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Saturday, December 13, 2014

From decathlon to silicon


When I was in high school, Bruce Jenner became world-famous, as well as a national hero, by winning the gold medal in the decathlon.
That was then and this is now. 
When I wait in line at the check stand I sometimes notice front page tabloids lampooning his "transformation" from a quintessential jock to an effeminate male. He looks like an aging drag queen. 
In one sense I find the coverage refreshing. It's a throwback to when effeminacy was stigmatized. 
It is, however, surprising that in a political environment where you can instantly lose your job for "transphobic" vibes in the ultrasonic range, tabloids can get way with ridiculing his self-emasculation. 
It says something about the pop culture when tabloids are the last bastion of natural law morality in that regard. But comedy often trumps political correctness. A humorist can still say things the rest of us aren't allowed to. The satirical vein of Jenner is just too rich a mother-lode to resist mining for 24-karat nuggets of comedic ore. He's still a gold medalist, only it's comedic gold, and the joke is on him. 
Even the ever-decadent tabloids are a witness to residual morality in that regard. 

2 comments:

  1. My younger co-workers seem to know only of the Bruce Jenner who was married to a Kardasian. I joke around with them by telling how I remember when Bruce was on the Wheaties box and was an attractive, normal looking jock. Now, after upteen plastic surgeries, he looks like an alien.

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  2. It occurs to me that transgenderism, which requires a recognition of the distinction between genders, is the antithesis of feminism, that seeks to erase gender differences. I wonder if the two liberal factions tolerate each other because they hold liberal ideology, whatever that might be aside from the plethora of special interests, to be a higher goal.

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