories Mormons put forward. They didn't believe them. There's a difference.
You aren't failing to believe or accept what I'm putting forward. You'd have to understand it, first. It's not trans arguments you're not understanding. It's the politically neutral concept of semiotics. If some people understand Calculus, that's proof that Calculus is not the problem.
It's not a shocking coincidence that all the TERFs I talk to are unable to grasp philosophical concepts or how semiotics works. It's definitely related. Not a 1:1 correlation but still a close relationship there.
If you don't understand that "arguing" is a philosophy 101 term, a debate term, that it's the factual word that describes what we're doing, and all the context cues don't help you understand that's how I'm using the word rather than as a synonym for "fighting," then, yeah, you're going to have trouble understanding more complicated ideas. Geez, man.
I understand that to you, I seem arrogant. But having evidence that someone doesn't understand words (like "arguing"), concepts (like how meaning gets created and communicated), has reading comprehension difficulty (like repeatedly saying I'm dodging something and then saying you didn't claim I was afraid to debate something) to know what is relevant to an argument and what implies what, I am coming to a logical conclusion that I'm smarter without that being arrogant. Groundless confidence is arrogance.
This argument that I might have something to learn about logic I grew up with just as much as you did— it's exactly like Mormons telling me I just don't understand "the Gospel" as if I wasn't immersed in their logic and belief system for many years. They don't know what it's like to be ex-Mormon. They don't know what I know and they're terrified to know it as well as I do in order to debate with me about it, so they just dismiss me, saying I don't understand their concepts. Concepts I lived with. Concepts that are basic. In these debates, I'm the only one who has seen and lived with both sides of an argument, but sure, I'm the one who is not open-minded enough. They use circular logic like citing the scriptures or their prophets for what God has said, to prove that God is real in the first place. This is like you defining "woman" by biology because that simply "is" and "always has been" the definition. Mormons subtract "men created God and scriptures" out of their understanding and argument. You subtract "men created words and meaning and definitions and culture and gender" out of your understanding and argument. It's circular baby thinking. You're the Mormon in this scenario. I grew up with the exact same logic, beliefs, information you did. You don't have anything to teach me so I don't have any questions about what you believe or think. I've already lived where you're living. I've already been you before. You haven't lived where I live.
