Likely Normal

We live in strange times where science gets a participation trophy in the identity Olympics. Chromosomes? Debatable. Basic anatomy? Up for discussion. But mention someone’s skin color in the wrong tone and suddenly we’ve got PhDs in melanin analysis determining your privilege level down to the nanogram.

The rules are delightfully inconsistent:

• Your DNA can lie (biology is a “social construct”)
• Your bank statement can’t (you’re “privileged” if your ancestors had the foresight to take the risks and sacrifices to prepare for future generations and not spend all their money on momentary pleasures)
• There are 72+ genders to perfectly express every nuance of human experience., but only about 3 accepted opinions on race relations (all pre-approved by the LGBTQ+ community

It’s like we took a game of Twister, relabeled everything, and made it the foundation of society – right hand on systemic oppression, left foot on non-binary, and somehow your elbow is supposed to reach climate justice while maintaining perfect balance.  Hopefully, amidst the tangled mess, you’ll forget our entire history.

We’ve created a world where you can be canceled for misgendering someone’s cat but expected to intuitively know exactly how someone identifies based solely on their Starbucks order. We’ll fight to the death over pronouns but can’t define what a woman is without a 3-hour TED Talk and a safe space.