A UNC student's op-ed in the News and Observer is getting some attention in the blogosphere and giving UNC even more bad press, although the deans probably applaud the piece. She writes about what it is like for her personally, as a "conventionally attractive" student who identifies as female, to carry the great burden that sexism has placed upon her. The examples she describes seem mostly trivial or imagined, but her editorial does allude to a bigger problem in America, and it isn't sexism. Her real problem is radical liberalism which is ushering in the new victimhood culture. While many may think her problems are insignificant, this new liberalism has twisted the previous liberalism of merit into a radical, illogical, dangerous ideology that has gone off the deep end with a millstone tied around its neck. (Matthew 18:6)
This new liberalism is like an illegal recreational drug. Both numb the brain's ability to think logically. Both turn the focus inward instead of outward. Both make the user feel temporarily high by conjuring wild, feel-good hallucinations in which the user becomes the center of the universe, free of all blame or responsibility, high and exalted, so much so that everyone must bow to the user's demands while walking on egg shells so as not to offend. When the buzz fades, more toxic thoughts or chemicals are required to keep reality or common sense from crashing into the consumer's narcissistic world.
UNC isn't the only school spitting out such paranoia. Her comments are merely an example of what our culture of postmodernism and extreme liberalism has produced. Instead of grounding herself in the absolute truth that shows her what great value and potential she has regardless of what anyone else says or thinks, she plays the victim, consumed with herself, blaming others for her obsession with thigh gaps, acne, and whatever she assumes others are thinking about her, when they probably aren't even noticing her at all.
To the author of this editorial and to the countless people she represents, it's not your gender, physical appearance, age, or race by which most people are judging you or by which you should concern yourself. Those traits bestowed at birth are ultimately out of your control. It's your words, actions, and attitudes, which you can control, that most affect how others will respond to you. You get to choose what you will assume, but you cannot decide for yourself what is true. You also get to choose how you will respond to the reactions of others. Will you rejoice in how you were uniquely created, or will you let the fickle opinions of others define your worth and make you feel uncomfortable? (Miss Dodge, if you don't want guys looking at your body, why did you write a piece drawing attention to your body by describing your legs, eyes, face, belly, chest, and rear in such detail? Your words in this op-ed make you sound like the one most obsessed with your feminine body, not sexist males.)
Your repeated use of "identifies as" shows an extreme allegiance to political correctness which stems from fear. Even though the science is clear that gender is hard-coded into one's DNA and obvious at birth (or by the 12th week of pregnancy via ultrasound), fear mongering makes it socially unacceptable to refer to people as simply male or female. A good postmodern liberal will always precede a gender assignment with the phrase "identifies as" so as not to offend the radical establishment that is controlling you. I see all these people in our culture "identifying" as this gender or that, without regard to their actual gender from birth, and then feeling despair when neither feels righ in the long run. Suicide is common following gender reassignment surgery because it does not satisfy the true longings of the heart. The gender confused need wise counsel and loving support, not expensive surgery which only changes the outward appearance, not the sacred, hurting soul inside.
Others may be comfortable with their God given gender but hate their race or skin color, so they take great effort to study a different ethnicity, dye their skin and hair, and change their mannerisms so they can "identify" as a different race while living a lie. It's all a vain attempt to push back imposed guilt or prejudice.
Others may be comfortable with their God given gender but hate their race or skin color, so they take great effort to study a different ethnicity, dye their skin and hair, and change their mannerisms so they can "identify" as a different race while living a lie. It's all a vain attempt to push back imposed guilt or prejudice.
Some refuse to identify with their God given body frame and go to dangerous extremes to change it, only to see their bones protrude and their stomachs puff out like a starving child's from a third world country, never able to shrink into the circumference with which they long to identify. Emotions crumble and deadly eating disorders consume them as they pursue something out of reach having lost touch with what is true and right.
Then there are those who refuse to accept the family into which they were born so they disown them. Perhaps they accept their family but refuse to accept that they were not born into the great wealth to which they feel entitled (again we see that liberalism is all about feelings, not facts), so instead of working hard, seeking educational opportunities and job training resources within their reach as the man in the video below did, they steal, commit crimes, or abuse the welfare system to get what they think should define them. (I realize overcoming generational poverty is complicated and not as easy as some often make it seem, but it is by no means impossible as shown below.)
Posted by Mike Steele on Sunday, August 30, 2015 - PLEASE WATCH
The victimization mindset presented in Dodge's op-ed is an opiate for the discontented because it gives temporary (albeit false) hope that life will improve "if only others would do or stop doing _______" and promises that the grass is always greener on the other side. With a spherical world, however, there is no end to the other side, just an endless spinning. As yearnings go unsatisfied, bitterness grows. Radical liberalism is a short lived LSD trip for those who refuse to accept oneself because it teaches that others are to blame for whatever negative feelings the "victim" experiences. It places a cheap band-aid over the emotions, when a heart transplant is what is truly needed to heal the soul. Yes, we should encourage respectful behavior toward all people, but to demand a life without insult or offense in this fallen world is to resign oneself to a life of disappointment and bitterness.
The following truths have been concealed too long in our culture. Each of us has been "fearfully and wonderfully made; [Creator God's] works are wonderful, I know that full well." (Psalm 139:14) We were each designed uniquely and beautifully for a perfect purpose. (Jeremiah 29:11, Micah 6:8) What others think about us does not and should not matter. No man's words, stares, or evil intent can penetrate or mar an identity rooted in the eternal. Lasting joy will not come until we seek God's pleasure, not man's approval or our own selfish desires. (1 Thessalonians 2:4)
God defines us and gives us infinite worth by creating us in his image and by sacrificing His one and only Son through a brutal death on the cross in our place. Until we accept who were are and whose we are and own it, taking responsibility for how we think, what we believe and assume, and how we behave, we will continue to cry "victim" and wallow in our own self made misery. Until we starting looking outward beyond ourselves, giving to others instead of accusing them and taking from them, we will never be content. And ultimately, until we find our identity in Christ and through Him who "created us in His image, both male and female" (Genesis 1:27), we will never experience lasting peace. God is calling each of us into a personal relationship with Him. Only He can fill that God shaped void in the heart of mankind.
To those who who are still searching, I pray you will know that He wants to give you peace that transcends all understanding. (Philippians 4:7) Open your heart to Him. The Lord of the Universe, maker of Heaven and earth who is perfect in love, mercy, grace, and righteous wants to make you His child. In Him you will find your true identity, perfect peace, joy, purpose, contentment, and infinite love.
"Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12)
