The ACLU sued. The Department of Justice threatened to
withhold millions of dollars. Why? Because a school district south of Chicago
was treating a transgender student unequally.
This teenager had been unfairly branded by authorities who would not to
be reasonable.
What did these officials
do? Well, they had refused to allow this
genetically male student equal access to the girl’s shower. Meanwhile, they did permit cross-dressing. They also permitted him/her to use the girl’s
bathrooms, as long as these had separate stalls. They even constructed a curtained off area in
the girl’s locker room.
This, however, was not
enough. As long as he/she was being treated
differently in any way, this constituted unlawful discrimination. Such conduct was ostracizing and hence prejudicial. What is more, it singled the student out as distinctive,
which was stigmatizing and thus an identity threat.
But does this make sense? Suppose that the school district had capitulated
and allowed showering in the same communal stall. Would the girls fail to notice the still male
genitalia? Would they regard him/her as
the same as themselves just because of “her” self-identification?
My question is: Wouldn’t
this still be stigmatizing? Of course it
would. There is no way to make a
transgendered person exactly like the other female students—especially before a
surgical procedure removed his male parts.
So what do the ACLU and
Obama administration want? Apparently
they expect us to pretend that he/she is fully female and act accordingly. They essentially ask us to make believe there
is total equality when there is not.
This, in fact, is
symptomatic of what has happened to contemporary liberalism. Progressives have come to believe that
pretending can always make it so. The
more frequently their policies fail, the more regularly they make believe that they
have succeeded.
The way liberals tell it,
there are no significant differences between males and females so let’s pretend
there are not and eliminate separate bathroom facilities. Let’s also put women on the front lines of the
military.
As for violence, this sort
of injustice can likewise be eradicated by making believe. Thus, when a six year old in Illinois pretends
to shoot another student with an invisible bow and arrow, we must treat this as
the real thing. Zero tolerance requires
us to place the child on a three day suspension.
An Ohio eighth grader must
also be suspended for hugging another student.
This is a violation on two levels in that it is a sexual assault. Never mind that neither of the students
regarded it as such.
What other things do
liberals demand that we treat as real?
The list is exceptionally long.
We can begin by observing that we are asked to believe that the police
are systematically killing blacks. On
the other hand, we must not notice the carnage occurring among inner-city
minorities.
Nor must we recognize that
the national debt has gotten out of hand.
Our entitlement programs are in imminent danger of going broke, but they
have not yet collapsed so let us close our eyes and fantasize that they
won’t. This way we can keep spending
money like drunken sailors.
Nor need we do anything
about the Middle Eastern threats.
Neither we, nor the Israelis, are in any real danger. Besides the Russians are being helpful and
the Iranians will never develop an atomic bomb.
And, oh yes, we are in the process of defeating ISIS.
As for Hillary, she didn’t
lie. She was only confused. With regard to our southern border, it is
totally secure. And those sanctuary
cities; in preventing us from arresting “undocumented” aliens, they are really
protecting our freedoms. Meanwhile the
economy is expanding nicely.
Liberals, who claim to be sophisticated
intellectuals, are only able to promote their nonsensical dogmas by convincing
us to regard these as “common sense.” In
reality, they are the ravings of ideological failures who have gone completely
around the bend.
Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University
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