Choosing to spend time on this topic isn't the mistake. Who we chose to lead the discussion is where we went wrong.
Another missed opportunity
By Osiris - October 24, 2022
War Room posted this on 8:49 PM · Oct 23rd, 2022 (Gettr)
"President Joe Biden Chooses To Spend His Time Discussing Trans rights While The World Falls Into Disarray."
This comment was in response to Dylan Mulvaney visiting the White House. According to IMDb:
Dylan Mulvaney (she/they) is a trans actress, comic, and content creator. Her viral videos have received nearly 1 billion views across Tiktok and Instagram. In 2022, she was awarded the Tiktok Trailblazer award for her viral series "Days of Girlhood" documenting her transition journey.
Steve Bannon and the War Room is a highly respected, well produced and important podcast in our country regardless where people stand on the political spectrum. Bannon is carrying the out the mission of Andrew Breitbart and provides needed critiques of those in power that we do not get in mainstream media, but their implication that Biden is wasting time does not align with Breitbart's famous quote, "Politics is downstream from culture".
This was a culture summit more important than inflation or the war in Ukraine. A country cannot survive war or solve any complex problems when they don't agree on something as simple as defining what a woman is. A meeting like this is an opportunity to change the tenor of this conversation. It was a missed opportunity, however. It fell flat because the discussion was not authentic. What continues to get in the way is identitarianism.
This discussion about trans rights was a part of a Presidential Summit, which discussed an array of issues from abortion to criminal justice reform. This summit was described by Now This News as Joe Biden answering questions of "our young people. While news websites such as Axios are on, "Red Tsumani" watch, the Democratic establishment is playing the long game. In conjunction with weaving concepts such as trans rights into school curriculum, they tie it back in by rewarding trans identifying celebs like Mulvaney. This could be effective at targeting younger voters, which could pay off years down the road.
It also serves as a well laid out trap. If you criticize Joe Biden and the trans rights discussion, that makes you phobic. Many citizens might be numb to these slurs, but racist, transphobic, etc... are words that still carry weight with any corporation connected to the political machine. You could risk getting fired from your job for even an opinion as mundane as believing gender affirming care should be designated for 18 year olds or older.
This is the culture battle which is far more important than anything else. There are no political problems that we can solve without being able to share enough of the same culture as a foundation. Mulvaney is no different than any other celebrity like Kim Kardashian etc... Mulvaney's invitation to this summit is an extension of the federal government picking winners and losers. Fox News reported on an example of this in March when then Press Secretary, Jen Psaki told TikTok influencers Russia 'hacked our election' in 2016. The attempt here is to control free speech by telling ill-informed media influencers what narratives are acceptable. Questioning 2016 is acceptable, questioning 2020 is not. Then they amplifying voices the current administration agrees with and undermine dissenting voices. Meet Ex-CIA Agents Deciding Facebook Content Policy.
Mulvaney:
I am extremely privileged to live in a state that allows me access to the resources I need. And that decision is just between me and my doctors, but many states have lawmakers that feel like they can involve themselves in a very personal process. Do you think states should have a right to ban gender affirming health care?
This could have been a moment for a trans rights activist to say we might use the term trans rights but in reality they are no different than anyone else's rights when we see a doctor. Why couldn't a member of the "Trans Community" in Mulvaney's spot say they do not agree with the Parental Rights act but they are asking for the same respect, to make decisions as a parent with their child and a doctor.
Vaccines have been a huge point of contention as well. This is the exact same debate. A person should be able to consult with their doctor and make their own decision on whether to take a vaccine or not.
Abortion is the same discussion. If a woman should be able to consult with their doctor and make a decision.
What prevents painting the full picture is the idea that trans rights are somehow different than the Parental Rights, Medical Rights, Abortion Rights, etc... The identity of trans rights is being used here to make an unnatural distinction so private consultation with a doctor is sacrosanct for certain causes like abortion and trans rights but wouldn't apply to anything the administrative state doesn't it want it to, just like Fauci and the juice.
With the right person in Mulvaney's seat and with the right leader as president, we could have moments of clarity as a country in settings like we saw here. It was more important than anything else. It was a missed opportunity. It was not a waste of time. It's not a waste of time any more than the State of the Union Address is a waste of time or any other presidential moment. The time and discussion was extremely valuable. Our issue is that as a country we have chosen the wrong people to lead us during these important dialogues.
We can make this work, but we can't continue with this concept of separating ourselves into different communities that need different rights separate than our constitution and federal / state legislation.
* I am going to assume that Mulvaney is acting in good faith.
Definition for this article:
Culture is anything not directly related to politics.
