The “wokest” generation is at it again. A new poll conducted for Newsweek found that “44% of those aged 25-34 think ‘referring to someone by the wrong gender pronoun (he/him, she/her) should be a criminal offense,’ versus just 31% who disagree. The remainder ‘neither agree nor disagree’ or ‘don’t know.'”
This is a striking finding. It is one thing to take a particular stance on the “pronoun debate.” After all, different people can, in good faith, approach it in different ways — and even approach different cases in distinct ways. The purpose of this piece has nothing to do with the merits or demerits of using certain pronouns. Rather, it is about the fact it is quite a leap to express a desire to criminalize — put in jail, presumably — those who oppose one’s particular stance on the matter. Nevertheless, that is precisely what 44% of young people have done.
It is worthwhile to ask a simple question: Why?
One possible answer is it is just a natural consequence of the dominant values of our age. Knowledge of history, which could teach us that compelled speech is antithetical to the idea of a free society, has gone by the wayside. Fidelity to tradition, which ensures we do not make revolutionary changes without due thought, is now out of fashion. And a sense of humility, which endows people with the sense that the accumulated wisdom of the past may be greater than an on-the-fly thought in the present, has all but disappeared.
Instead, today, chief among the virtues is tolerance — and almost nothing else.
But this presents us with a bit of a problem: If we value tolerance more than anything else, then why do so many support draconian punishments — quite intolerant, if you ask me — for those who use incorrect pronouns? The answer is that the only way to maintain tolerance in the public square is by not allowing intolerance. It may seem inconsistent, but even the most tolerant of societies must be intolerant of something. After all, there is no such thing as a society without any standards. Creating a world reflective of what one cares about necessitates at least some gatekeeping — even if it is quite limited. And consequently, intolerance cannot be allowed if tolerance ought to rule the day.
But while tolerance is an important value, many have started to consider it in isolation rather than in balance with other values. In this case, it could be values such as freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and lack of knowledge about unintended consequences. It is easy to elevate one value above all others and consider it to the exclusion of all others. But it is profoundly imprudent to do so. And this seems to be precisely the trap some are falling into.
This leaves us with one possibility as to why 44% of young people want to criminalize wrong pronoun use: It offends the most basic value of contemporary American society — a value too many, consciously or unconsciously, have decided no longer must be balanced with any others that are similarly crucial to a functioning society.
We have lost the sense that there are always competing goods that must be weighed against one another while coming to policy decisions. Until we get it back, we should not be surprised when people continue to believe some pretty bizarre things.
* Article From: The Washington Examiner
