by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
The issue of “pronouns” is a sticky wicket for a number of reasons because it’s a prime example of the two sides talking past each other. MAGA Republicans get really, really upset about this issue and they are often ridiculed by people on the center-Left because they use context to explain what makes them mad. So, instead of saying what they mean, which is “I hate *gender* pronouns neologisms,” they just say “My pronouns are kick ass.” (Or whatever) Or they say The Bible doesn’t use pronouns and so forth.
I’m no expert, but I do come from a bedrock conservative family and so I have some sense of why this particular issue enrages MAGA Republicans so much. I think some of it is it’s an easy-to-understand wedge issue. The idea that there would be more than two genders is something so alien to the your typical conservative that it’s easy for dipshits within the MAGA Republican ranks to demagog it.
And, you have to admit that the center-Left doesn’t do itself any favors when it gets prickly about the proper use of gender pronouns. And that’s why MAGA Republicans love to wallow in their hatred of the concept because it’s something they know will easily “trigger” the libs that they crave to “own” so bad.
I have to mention the talented writer Brock Colyar of New York Magazine when I talk about this. I read his great piece about the use of pronouns….and yet I feel as though there was something that the reader was meant to read between the lines. He goes on at great length about how he knows the use of gender pronouns is alien to a lot of people and he has gone out of his way to be a “safe space” for such people to talk about their use.
He wraps it all up by saying maybe just call him by his name.
Ok, that’s good writing, but it dodges the issue at hand — the use of gender pronouns is controversial because it’s something of a shorthand for MAGA Republicans about how much they hate libs and why they want to own them so bad. The use of gender pronouns ties into the general “gay scare” the United States is going through and the battle over trans rights, etc, etc. So for him to just end any discussion of a subject that he’s well known for by simply saying, “maybe just call me by my name” sees….like a cop-out.
It seems like something you write when you want to avoid confronting your audience with the obvious conclusion of “Yeah, I use unconventional gender pronouns, either accept that or fuck off.”
I will be the first to admit that I’m rather envious of Brock Colyar for being young in NYC, something I will never, ever have the chance to be. And Brock Colyar is obviously an excellent writer. I just wish Brock Colyar had not given his piece such a trite ending. What he wrote about really fucking riles some people up and maybe he needed to address that a bit more directly. And, he did address that some in what he wrote — but I guess I was expecting a more direct, full throated defense of his use of non-traditional gender pronouns.
Anyway. Just had to get that off my chest. But the issue of gender pronouns is really a prism into the forces that are tearing the United States apart. The distain for the use of gender pronouns is a shorthand used by MAGA Republicans to easily distinugish between the “them” of libtards and “us” of “real America.”
The United States is careening towards a very, very dark future. Between now and spring 2025 we’re either going to have a civil war, turn into an autocracy or have something akin to a military junta. Then the last thing any of us will be worrying about is our gender pronouns.
