Being a human comes with certain responsibilities: caring for yourself, securing shelter, providing for those entrusted to your care and contributing something of value to society. Men hold a certain unspoken place in society. Protector. Warrior. Provider. Hunter. Gatherer. Protector of masculinity. Fundamentally, I believe a man has a responsibility to exercise self-mastery.
Men are susceptible to the same temptations as anyone else—the perversions of the mind and the flesh, destructive impulses, and choices that can harm both ourselves and others. A true man must learn to tame the demons in his mind and guard his essence against becoming something destructive. Self-control is not oppression. It is civilization.
Retailer Target has always been a liberal outpost. Gender-neutral restrooms, pride month promotions and controversial products marketed around gender identity. All above have all contributed to that perception. Their previous controversies included tuck-friendly swimwear and pride merch marketed to children. Whether one celebrates those choices or opposes them, they are undeniably statements of values.
Just when I thought it was safe to shop at Target again, I quickly discovered that while the headlines have faded, the underlying ethos still exists.
The store is clean and for the most part well kept. I entered and went down the main aisle. I look up and see what I initially thought was a man with long dreadlocks. What I realized was a man with a beard. Wearing lipstick. And blush. Effeminate men have always existed. Masculine women have, too. What is not new is not their existence but society’s insistence that these struggles, identities and expressions must be celebrated and affirmed as unquestionably good. That is where I part company with modern culture.
I do not believe every internal feeling or impulse requires external affirmation. I do not believe every struggle should become an unquestionable identity. Modern culture increasingly treats self-expression as the highest virtue. I argue self-mastery deserves greater consideration.
Part of my discomfort stems from what I can only describe as mental friction—the disconnect between what my eyes perceive and what society asks me to affirm simultaneously. Everyone experiences some version of this phenomenon. We all live with tensions between reality, perception, and belief. I simply have enough tensions of my own without asking to participate in someone else's.
Jamie Lee Curtis has a "sis" daughter and a "trans" daughter. She has repeatedly remarked that people would be unable to distinguish her trans child from a lineup of 19 other women. Perhaps that is simply a mother’s love speaking. Parents will almost always choose love over an ideology when speaking about their children.
I don't know whether she sees this as something to celebrate, something to accept, or merely something to love despite the complexity. Frankly, it isn't my business.
History will ultimately decide how this period of cultural conflict is remembered. Universities will advocate one set of ideas. Public intellectuals such as Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, and Matt Walsh will advocate another. Some churches will emphasize radical acceptance and love. Others will insist that God does not make mistakes and that contemporary understandings of gender represent profound confusion rather than liberation.
Whatever the case may be, my openness to giving Target a second chance was short lived. Corporations are free to choose the values they wish to communicate, and consumers are equally free to decide whether those values align with their own.
Once, shame on you. Twice, shame on me.
Once is ignorant. Twice is stupid.
Thanks for playing. Never again.
No comments:
Post a Comment