Remember when you could just use the pronouns that self-evidently described a person? If you were talking about a fella, you’d say stuff like, “He did this” and “Here’s what I said to him.” Or if you were talking about a lady, you’d say things like, “The 19th Amendment says she can vote now, good for her.” It was a simpler time.
Now pronouns are a frickin’ minefield. You put one little tippy-toe on the wrong pronoun and… BOOM!! A heedless “misgendering” can get you in big trouble. You can get banned from the internet and/or lose your job. For some reason, you’re expected to enable the delusions of any person with trendy mental health issues. It’s not enough for a trans person to call him-, her-, or themselves1 whatever he, she, or they want.2 The rest of us are all obligated to go along.
Even if he’s a scumbag criminal like Ezra Miller.
And what’s even worse, this bizarre phenomenon renders news stories about “nonbinary” people almost indecipherable. Just look at this latest story about the ex-Flash actor going around the world being a violent lunatic:
“The actor — best known for playing the DC superhero the Flash in several films for Warner Bros. — was set to start filming the studio’s latest entry in the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise, ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,’ in London when the shoot was halted on March 15, 2020, due to COVID. In the weeks after, Miller, who identifies as nonbinary and uses ‘they/them’ pronouns, became a regular at bars in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík, where locals came to know and even befriend them. Many recognized Miller from their earliest breakout movies, 2012’s ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and 2011’s ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin,’ where they played a troubled teen who brought a bow and arrow to school and murdered his classmates.
It’s a grammatical nightmare. “Many recognized Miller from their earliest breakout movies.” Oh, so those Icelanders worked with Miller on those movies? No, you see, “their” is supposed to refer to him.
And this part is just madness: “They played a troubled teen who brought a bow and arrow to school and murdered his classmates.” So it’s not “They murdered their classmates,” because the character he was playing wasn’t nonbinary? What is this gibberish?
Tom Hanks recently said he regrets playing a gay man in Philadelphia because he’s not gay. I always thought that was just called “acting,” but what do I know. If that’s the case, though, why should a nonbinary person be allowed to play a normal person?
And if I’m expected to use a criminal’s preferred pronouns, why can’t Rachel Dolezal call herself black? There’s less genetic difference between a white woman and a black woman than between any man and any woman.
Ezra Miller is a man. That’s just how biology works. I wouldn’t toss aside the entirety of human knowledge just to spare his feelings even if he wasn’t a violent thug.
If Miller finally snaps and kills somebody, will we still be expected to use his preferred pronouns? Why should I cater to the whims of a dangerous criminal? Why do I need to tiptoe around any mention of this aggressively crazy freak? Who’s being harmed if I don’t?
I guess what I’m asking is: How is this guy still a victim?
If I said any of the preceding on any other platform, I’d probably get banned for making somebody feel “unsafe.” That’s how insane everyone has gone. But Substack is still standing up against the woke censors.
For now.
Oh, Joe Biden is doing just fine. Why do you ask?
No wonder Hunter parties so hard. It’s just how he was raised.
During my rant the other day about the ridiculous “Trump lunged at a Secret Service agent” story, I forgot to mention that I’m also skeptical about Cassidy Hutchinson’s claim that Trump is prone to throwing food at the wall when he’s pissed off. I don’t buy it.
Not because I find it implausible. It’s very plausible. It confirms my biases to a tee. I can just picture it.
But then that nagging voice in the back of my head asks: “Why haven’t we heard about this until now?”
Think it through: Trump has been headline news every single day for seven long years, ever since he came down that escalator and Hillary gleefully clacked together her withered claws. The press has criticized every single thing Bad Orange Man has done in that time, and even some stuff he hasn’t. If a journo wants to get rich quick, a “Trump Sucks” book is a guaranteed best-seller.
Now you’re telling me Trump was waddling around throwing food at the walls for four years, and nobody said anything about it until 18 months after his presidency? Why, because his staff was so loyal to him? They were so good at keeping their yaps shut?
Pull the other leg, it plays “Trouble Right Here in River City”!
At first Good Morning America was like:
Then everybody reminded these brain-geniuses that not only was the first black Supreme Court justice sworn in over 50 years ago, but the second one is still sitting on the court. They hate Clarence Thomas’ guts, yet they completely blanked on him.
So now it’s this:
Ketanji Brown Jackson can’t define the word “woman,” yet it’s the most important thing about her.
#Journalism!
I was a Twisted Sister fan as a kid, and I loved the way Dee Snider stood up to Tipper Gore and the rest of the censorious scolds at the PMRC. Hair metal and free speech, what a combo.
So this looks awesome:
Here’s what it looks like:
That’s hilarious. Dee was born to be a Kirby character!
I just used some of my birthday money to pre-order this book at z2comics.com. (Just getting the softcover. There’s a “deluxe edition,” but I ain’t made of money.) Even if it stinks, how many Dee Snider comic books have you ever read?
I gave this new Chris Pratt show a try, since I’m paying for Amazon Prime anyway:
This sort of stuff is right up my alley, but I couldn’t even get through the first half-hour. Boring characters are fine if the action is good, and poorly staged action is tolerable if the characters are interesting. This fails both tests.
I’m not a Chris Pratt hater — What’s that all about, anyway? — but he’s just not believable as a hardass Navy SEAL. He comes off like a big grumpy child.
Then I switched over to The Old Man on FX, which is basically the same story (an ex-military guy’s past comes back to haunt him) but it’s executed infinitely better. Pratt should observe Jeff Bridges and try to do that. Just saying.
Can you believe it’s July already? Time flies when you’re… um… never mind.
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Alright, that’ll do it for this week. Have a patriotic and safe Fourth of July, and I’ll see you next Tuesday!
Themself? Whatever.
Wants? Whatever.
"Tom Hanks recently said he regrets playing a gay man in Philadelphia because he’s not gay. I always thought that was just called 'acting,'..."
Does he regret playing an Ad Man with a Fish Girlfriend like he did in Splash? Or other-abled (I just gagged typing that) pong-playing shrimp boat captain? Or a WW2 Army CPT?
Jeebus. Why the need for such virtue signalling? You know why you have to play the roles of people you're not? Because an old white guy married to Rita is boring AF!
Anyone else remember how "ze/zir" was floated as gender neutral pronouns 20ish years ago? As in "Ze packed zir suitcase and flew to Reykjavik in search of more people ze could strangle in bars."
It looks and sounds pretty dumb, granted, but at least it's CLEAR what you're trying to say.