Non-Binary and Its PC Vocabulary:
Proposing a Simple Fix to an Unnecessary Controversy
That May Actually Mask a Much Larger Agenda
Recently, a quick video clip suddenly appeared on my phone. It featured a bearded man speaking with a bearded lady who sported long hair and lashes, lipstick, plus a mustache to compliment the beard. The ‘manly man’ said that his adjectives for himself were, ‘handsome and brilliant’ –– but that this did not oblige anyone else to participate in his delusion by referring to him in these terms. And similarly, he did not feel obliged to participate in a non-binary individual’s chosen nouns and pronouns. The clip abruptly ended and my phone instantly reverted to its ‘desk top’ mode before I could watch it again.
A wondering came over me about how suddenly a whole movement had arisen globally involving crossing the boundary between male and female by combining these polarities in any of a number of ways along a wide spectrum –– while expecting others to respect them by using the already problematic, uncreative, inexact singular-and-plural ‘third person’ designation –– ‘them/their’ –– to describe a singular, mixed-gender individual.
In some countries, laws that had formerly discriminated against such people are now vehemently supporting them by enforcing the use of these nondescript pronouns. It was his very public refusal to be told which words he must now use in relationship to some people –– so as not to offend their tender feelings in our ‘ultra-polite’ society (in which virtually anything goes) –– that propelled Canadian clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson to international renown.
In the U.S. and perhaps elsewhere, it is no longer even ‘PC’ to refer to ‘women’ when discussing menstruation and pregnancy –– but rather to the nonspecific ‘people’ (who just happen to have the biological equipment required to create and nurture human life). And when it comes to giving birth, well this is no longer accomplished by a ‘woman’ or ‘mother’ but by the non-gendered ‘birthing parent’ –– even though the only males on Earth that have ever given birth are Sea Horses and their close relatives.
So much for Freud’s theory of a woman’s ‘penis envy.’ Now we see where the real reproductive jealousy resides.
Political commentator Bill Maher summed-up our contemporary linguistic controversy succinctly in a ‘New Rules’ segment entitled, ‘Words Matter,’ on his Politically Incorrect HBO program:
“This is the essence of why ‘word inflation’ is a problem: You can try to change reality by changing the words. But you can’t. It just stops you from dealing with it. One of the bad guys in Orwell’s 1984 says, ‘The whole aim of NewSpeak is to narrow the range of thought.’”
There is a simple and obvious solution to the entire logomachy, which is a word that was coined in the mid-1500’s to denote “an argument or debate marked by the reckless or incorrect use of words; a meaningless battle of words.”
First of all, a quick online search reveals this statistic: “According to experts –– only 1.7% of the population is born with intersex traits, comparable to the number of people born with red hair.”
Given this fact, does it make any sense at all for a miniscule minority to self-righteously expect the entire English-speaking population to suddenly agree to change the long-established meanings of two small and ancient words used to designate the distinct genders required to make a baby? The answer is, ‘Of course not.’ And especially not in an era when people’s levels of tolerance are at an all-time low.
There’s even a bit of perennial philosophy, espoused by many sages throughout the ages, that addresses the futility surrounding this issue of attempting to impose a PC vocabulary on a resistant population. It can be distilled down to a simple, memorable adage:
‘It’s unwise to expect the world to change
to help protect you from your pain.’
Fortunately, it isn’t even necessary to do this. With just a little bit of creativity, nonbinary people can invent their own hybrid vocabulary to communicate, for instance, that someone born with female reproductive organs –– who now chooses to identify as male –– may still retain the capacity to give birth and nurture life. In this case, such a person can be simply described as a womb+man. Problem solved! Simple as that. Argument avoided.
All of us are unique beings and none of us fit neatly into a single category or its total opposite. And personally, I support everyone’s right to express themselves creatively, authentically and harmlessly. I also firmly believe that all of us deserve each other’s loving kindness and respect, regardless of how different we appear from the so-called ‘norm.’
Right now, however, in this super-stressed society, it’s a lot to expect. For people don’t change as quickly and easily as ideas and technology. And many have very little mental, emotional, social or political capacity to tolerate differences in this time of unprecedented, accelerated change. Where possible, it makes sense to avoid unnecessary arguments that undermine our common ground.
Given the intensity surrounding the transgender rights movement –– and the sudden legal and financial muscle behind it –– I can’t help but wonder what’s really going on here. For whenever something is loudly and rapidly railroaded through the public domain, you can trust there’s a loco-motive pulling it along.
What might that motive be? To begin with –– and speaking of miniscule minorities –– if the global elite are seeking to keep significant numbers of people from effectively uniting against their authority, wouldn’t they put their support behind any and all such divisive controversies?
Secondly, and even more ominously, I wonder whether the drift toward androgyny –– and the blurring of the line and the language related to gender identity –– may be part of a much larger agenda. Perhaps transhumanism riding atop transgenderism is what’s coming around the bend as the formerly unthinkable becomes totally normalized, our positions polarized, and our identities increasingly homogenized. Mean+wile ––
It is a herd mentality that grants to the small number of billionaire
overseers an irrevocable immunity from all responsibility
and vulnerability to the billions of unseen, unheard
members of the flock whom they are endeavoring
to herd into one identity-crushing, liberty-
busting unity, so they may more
easily control and prey upon
us parasitically.
How appropriate, then, that the word-of-the-day today –– 10.25.22 –– on Dictionary.com is cantrip, pronounced ‘con-trip,’ which means a magic spell; trick by sorcery. This word of uncertain origin dates back to the early 1700s, when it was first recorded in English, the language that cantripped the world.
