What I am writing here will probably go down as totally and incontrovertibly politically incorrect. But this is how I feel. I am too old to be enamored by celebrities. Let me also say that I have learned that with age comes the lack of knowing who many very young, so-called celebrities are. They don’t interest me and so I ignore them.
One celebrity I do enjoy watching and listening to is Jon Stewart. I am going to miss his political humor when he ends his program in August. So knowing it is coming to an end has made watching the remaining programs an 11 p.m.
ritual. So this week I tuned into the 11 p.m. Comedy Central offering only to find it not there, but replaced with a week-long celebrity roast series. The first one was for Justin Bieber. Now I don’t know who Justin Bieber is or what he has done to be so deserving. But like I said, I’m growing old. So rather than waste the time watching, I just went to sleep instead.
However, there is one celebrity who has caught the fascination of many who is closer to my age and so I am far more aware of him……or is it her, Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner. Now Bruce Jenner first came upon the scene as an Olympic athlete who worked hard and earned a gold medal competing in what I am told is the most difficult of Olympic athletic competitions, the decathlon. He won that gold medal nearly 40 years ago, in 1976, in Montreal. Most definitely a heroic event.
There probably aren’t many Olympic decathletes you could name, and probably not more than a handful of truly great Olympic champions whose name you might remember who came upon the Olympic and TV screen for that brief moment, dazzled us with their athletic brilliance and remained in the limelight for 20 years not to think 40 years. But after a mediocre, at best, Hollywood and television career, Mr. Jenner disappeared only to re-emerge a few years back as the father in some reality show featuring his daughters, who all aren’t really his daughters, and who have no talent whatsoever except to try and call attention to themselves doing whatever it is that they do. Let me admit, that I have never watched more than about three or four minutes of any of their shows. Let me also admit that I am amazed that such a lack of self-consciousness and evident self-promotion in any family can gain so much attention and money.
Then as the limelight was about to fade again from Mr. Jenner and his hoard, he admitted that while he competed as a male Olympic athlete, and while he has testicles like all other men, his preference was always to live as a woman. And the media, in their PT Barnum best, jumped all over it. There was an interview with him as his transformation became public. And most recently, I think last night, he was given some award for courage.
Courage? This guy has courage? We honor some person for admitting they would rather be a woman than a man? What audacity. It takes more courage to be what most people are every day than to demonstrate courage by transforming themselves into someone else. Trust, I am no Jon Stewart when it comes to being a political commentator, but there is no way I can accept the actions of a man putting on a dress as being courageous. If we are so enamored with transgendering, then every transvestite in the world is more courageous than Bruce/Caitlyn. At least they’ve been out there a lot longer doing it and without any glory.
Now I can be called a bigot because I can’t accept whatever motivations Bruce/Caitlyn might have had to come out as what he wants us to believe he wants to be. But the real disdain is for a media who wants us to watch, be transfixed by the sight and come to a conclusion that what they are presenting is courageous action on his part. Yesterday, in Chattanooga, where I live, some guy shot and killed four Marines. That struck home, because I have a son who is in the military.
Every day these brave men and women put themselves in a position where they are and can be called to stand in front and put their lives on the line to protect our liberty and freedom. They stand ready to risk their life to protect us from those who would do us harm. They go through their jobs anonymously and without a lot of gratitude. Bravery? Courage? Honor?
Don’t ever tell me that a man putting on makeup and a dress is a demonstration of courage. It’s an insult to the word.
Elliott Peigen
Ooltewah
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I would only cite a response by U.S. Army behavioral health specialist Joey Vicente, posted on his Facebook wall (at 7:22 p.m. Thursday 7/16) in support of Jenner. It seems to almost be written for Mr. Peigen.
"..........Your negative opinions on Caitlyn Jenner and her deservedness of an award that you didn’t even know about until a few days ago are irrelevant. Your definition of what or who a hero can or cannot be is irrelevant.
Forty percent of the transgender community have attempted suicide. What if I told you that her speech last night saved even one human being from attempting to take their life. I’d call that a victory on any scale. I’d call that (gasp)… heroic?
You don’t like that a female who used to identify as male got an award at a ceremony run by ESPN? Here’s a hint: get over yourself. You are on the wrong side of history. Like many bigots of the civil rights era, you will one day have to answer for your hate, whether it is to your God, a loved one, or your few hundred Facebook friends that you think give the slightest bit of a **** about what kind of sandwich you ate or what kind of workout you got in today.
You want to voice your opinion? Please, I beg that you do. But in using terms like “freak” or “faggot” you paint a much more vivid picture of yourself than you ever could of Caitlyn Jenner, a human being just now finally finding her comfort zone......"
Thank you, Mr. Vicente, for your courage, too.
Herb Montgomery
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I must have missed something, because the only use of the word "faggot" and "freak" that I see in this discussion occur in the content of Mr. Montgomery's response to Mr. Peigen and not in the original post. As for "courage" between a Marine and a transgender personality, there is no contest. Marines will win every day of the week.
In response to Mr. Montgomery's quote from Joey Vincente ("military behavioral specialist"), a little research would have disclosed that Joey Vincente is 23 years old and a fairly recent military enlistee. To become a military behavioral specialist, you do not need either a college degree or experience. All you need is a GED or high school diploma, which basically means Mr. Vincente was hardly qualified in the field of psychology or psychiatry to speak as an expert on this or any other subject in the first place.
Instead of focusing our attention on the estimated 0.03 percent of the U.S. that fall within the transgender community, perhaps a better use of our time, money, attention, and energy would yield greater results if we placed it were it is actually needed: providing better care for the veterans who are committing suicide at a far greater rate based on population statistics (about 15 percent) than the lesser transgender community. We should also remember that although transgenders claim a 40 percent "attempted suicide" rate, suicide among all teens remains the third largest cause of teen deaths in this nation as well.
Frankly, we are being hamstrung as a city and a nation over an agenda-driven topic that is already protected by wheelbarrows full of federal and state laws and regulations protecting the lesbian, gay, transgender, and transvestite community. Judging from recent actions and inaction in this nation, it appears the only ones not being adequately served and protected--are our active military and veterans.
To put it bluntly, we are once again caught up in another fabricated "Look! Squirrel!" diversionary tactic instead of addressing the real and far more critical issues facing the majority of the U.S. population today.
Mya Lane
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Both have tons of courage. Anyone who serves in the military has courage. A transgender person has equal courage. Being transgender is much more than putting on the clothes of the opposite sex you were born.
As a parent of a transgender person, I can see and understand how difficult it is. Transgender people, like gay people, are born that way. I get tired of the argument that God does not make mistakes. It is a birth defect, as with other types of defects.
When people stop living in the past and look to the future there will be equality for all American. Everyone is a child of God.Take off the blinders and look at the whole picture.
Dale Souders
East Brainerd