Q: How Do You Freak Out A Russian?

Good afternoon from a Starbucks on Nevsky Prospect. I’m on my way to the Russian State Museum, but ducked in here for caffeine and wifi.

I leave for home tomorrow, and believe me, there will be a lot of Russia-oriented blogging. I don’t want to waste my last day here on the Internet. I did see the election results from Virginia and Kentucky; that left me feeling gloomy about the 2020 election. Virginia I understand, but Kentucky — man, that’s a blow. I’m sure the usual suspects will say that the election results there are fake news, and that a Republican in a red state did not lose the governor’s race, and that I’m a tool of the Deep State for having noticed it.

While my hosts are at work, I’ve been exploring the city. Sometimes I run into Russians who speak English. They are always friendly and eager to talk. One thing that really stands out is how uncomprehending they are when we start talking about political correctness in the US, especially around LGBT issues. Even Russians who tell me they are not fans of Putin find the illiberalism of the American left, especially on LGBT topics, utterly mystifying.

One man told me a story about a friend in Paris who owns a bookstore. The bookstore owner was quoted publicly saying that it’s wrong to propagandize children with LGBT storybooks. Because of that, the intelligentsia condemned the man as a bigot, and his business suffered.

I told my Russian interlocutor that this is easy to believe, that this kind of thing happens in the US too. I found with this man the same kind of experience I have had every time this kind of thing comes up in conversation with Russians: they struggle mightily to comprehend that America, of all places, has become this sort of place. It shocks them that our public square has become so illiberal, because of the political policing of the left, but more than that, they find my stories about the relentless propaganda by the media, academia, and the cultural establishment on behalf of Pride, and in particular the campaign to change the consciousness of children regarding gender theory — well, they find this offensive and incomprehensible.

One man told me, “I think people should leave gay people alone. What they do is their business, not mine. Those who chase them and beat them are wrong, and should be stopped. But how can they do this to children? Why do you Americans allow this? We have a law in Russia forbidding LGBT propaganda to children. I think almost every Russian supports this.”

And they’re right. It really is instructive to step outside of the Western cultural sphere and see our own country, and what has become normal. Even American conservatives like me are becoming numb to it, because it is everywhere, and ever-present. Look, Russia has plenty of problems, and I don’t want to hold it up as any kind of ideal society. In some important ways, I would probably count as a liberal if I lived in Russia. But I’ve gotta tell you, there is nothing quite like trying to explain Drag Queen Story Hour to a Russian to make an American realize how far gone his own culture is.

UPDATE: Here is a column running now on the Russia Today website, by an American named Sophia Narwitz. It denounces the sexualization of children by the LGBT rights movement, and the mass media. I find it hard to disagree with anything she says, and I bet most of you would also agree with her. But you would never, ever see a column like this in The New York Times or the Washington Post. Why not? What does that tell us about America, and its cultural elites? Narwitz writes:

At this point, there’s no denying that the media is not at all tuned in to what people want. Years of clickbait and lies has already taken its toll on many publications’ reputations, but now a line has been crossed that isn’t excusable by any metric. They celebrate children dancing in drag to roomfuls of adults for money. They depict 10-year-olds having sex with cartoon characters. They boost images of children standing with naked adult men. They have turned impressionable children into disgusting displays of human sexual excess. Even Lactatia’s fans are called “Lactaters,” a sexually suggestive word if I’ve ever heard one.

Nothing presented above is bettering our culture. Where is the progress in this? How does this benefit gay rights, self-expression, or the lives of our nations’ youths? If anything, it’s damaging everything it touches as we further devolve into degenerates. Even something that should be as harmless as story time has been tainted. In March, a registered sex offender dressed in drag read to kids in a public library.

What is happening all around cannot go on. It is time for people to speak up and become vocal. A continuation of this behavior will only quicken the pace at which the decency of Western civilization crumbles. As a societal family, it is on us to take care of the children, and one must only look around to see that the kids are not alright.

You think she’s making something up? Look:

Child drag queen pictured with naked winner of Rupaul’s Drag Race @Cernovich @PrisonPlanet @allidoisowen @lifttheveil411 @jamiedlux pic.twitter.com/d9gf7wGzkI

— Sam Hyde’s new car (@samir_al_hyed) January 11, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Advertisement