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The New Minstrel Show

If you have been even half awake or looked in on the wasteland of TV and online advertising during the last couple of weeks, it has been Dylan Mulvaney all day, every day, ad nauseam. Mr.?/Ms.? Mulvaney is a “trans-woman” who, for reasons forever unclear to me, is an Instagram personality with a lot of followers. His/her videos have been viewed over a billion (yes, you read it right) times for his/her “Days of Girlhood” series, wherein he/she documents the transition to being a “woman.” The thing about Mr. Mulvaney is that his concept of womanhood is, at best, an extreme caricature of femininity. He is so outrageously “over the top” in portraying womanhood as a sort of air-headed silliness that one wonders if he is actually purposely playing a character for laughs. Mr. Mulvaney’s view of womanhood is more like an adolescent Harvey Weinstein fantasy than anything resembling a woman. Frankly, he is an affront to women in particular and humanity in general. Mr. Mulvaney no more represents women than Amos and Andy, or a minstrel show in blackface, represents African Americans. The issue is that, while minstrel shows are roundly condemned as a racist relic of an America long past, the trans-minstrel show of Dylan Mulvaney is celebrated, at least by the drive-by media and coastal elites, as an empowering symbol of “trans-visibility.”

You would think that the feminist movement would be rioting in the streets around Mulvaney’s house and making him a social pariah for his demeaning portrayal of women. As usual, you would be wrong. In their endless desire to normalize the cult of transgenderism, the media and popular culture have made Mr. Mulvaney a hero and landed him numerous appearances on daytime talk shows, one wherein Drew Barrymore kneeled before Mulvaney in homage to his “bravery” or something like that. To demonstrate its “wokeness” the Biden administration invited Mulvaney to the White House, where he spoke with President Biden on all things transgender. (One has to wonder what was going through the President’s mind when he was speaking with Mulvaney. Given his apparent panic when confronted with the White House Easter bunny, I do feel sorry for what must have been a confusing and frightening experience for the Commander-in-Chief, but elder abuse is a topic for another day.)

Corporate America is fully on board the DEI-ESG virtue-signaling train and has hired Mulvaney as a spokesmodel for various products, including Olay Cosmetics and now, infamously, Bud Light beer and Nike sports bras. (Yes, a man, cartoonishly dressed as a woman, without breasts, is modeling sports bras for Nike.) The Bud Light ad seemed to cross a line for a lot of beer drinkers (surprising, I know, one would have thought the transgenders were a cheap beer’s major market) and has sparked outrage and a boycott of Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch products, resulting in over a $5 billion loss in corporate value. This has taken on a cartoon life of its own, with country music stars dropping Anheuser-Busch as sponsors and Kid Rock destroying cases of Bud Light with an assault-style rifle. Some female athletes, including Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies, are protesting the Nike sponsorship and there is a trend of women (the real ones, not pretend) burning Nike sports bras on social media. Given their use of Chinese slave labor and support of rabidly anti-American Colin Kaepernick, I would not have thought that more reasons were needed to boycott Nike, but there you go.

Now, this is all a lot of fun and games, with our society resembling a parody of a South Park episode. Massively-broad-shouldered Lia Thomas competes as a trans-woman in swimming, towering above actual women on the medal podium and MMA trans-women cause injuries and skull fractures when beating up on biological women in the ring, while the Biden administration is devoting all their energy (when not advocating for the murder of the unborn) to modifying Title IX sex-discrimination regulations to compel colleges to allow men, I mean, trans-women, to compete in women’s sports. Because the train is never late, Colin Kaepernick’s twin sister from another mother, America-hating Megan Rapinoe, has voiced support for Biden’s initiative from the pink-haired, has-been segment of the athletic community. (I wonder if America is a reality show playing on the TV in hell’s rec room, with Jeffrey Dahmer saying to Ernst Rohm and John Wayne Gacy, “Can you guys change the channel? This is getting boring.”) Yes, it’s all a lot of fun and games, until people die.

One does not need to be Sigmund Freud or a Ph.D. in clinical psychology to see that Dylan Mulvaney suffers from a profound and serious mental illness. In an attempt to soothe the demons in his head, Mulvaney has latched onto this trans-identity that is bringing him 15 minutes of fame, a few dollars, and maybe a few peaceful nights of rest. But, like putting a Band-Aid over a gunshot wound to the chest, or offering liposuction to an anorexic, this will not treat or cure the illness that will, eventually, tear him apart. I feel for him, really, because I’ve seen this movie before and I know how it ends. (Spoiler alert, badly.)

We have previously discussed the egregious error made by the American Psychiatric Association when they reclassified Gender Identity Disorder as Gender Dysphoria, changing it from a psychiatric illness to a “normal” condition (1). To briefly recap, until 2013, Gender Identity Disorder was classified by the American Psychiatric Association as a mental illness, with distress arising from a person believing that he or she was actually of a different gender than their biological sex. Like any psychiatric disorder, Gender Identity Disorder could be addressed by various therapies to attempt to alleviate the distress and reconcile the patient’s belief or feeling with their actual sex. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association revised its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to change Gender Identity Disorder to Gender Dysphoria. Most importantly, Gender Dysphoria is no longer considered to be a mental illness. Under the 2013 revision of DSM IV to DSM V, Gender Dysphoria is a normal condition of a female or male mind inadvertently in a body of the opposite sex. The mental distress that results is a consequence of society’s non-acceptance of the mis-gendered condition, rather than an innate mental disorder. Thus, the therapies advocated no longer center on treating a mind that believes it is the wrong gender. The therapies now aim to change the body to fit the gender of the normal mind. In other words, the mind is not disordered, the body is and the job of medical science is to modify the body to look like the gender of the mind.

If dear readers, you find this incredulous, wait, there’s more. The change of Gender Identity Disorder to a normal condition was done without any scientific basis whatsoever. There were no large, double-blinded, controlled scientific studies to determine that a normal mind could be trapped in the wrong body. This major change, which has resulted in the gender madness of our popular culture and an entire medical industry dedicated to the mutilation of normal bodies, even in children and adolescents, was largely done because of lobbying and opinion polling from gender advocacy groups! So, a group, labeled as mentally ill, successfully lobbied the American Psychiatric Association to declare them sane. One really has to wonder if the American Psychiatric Association needs their collective heads examined.

On its very face, the concept that a normal mind can be trapped in the wrong body is completely and utterly preposterous. The body in question is totally, physiologically normal, with normally functioning organs, hormones and every other process consistent with its biological sex, yet we are expected to believe that it is the mind that is actually normal, and the body should be modified to accommodate it? It is practically unbelievable that, given these biological facts, anyone would then hypothesize the defect is in the body, rather than the mind.

The tragedy here is that the medicine has been co-opted and politicized by the gender fluidity movement and people suffering from mental illness are denied appropriate care. Sometimes it’s just a joke, like Dylan Mulvaney, but more often the consequences are serious – Deadly serious.

Kayleigh Scott was literally the poster child of the corporate “trans-inclusion” movement. He was a trans-woman, who had been hired as a flight attendant by United Airlines in 2020 and featured prominently in their commercials, virtue-signaling the airline’s “diversity, equity and inclusion”, or DEI. United went above and beyond to support and showcase Ms. Scott, as Scott him/herself noted: “My life changed for the better when I came to United as a flight attendant. With the support from the company, our business resource group for LGBTQ+ employees, and all of my loving co-workers, I was able to break free from the chains that helped me and to this day, I’m living confidently. It’s my true self (2).” One would think that this is a success story for the seemingly impossible trans-hypothesis of the American Psychiatric Association. After all, someone suffering from Gender Dysphoria was treated by affirmation of the mind’s gender and cured of their distress.

Kayleigh Scott committed suicide in March of this year. This sad outcome is, in fact, typical of the current approach to Gender Dysphoria, wherein the gender-confused mind is considered normal and the body is changed to accommodate the mind. The person feels better for a little while, but their underlying psychiatric condition has not been treated. In fact, it has been exacerbated by this medical “gender affirmation.” Like any serious medical problem, it then strongly reoccurs, resulting in even greater distress, depression and suicide. The rate of attempted suicide in transgender individuals is startlingly high, ranging from 32-50%, depending on the country of residence (3). The largest study of long-term outcomes following gender transition and affirmation comes from Sweden, a country that is highly supportive of transgender individuals. This study, spanning more than 30 years, found the suicide rate for transitioned transgender individuals in Sweden to be more than 19 times higher than the general population (4). Additionally, the death rate from cancer and cardiac disease, both mediated by hormones, was 2.5 times greater than the general population (4). Gender-affirming therapies, usually with hormones and surgery are performed on healthy bodies. It is not surprising that there should be negative outcomes. And while there were no scientific studies to validate the assumption that gender dysphoria is a healthy mind in the wrong body, the results from Sweden and other countries provide ample scientific evidence that this assumption is wrong. The tragedy is compounded when we realize that, not only do people suffering from gender dysphoria fail to get the psychiatric care they so desperately need, but also the medical establishment doesn’t conduct additional research studies to determine the best psychiatric methods to care for these people, as it has made the assumption that psychiatric care is not needed.

If our discussion was limited only to suicide, that would be tragic enough, but it goes beyond that. If someone is ready to destroy themselves through suicide, if they blame society/religion/medicine/whomever for their misfortune, would they hesitate to destroy others as well? Indeed, we know that there is a correlation between suicide, homicide, and violence toward others (5). After all, if one calls 911 threatening suicide, they will get an aggressive response from law enforcement. Persons contemplating suicide represent not only a threat to themselves but a threat to others. Hence, the SWAT team at the door, rather than a wish from the 911 operator to “rest in peace.”

The drive-by media quickly suppresses any hint that a perpetrator of violence or mass shootings is a trans individual. Recently, a transgender individual murdered six people at a Christian school in Nashville, including three children, before being killed by the police. Of course, given the trans identity of the murderer, the story was quickly buried and replaced by the latest anti-Trump rant of the day. So, this deranged individual murders six innocent people at the school and is either largely ignored by the media or, reprehensibly, cast as a “victim” of society by both the media and the Administration. Had the perpetrator of this crime been a MAGA boogaloo boi (Google it, if you dare, but you might end up on a list (unless you are an SSPX or TLM goer, then you are already on a list)), Hawaiian-shirt-wearing, gun-toting, extreme right militia, this would be on a 24-hour news cycle for the next year, Congress would hold hearings about the boogaloo threat and President Biden would be making speeches pushing for a ban on Hawaiian shirts. Indeed, the incidence of violence among trans activists is high, with stories of assaults on journalists and counter-protestors making the conservative media.

Recall that the perpetrator of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs was trans and recently another trans individual was arrested in the midst of planning a mass school shooting in Colorado. (6). As is the case in Sweden, urban Colorado is extraordinarily liberal and supportive of gender fluidity. If support of gender ideology is a treatment for gender dysphoria, Colorado would not be a place where this should happen.

More worrisome, the incidence of transgenderism, depending on diagnostic criteria, varies from about 0.005% to 0.014% (7), a pretty small number of about 5 to 14 people in a thousand. If that is the case, why are transgender flags being flown around the country and why is Anheuser-Busch working to alienate 995 out of a thousand consumers? Other studies, using simple polling, that is, “is your gender different than the one assigned at birth?” put the incidence of transgenderism at 5% for persons under 30 (8). That is a really high number. Indeed, the number is high enough that a rational scientist would look at this data and conclude that it must be wrong. How to explain the difference? The optimistic explanation is that gender fluidity is a fad, like beanie babies or pet rocks, that will come and go. We have previously discussed this (1). More disturbing is that transgenderism is being used as a salve for other serious psychiatric disorders.

Mental illness abounds in our society, particularly anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder, which make up about 30% of all psychiatric diagnoses. Personality disorders and psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia, round out the top five (9). These are all serious conditions that need intensive psychiatric management. So why the seeming uptick in the incidence of gender dysphoria? Consider the nature of these psychiatric diagnoses, particularly anxiety and depression, the top two. If one is confused and suffering the stresses and strains of modern society, it is preferable to become gender fluid and celebrated, rather than anxious, depressed and medicated. After all, gender dysphoria, since 2013, is a normal condition, while anxiety and depression are psychiatric disorders. Schizophrenia and psychosis are also psychiatric disorders that often are a dangerous threat to the patient and those around them. Normalizing these disorders by putting the gender dysphoria label on them deprives the sufferer of actual care and, literally, can put a gun in the hands of a psychotic. The issue of guns and gun violence in America is a huge topic and well beyond the scope of our discussion, but consider this, what if there was a gun control policy that required a certificate of mental wellness from a psychiatrist before one could purchase a firearm? Even in that case, since the psychiatric establishment considers gender dysphoria a normal condition, individuals with that label could go out to the gun store and pick up an AR-15 on their way to the mall.

In a Godless society, where man is at the pinnacle of existence, there is very little to distinguish one person from another. Looking for fulfillment and accomplishment, without a sense of a higher purpose and ideal will only lead to frustration, depression and anxiety. Thomas Hobbes was partially right in his book, Leviathan. A 17th-century British philosopher, Hobbs felt that the nature of man was evil and needed a strong central government to reign in such evil. He wrote, “Life in the state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” Hobbes is exactly right, although he is wrong in his assertion that government is necessary to prevent life from becoming “nasty, brutish and short.” Governments come and go, corrupt and noble, virtuous and licentious, good and evil. Only God is consistent, changes not and is eternal.

People suffering from mental illness deserve our respect and love. They should be treated with dignity and consideration so that they can be cured of their suffering and live fulfilled and happy lives. They are our brothers and sisters, created in the image and likeness of God. If a man believes he is unhappy and anxious because he is really a woman and wants to wear a dress, compassionate care for this man is not to buy him a matching purse and put him on a beer can. When the fad passes and his transgenderism has outlived its usefulness, it will still be midnight in the dark night of his soul. He may then do the unthinkable, destroying himself and others. The suffering of Kayleigh Scott is heartbreaking. The complicity of the psychiatric establishment in his death is infuriating.

“Change in decay in all about I see. Oh, thou who changest not, abide with me.”

This concludes the audio portion of this article. Thank you for listening.