Curt Schilling is pretty well known to baseball fans. In a 20-year career, he pitched for the Orioles, Astros, Phillies, Diamondbacks and Red Sox. Schilling compiled a 216-146 record, struck out 3,116 batters, was on three World Series winners and was a six-time All-Star. That is quite a legacy, but I am not sure it will get him to Cooperstown. No shrinking violet when he was playing, he has a tendency to spout off about non-sports matters. Schilling, proudly conservative, has blasted big government and stated his concerns about the growing presence of Mohammedans in Europe.
He served for six years as an analyst for baseball games on ESPN. That gig ended abruptly on April 20, 2016 after a Facebook post about “transgender” people using men’s or women’s restrooms. I am of two minds on this issue, but I will begin by saying he should have known better. While Schilling had every right to his opinion, he should have kept it to himself or merely expressed it privately. Why use the megaphone that is social media to proclaim it? When ESPN canned him, I was not surprised in the least.
Unlike Schilling, I am not famous and I don’t have a major platform on which to state my views. There are advantages to being a nobody! A person who is employed by a media giant such as ESPN ought to think twice before making right-wing comments. In fact, I sympathize with the former hurler on some of the things he has said. I am quite alarmed about the virtual invasion of Europe by infidels and other immigrants, and I have said so on my web site, on my blog and in my poor-selling books. I have also written critically—but I think compassionately—about Bruce Jenner and his conversion to a pseudo-female named Caitlyn. ESPN, it should be remembered, gave Jenner its Arthur Ashe Courage Award in the summer of 2015.
Schilling and I are both male heterosexuals of European descent. This being the case, how can we not see things from a certain perspective? The gay agenda is strong and vociferous, more so now than ever. Woe unto any “straight” person who does not fall into line with the PC community on any college campus in the United States. And now we can add the mind-bending topic of transgendered men and women. The media treatment of this issue is overwhelmingly positive, even fawning. I read the online version of the New York Times daily, and I see a massive effort to push the gay and transgender issue—constantly, at every opportunity. The newspaper of record foists it on us: Isn’t this wonderful? Isn’t it great that so many people are taking on a new sexual identity? I question all facets of the present subject, including the numbers. More than 700,000 in the USA alone, 0.3% of the population? I don't believe that, no way.
When I look at the arc of Bruce Jenner’s life, I am both fascinated and horrified, and nothing he does can convince me he’s female. He grows his hair out, takes some hormones and has facial surgery, and that makes him a woman? He has so far chosen not to have, ahem, the big operation. That would make scant difference since he still has a Y chromosome. In interviews he does these days, Jenner divides the world into two: those who "get it" and those who don't.
Back to the NYT. A few months ago, it featured an article and accompanying 3-minute video about an interesting couple. He was formerly a she, and she was formerly a he. They met, fell in love, and it’s nothing but sunshine and lollipops for them now. The whole thing seemed staged to me. There was a comment section, and it was 90% pro. Only 10% were remotely negative. A few people bucked the PC tidal wave, though. They said, “This is weird. Who are they kidding? Our culture is going to hell in a proverbial hand basket!”
I don’t need to be coerced by any left-wingers to favor inclusiveness and tolerance. I’ve always said, if I were gay I would not be in the closet. That is strictly hypothetical, however. I genuinely try to be understanding toward those who deal with sexual confusion. (Jenner was cross-dressing at age 10.) Color me simple, but I think in terms of boy−girl and man−woman. I would get no thrill from putting on a bra and panties, an evening dress and high heels, lipstick and so on. I know who I am.
Schilling’s Facebook post about which potties transgenders are to use was unwise if only because he got an all-too-predictable pink slip. He, like many or perhaps most heterosexuals, finds these matters bewildering, so he raged against the left-leaning media and government. I am as mystified and confounded as you are, Curt. But if you had valued your job at ESPN, you would have put a cork in it.
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