Many of us recall the childhood story of the Emperor’s New Clothes: several garment swindlers find an emperor so caught up in his own vanity (or insecurities) that they are able to peddle to him the finest materials known to man. Of course, the new clothes do not exist but yet are reported to the emperor as being of such magnificence that anyone unable to appreciate their beauty must be “incompetent or stupid.”
Each of the emperor’s men, fearful of being the lone denier, fawn over the non-existent clothes. This fear of standing out continues throughout the unveiling of the emperor’s new wardrobe when, during a large regal procession, the general public is also quick to lend its faux-infatuation over the invisible clothes. Finally, as everyone gushes over the naked emperor, one young boy in the audience innocently announces, “But he doesn’t have anything on!” The sudden proclamation of truth awakens people from their ignorance and soon the entire crowd is shouting “He doesn’t have anything on!”
Like many children’s tales, these stories take on a different meaning when we revisit them later in life. What was, on the surface, a funny scenario regarding an undressed king parading in public becomes an applicable metaphor for a group of blind followers, goose stepping along with a lie.
This story is being played out before us as we are introduced to “Caitlyn Jenner,” the new personality of Bruce Jenner. According to the headlines and tweets that followed, Bruce Jenner is today’s proverbial emperor, adorning the cover of Vanity Fair. ESPN immediately announced that they would honor him at the ESPYs with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. But as in the tale, the emperor is not the antagonist. Rather, he is the victim. The poor emperor was blinded by his own self-regard and lied to by the sycophants with whom he surrounded himself, the entire public included.
The real tragedy here is not the tormented individual who, let us be honest, has a mental illness — not in the derogatory, insulting sense, but a truly painful disorder for which we should offer the same love, compassion, and support as we would anyone suffering from anorexia, schizophrenia, or bipolarism. Imagine if, instead of Caitlyn, Mr. Jenner believed himself to be Napoleon. Would we, as a society, begin to address him as Emperor Bonaparte? Would Annie Leibovitz shoot a fawning Vanity Fair spread of him in his new military uniform? Would Twitter be inundated with “Congratulations Napoleon” tweets? Of course not, as we would be doing him a major disservice by affirming his disordered perception of reality.
Unfortunately, like the swindlers, the media is all too quick to capitalize on Mr. Jenner’s current state. Vanity Fair stands to profit greatly. The left has opportunistically seized the situation to further its progressively-charged notion that men and women are not different, but interchangeable. Even some on the right have tried to politicize the issue as well, after Mr. Jenner stated that he is a Republican. Hot Air posted an article suggesting that Republicans ought to embrace “Caitlyn” Jenner in order to gain more “street cred.” This is all to be expected. The right, left, and media each have their agendas and will manipulate any story to further their cause. What is sad, however, are the millions of people apologizing for uttering Bruce instead of Caitlyn; for referring to a human with male genitalia with a feminine pronoun; for being complicit and enabling the media to continue selling its delusional narrative.
This is the actual tragedy: the public’s participation in a suffering man’s deception. In a society that promotes happiness above all else, we have reached a tragic crossroad where we are willing to lie to an evidently tormented, confused man rather than offer him assistance. Just as in the Emperor’s New Clothes, today’s public is very much the same. No one wants to be that lone denier and call a spade a spade. The result: everyone is now drinking the Caitlyn Jenner Kool-Aid, which is an utter falsehood.
Psychiatry places transgenderism in the same category as those with eating disorders. These struggling individuals are unhappy with their self-deceiving body image and consequently enter into an endless spiral of physical rebellion against their bodies. They are completely divorced from reality. It would be unthinkable to encourage an anorexic woman to lose five more pounds in hope of helping her to find happiness and then congratulating her as she loses weight. Hopefully, we would persuade her to seek therapy so that she may correct her misguided self-perception. Someone needs to be like the young boy in the tale, state the obvious, and convince Bruce Jenner to do the same.