Hello, I’m Pang Ying. Welcome to the second Q&A of Think Like a Debater.

Part One answers two questions from the episode on why facts cannot establish values. Part Two returns to our first Q&A on correlation and causation, where two commenters offered useful observations about estrogen and heart disease.

Let us begin with the two questions from Episode 2.

Is an adult woman of 1.60 meters tall or short? These are descriptions without one objective standard. Average heights vary by country and between northern and southern China. In 2020, Chinese women averaged 1.58 meters, so 1.60 is above average. What practical difference does either label make?

Calling me short carries a slightly negative implication. In matchmaking it may count against me. If a physical-education teacher asks for basketball players and rejects those called short, defining 1.60 as short excludes me from an opportunity. A negative label can block access.

But calling me tall is not always harmless. If someone on an airplane asks for a tall person to reach the overhead bin, I may volunteer only to find I cannot reach it.

Tall and short are relatively harmless; fat and thin may not be. Chinese adult women average 59 kilograms, yet a saying claims a good woman weighs under 50. Calling a 55-kilogram woman “fat” can associate her with indiscipline, lack of control, greed, laziness, and bad character. The negative effect is much greater, so such words demand care.

Now move from relatively harmless physical labels to the more consequential definition of disease.

If someone is unusually short, is the abnormal height itself a disease? Medicine generally says no when there is no underlying pathology or functional impairment. A much shorter child may see a doctor to rule out thyroid problems or other diseases, but shortness itself is not a disease.

If shortness were classified as disease, people would receive surgery or hormone therapy. Yet adults treated for height in childhood have higher cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risks. Treating an unusual condition without functional impairment as disease may do more harm than good.