I have to say I’ve had mixed emotions about Caitlyn Jenner since her interview with Diane Sawyer. My concern isn’t about Jenner. I strongly support Jenner for being the person Jenner is. We are not in Jenner’s shoes and unless we truly listen to what Jenner has to say, for Jenner’s own journey, we can’t be judge and jury imposing our own life experiences on how Jenner should live life. I applaud Jenner for being brave enough to declare and say to the word this is who I am.

My concern has to do with the bandwagon of people who have decided Jenner’s journey is a crusade or a curse for whatever preconceived views they have. I question all of the celebrity endorsements and accolades that have poured into Jenner’s twitter account and those of whom who have flocked to the cameras to give support to Jenner. Are you doing it because you support Jenner or to enhance your celebrity status? The reason why I’m so harsh about this is on the cover of Vanity Fair Jenner has the look of something I would call the Magic Negro. You’ve probably heard of the Magic Negro in a negative sense by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, but in a broader sense, the Magic Negro, which probably should be re-named the Magic Minority, is the person who is held up as the symbol of a maligned minority that every other person of that minority class must live up to in the public eye. For instance, think of Sidney Poitier in Guess Whose Coming To Dinner. In that movie, when interracial marriage was a taboo for many people, he was presented as the black man no family could refuse. A doctor, working for the UN, with enough money that he could find the woman of his dreams in Hawaii, and well spoken. What family could refuse him?

In my life, and I think many people could agree with this, when I see black/white interracial couple I see people who don’t look, act or present themselves like the couple in Guess Whose Coming To Dinner. I see regular people and more often than not struggling people. They act like regular folks with regular problems such as financial, social and personal issues. They don’t look like the sleek and glamourous couples seen in on celebrity gossip blogs and television shows. Jenner is in the same category. For all the praise given for the courage and bravery to come out and be the person Jenner is, the regular public is going to get on the bus, walk through a park or see someone at the grocery store that doesn’t fit the glammed up, perfectly photographed and frankly, emotionally supported Jenner we see on television. They are going to see regular people, with all their flaws and insecurities, out there for the world to see. How people will react to someone in that situation will be a testament to how we as a society are accepting of transgendered individuals.

I would dare say many people, even with the positive press, are going to react in a way as I saw in an article forwarded to me by a person to my Facebook account.

This is the actual article copied from the website The Political Insider -

Bruce “Caitlyn” Jenner is all over the internet this week. It’s incredible how an Olympic athlete can simply have doctors make adjustments to make him look like a woman. But it’s a disease, and Bruce deserves our prayers… Not our congratulations.

Tom Selleck, a conservative and actor from the hit series Blue Bloods, gave an epic response in an interview which matches this sentiment perfectly. Tom Sellleck, who is now 70 years old and rugged as ever, clearly doesn’t care what liberal Hollywood thinks of him!

In this interview with US Magazine, Tom unloaded on the concept of plastic surgery, and why he is so opposed to it:

“I’ve never done it. That’s not to say I won’t,” the Jesse Stone star told the mag of plastic surgery. “I don’t have a problem with it as long as it’s not just vanity…I don’t have anything really against it, if I can look at it as a tool and not a kind of narcissistic manifestation of vanity, which it probably is anyway; but I do think there’s a difference between that kind of vanity and your work,” he said. “If it allows you to do your job and be accepted in a larger variety of things, I think it’s okay.”

In a classy way, Tom explained just how unnecessary and vain plastic surgery is. People need to be comfortable in their own skin, and men should try to be real men… In other words, they should act like Tom Selleck!
There is so much more to being a woman than surface level adjustments. Tom Selleck makes an important point that we should all keep in mind.

The article clearly shows this website, seen by millions of people, considers the transformation of Jenner as a disease; someone that should be pitied and not praised. As for the quote by Tom Selleck, and this is the very reason why I implore people to not take links at face value, I tracked down the actual article where Tom Selleck made the comment. It wasn’t in response to Jenner’s revelation because it was made months before the Diane Sawyer interview. From what I can find, it was for a GQ magazine interview in late September of 2014. The Diane Sawyer interview was in April of this year. So the writer of the article, with the blessing, I can assume, of the website, decided to bridge two unrelated incidents into one just to promote an agenda they had. It wasn’t the best of melding, but a reader seeing the article on Facebook would probably read the headline and form an opinion. Someone who bothered to click on the link to the site might read the first few paragraphs and come away with a conclusion not supported by the full article.

As much as I despise the people who jump on the bandwagon to support Jenner for the sheer celebrity and publicity of doing so, those who denigrate Jenner for their own prejudice views angers me more. In what universe does Jenner’s acknowledgement of themselves hurt you in your life? It is a problem with our American society that we let the words of celebrities dictate our lives. A statement by someone we admire who shows up on TV or social media causes us to react to their cause without researching the issue. We should be willing to be independent thinkers and see out information for ourselves. We should question what a preacher, a politician, a celebrity or a pundit says. It is possible they have a hidden agenda or prejudice that will color their opinion. We shouldn’t assume their comment has been vetted and researched.

Just like every other issue I have looked into where I had a question to the validity of the statement, it took me less than five minutes to do a Google search and find a reputable source confirming the Tom Selleck statement was made many month before the interview with Jenner on ABC. If many people were more proactive in verifying information passed along to them on social media we might have a better informed population.

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The Jenner Bandwagon - June 04, 2015
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