Anybody else noticed this trend?
Liberals come up with a bat-crap crazy notion – let's say the revelation that men can have babies – and your first reaction is this:
That's the craziest thing I ever heard.
But, then our liberal friends look at us like we're cave persons, incredibly stupid, hopelessly bigoted, and call us names. We're “homophobes,” “transphobes,” “genderphobes,” any ding-dong phobe they can think of. We're despicable. Deplorable. We're “overly draconian” (to borrow a phrase from our governor) if we think, say, guys shouldn't compete against girls in high school sports.
We're despicable if we believe that children and teens shouldn't receive life-changing gender-altering procedures. Who hasn't advised a young person not to “burn your bridges?” Imagine burning a bridge so consequential in your teens that it would preclude having children a few years later, when you finally get over what my wife's family called “Fool's Hill.” Imagine a youngster tempted by drugs, sex, video games, eating Tide Pods, and every screwball notion imaginable being given the option of slicing off organs.
What could go wrong with that?
And yet, with the aid of the the bankrupt mainstream media, it is possible these days to place the onus not on the people furthering these crazy notions (drag shows for young children for example, see below), but on those of us who, quite reasonably, say, “That's the craziest thing I've ever heard.” To hear them tell it, the problem is ours, not theirs.
A couple years ago, when the University of Wyoming was looking for a new president, I naively suggested that some former governor agree to take over the helm in Laramie until a recent past of leadership changes, trouble in the ranks, and typical campus craziness could settle down.
Ha, ha, ha. That was a good one. My swell idea had one fatal flaw: Nobody with the brains to be a former governor would touch being a university president with a ten-foot pole. Why mess up retirement with a sure-fire trip to Faculty Senate Ulcer Gulch? As a professor once told me, “The long knives are always out on campus.”
So, we have Ed Seidel as UW president, an impressive guy formerly from the University of Illinois. A guy who, in recent weeks, was confronted with uncomfortable questions from Cowboy State Politics founder David Iverson about a drag show presentation and seminar held April 13th at the UW Education Auditorium. Iverson reports on the presentation, and includes a video of some startling conduct and language, at his web site.
An administrator for UW's “gender and sexuality program” (I don't think they had that program when I was a UW student back in 1969) was in attendance during the presentation, and did not intervene when a drag show performer said the best part of “ballroom” shows was getting to meet children, and some member of the audience, according to Iverson, yelled “f--- the children!”
This, at our state university?
Iverson later questioned Seidel about the presentation, and UW's president said he wouldn't use such language himself, that he didn't attend the event, and that young people can get carried away. Asked if he condoned the presentation, he said, “I would think many people would find that offensive.”
Someone has to stand up for those of us saying, “That's the craziest thing I ever heard.” A drag show presentation and seminar at UW's Education Auditorium surely qualifies for craziest thing status.
How have we reached a point at which men dressed in women's clothes, “twerking” for audiences often including youngsters, and simulating sex, is considered worthy of a how-to seminar at UW?
Last week, one of my columns posted on Facebook moved a reader to call me a “grievance peddler.”
That's a new one. But some grievances are worth peddling (better than being a grievance denier), and for the sake of my granddaughters, who may someday attend UW, I'm willing to peddle this particular grievance.
How could this be happening in Wyoming?
Here's an idea. Look to the Legislature, and the bills that got stuck in the Speaker's drawer.
Dave Simpson can be reached at: DaveSimpson145@Hotmail.com
