One transsexual Doctor too many
Each time you flip a coin there is a 50-50 chance it will land headsup. But the chances of it landing heads two times in a row are 1-in-4. Three times in a row is 1-in-8, and so on.
The chances of it landing heads-up 13 times in a row are a whopping 1in-8,192.
And because of that, I think the transgender rights movement is pushing so hard it’s harming its own goals. (Stay with me on this one.)
One of my guilty pleasures is the British Sci-fi series, “Dr. Who.” This clever and campy show stars a lovable human-looking space alien, called “the Doctor,” who travels in both space and time. The TV show started in 1963.
Like James Bond movies, which started about the same time, they have to replace the actor who plays The Doctor every now and then. So, they created a clever plot device.
In the magic that only science fiction allows, they have the Doctor die every so often and “regenerate,” a kind of instant reincarnation. So, the same character gets a new body, new face and new personality, via a new actor.
The current Doctor is scheduled to meet his on-screen demise soon. When he “regenerates” this time, he will become a she.
Sounding like it was ordered directly from the women’s studies department at Berkeley, the Doctor, who throughout all his incarnations since 1963 has always been a male character, will turn into a chick.
Of course they’re symbolically turning the Doctor transsexual to make a grand, politically correct, gender-bending social statement. It’s forced and over-the-top and worth the eye-roll many of us fans are giving it. Like so much lately, they’re pushing transsexual acceptance so hard it’s backfiring.
It would be like giving James Bond a sex change in the next Bond film, destroying a character to push an agenda. It’s in-your-face obnoxious. And it’s why so many people feel “this crap is being shoved down our throats.”
I know we’re no longer in a period of nuance in public discourse (and if I’m known for anything it’s nuance), but here’s a try. Some of us just want to simply enjoy a football game without Colin Kaepernick using it as a platform to remind us of what divides us. We want sanctuaries where we’re not constantly being indoctrinated and preached to. Lord knows we can’t find it in public schools, news media or basically anything Hollywood puts out.
You can get tired of the left’s preoccupation with transgender issues and still support transgender rights. Trust me, I don’t care with what gender you identify. Wear a dress, more power to you. Come use the bathroom stall next to mine. And, if you can kill people and break things with the best of them, join the Army. I fully accept that the body you’re in might not match who you really are. I accept you.
Buy why you’re identifying as a gender that doesn’t match your birth certificate, well, that’s a you issue. And I am under no obligation to care about it, no matter how much progressives demand I be re-educated to understand your motivations.
My daughter has been taught at school (so she can dutifully lecture me about it later) that it’s not just enough to accept someone as they represent themselves. We must be literate in all their subtleties and genres: trans woman, trans man, bi-gender, genderqueer, cisgender, questioning …
Facebook used to give you 58 gender options to choose from, but since that wasn’t enough you now get to customize your own label.
How forced is all this getting? In our Dr. Who example, we are currently on our 13th incarnation of the Doctor, all of whom have been male. If with every “regeneration” the Doctor could have become either a man or a woman, the odds he would have been a man all 13 times in a row is an unimaginable 1in-8,192.
So really, he’s just a dude, and can’t we just enjoy that? Do even established, beloved fictional characters in farflung galaxies need to be manipulated to fight the PC culture wars?
Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute, a libertarian-conservative think tank in Denver, and host of “Devil’s Advocate” on Colorado Public Television.