Hair Trigger

*With acknowledgement to the works of Bill Whittle

Just when you think that Identity Politics has reached peak absurdity, the Social Justice Left manages to top themselves. I recently read an article in HEALTHLINE, about a safer sex manual written for the LGBTQIAP (silent E and sometimes Y) community, which posits that the word “vagina” (coined by White Guy biologists and doctors) is too exclusionary, and might Trigger “women” who don’t have one and “men” who do. So, in the interest of being inclusive, the vagina will henceforth be referred to as (I’m not making this up), the “Front Hole”. This one not only pegged the needle of my absurdometer, it damn near broke it. At the risk of sounding like a geezer, what is the world coming to? As an intellectual exercise, I’ve been trying to envision the perfect world of the Twenty-First Century Neo-Socialists, based on their stated desires. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

Everyone, regardless of their physicality, would be an inoffensive, neuter gender. No one would be too masculine or too feminine. The primary sexual characteristics of one’s partner would be irrelevant. After all, it’s just sex.

Humanity would be a homogenized collective with no racial, ethnic or cultural differences to be exploited or appropriated, and all would be in philosophical agreement. Everyone would have a warm, dry place to sleep, and a sufficient amount to eat.  No one would have less than they needed, but no one would have more, either.

The needs and goals of the collective would not only be of paramount importance, they would be the only considerations. Self-interest wouldn’t be a factor, it wouldn’t even occur to anyone. There would be no crime or war, since an organism doesn’t attack itself. In short, Marx’s Proletarian Paradise. Ironic, since most of these kids have no idea who Karl Marx was. As I thought about this, I had an epiphany: what I just described isn’t a human society, it’s an ant colony. Trouble is, people aren’t ants.

What we’re witnessing is the deliberate degrading of a vital part of the brain, called the amygdala. The amygdala, the so-called Fear Center, is what sends out unpleasant signals when we’re confronted by danger, or something we don’t particularly like. It’s what keeps us from walking into traffic, or from burning our hand by purposely touching the hot stove…again. The amygdala is what enables us to learn, and like a muscle, is strengthened or weakened, depending on how much it’s used.

This is why those in high-risk professions, like soldiers or first responders, have a much higher threshold for discomfort than say, basement-dwelling video gamers, or Gender Studies majors. Those trying to impose Politically Correct language, decrying “toxic masculinity”, and demanding a confrontation-free world, aren’t doing themselves any favors. The less discomfort you’re exposed to, the less it takes to make you uncomfortable.

Soon, the Safe Spaces won’t help anymore. People’s amygdalas will be so emaciated,that if one of the crayons is a color they don’t like, they’ll have a panic attack. Or the smell of the Play-Doh will cause a nervous breakdown. Or the fluffy kitten pictures will bring on traumatic flashbacks of being scratched by a cat.

Here’s the thing; we’re all the sum of our thoughts and experiences, both good and bad. To demand that we be protected from words or ideas that might Trigger uncomfortable feelings and memories in us is to deny our own pasts. It is to deny our very humanity. Is it hard to face these things? Hell, yes! But, it’s what adult, self-determining people do.

Engage in the arena of ideas. Debate and argue. Have the courage of your convictions. Don’t let the social engineers turn you into a sheep. Fight for your personhood. Not as a member of an aggrieved victim class, but as an individual. And let others do the same. There’s no limit to what individuals, co-operating, in mutual self-interest (even if they don’t like each other) can accomplish. This is the essence of America.