QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 20, 2014 -> 06:05 PM)
I think Simmons' piece is very-well done and I agree with just about all of it.
Christina Kahrl's piece, on the other hand, is a bit ridiculous. I'm trying to think about the relationship between the fact that Vanderbilt was a transgender person and the fact that that's also what threw Caleb Hannan off her scent. I find them almost inseparable and therefore necessary to the story. I said as much Saturday.
Do we, as a society, have a ways to go when it comes to accepting and learning to properly respect transgender people? Yes, absolutely. I think about the progress made with gay and lesbian folks and think about that same progress when it comes to transgender people.
On the other hand, this trend we also seem to have as a society to celebrate faux outrage and morality dick-measuring contests is also quite bothersome. We're all so quick to trip over each other in an attempt to see who can be the most morally or politically correct Mother Theresa, and that usually happens shortly after the first person stands up and begins imparting blame (as we saw in this case). Frankly, if it took 56 hours for someone to do so, and then turned into an all-out cascade of criticism, I find that pretty compelling evidence.
I shudder to think we may enter an age in publishing where a writer can't report an interesting story without fear of somehow offending someone for something.
I love this post.