I know I’ve kind of joked around about the Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner and Rachel Dolezal drama/controversy currently playing out in the mainstream before our very eyes, but there’s something truly tragic and unsettling underlying both these cases and others like them, including this story and this one ass well that really needs to be discussed in unfettered strains of truth and reality.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: when history judges the decline and fall of the American republic they’ll be able to rightly point the start of it all with my generation, the so-called “Baby Boomers”. I don’t know how it happened, or why – I’ll leave that to sociologists – but my generation has reaped a whirlwind that is now not just sown, but blooming in full flower as a glorified freak show of entitled brats without any sense of conscience, decency, or respect for others. This generation (I call it the “Me Generation”) have grown up in an environment where they’ve been given everything they ever asked for, lacked for very little (if anything), and been coddled beyond belief to the point where they think they’re oh-so-special and entitled to whatever they feel they need and to hell with everyone else.
Look at the examples above. Bruce Jenner has an overwhelming desire to be a woman. Fine. But rather than just dress up in wigs and ladies clothes and live out his fantasies he’s got to turn it into a cause celebre to celebrate the full extent of his fetish. Rachel Dolezal has an overwhelming urge to be black. Fine. But rather than just change her appearance and work for causes involving the African-American community that are near and dear to her heart, she tries to play both sides of the coin by faking her true identity in order to take advantage of opportunities that are not hers to take advantage of. You’ve got a blogger who embarrasses herself with a child-like tantrum simply because a tattoo parlor won’t give do her first tattoo on her neck, and a teenage boy who’s allowed to undergo surgery to transform him to a her simply because that’s been an inclination he’s had since a child.
But it goes further than that: you’ve got gay activist couples who, when a bakery declines to bake a cake for their same-sex wedding, rather than simply finding a bakery that will, undertakes legal action against the original bakery owners. And the same thing with that pizza parlor in Indiana that had to withstand ridicule simply because one of their workers said they wouldn’t do pizzas for a gay wedding out of their religious convictions. And a florist in Washington having to go through a similar situation.
This is sheer madness and, as National Review’s Jonah Goldberg wrote in his fine book, Liberal Fascism, nothing more then the bullying and bellyaching of a generation that has spent too much time being told how special they are and that it’s OK to act upon their feelings even in the face of reality and/or rationality:
I’ll say it again: Liberals are the aggressors in the culture war. The only shocking thing about that statement is that it ever shocks liberals. On their own terms, they take pride in being “change agents” and “forces of progress.” But the moment anyone attempts to defend themselves against the social-justice warriors, they are treated as the aggressors in the culture war. “Don’t impose your values on me!” should be translated as, “Stop trying to defend yourself as we impose our values on you!”
I see it all the time at the supermarket: parents (and this applies to mothers and fathers) asking their kids what they want for supper or what the family should have for supper. Kids who have tantrums in the middle of the store, or are tearing around the place unsupervised. Sure, it might be OK if they choose chicken tenders and zucchini, but twenty years from now these monsters are going to expecting the rest of society to meet their every yearning and desire for whatever it is they want because, you know, they’re so damned special.
Here are a couple of questions I’m just tossing out: how did we get to the point where a miniscule percentage of the population (and I’m talking about gays, lesbians, transgenders and whatever other category non-heterosexual call themselves these days) get to call the shots for the vast majority of the country? What kind of cultural and social norms are now in place where people can not just act out their fantasies and desires, but celebrate it to be a “role model” for others, or act on those desires in a way that not just brings shame upon themselves, but disadvantage others?
And I guess that’s where this is all leading up to: the lack of a sense of shame and taking personal responsibility for one’s actions. Here’s the definition of shame:
: a feeling of guilt, regret, or sadness that you have because you know you have done something wrong
: ability to feel guilt, regret, or embarrassment
: dishonor or disgrace
I suppose shame has gone out of style thanks to the Sixties and the Baby Boomers who grew up with the idea of “do your own thing” and “if it feels good do it”. And you also have the breakdown of the family unit and the diminished role religion plays in American culture, but even that you can place the blame at the foot of my generation. We’ve really poisoned the well in just about every way possible, haven’t we?
I’m not being a prude here: I’m really a “live and let live” kind of guy. But there ought to be limits to that, dontcha think? Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner should be ashamed of himself, not just for making afool out of himself, but for the amount of ridicule he’s brought upon himself/herself and his/her family (even though, knowing them, I doubt they even care). Rachel Dolezal should feel ashamed of passing herself off as a black person and using that identity to her advantage when it’s obvious to everyone that she’s white.
If I were to psychoanalyze these folks (and the liberal left in general) I’d say there is a lot of deep-rooted resentment and self-loathing at being raised without boundaries and without lacking in anything only to find out there’s no happiness to be found there. Money can buy security but it can’t buy happiness. Affluence and privilege can get you recognized and open doors for you but it can’t get you self-worth. Coddling can make you feel special and unique in the universe but that only lasts until you’re out in the real world and having to swim with the rest of the sharks.
It’s a pretty sad state of affairs if you ask me. I’m just glad I was brought up in a great family situation where I learned about boundaries, values, discipline, etc. etc. That, of course, is in and of itself no guarantee of anything – there are plenty of folks who grew up in good households and are miserable failures. And, likewise, those who grew up in less-than ideal circumstances who found a way to overcome it and achieve happiness and success.
Life is too short to spend it being miserable and making others miserable in the process. But there’s a lot of that going around these days. I’m just glad I’m turning sixty and not thirty.
