Here’s Erick Erickson:
That the media herald [Bruce Jenner] as finding his “authentic self” instead of recommending he find help suggests Jenner is not the only one with mental health issues. Popular culture has lost its mind. Further proof that narcissism is at play here is the most assured fact that Jenner never would have appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair as a woman prior to the age of Photoshop.
If an alcoholic claimed that living authentically means he must drink, no one sane would encourage him to drink more. If a pedophile claimed that sexual attraction to children was his authentic self, no one sane would encourage that. If a person decided to mutilate himself to feel normal, no sane person should encourage that.
So why on earth would any sane person celebrate or encourage anyone to have surgery to change their appearance from one sex to another? A boob job, plastic surgery and hormone therapy do not make an authentic self. Society has confused compassion and celebration. We should all show compassion for Jenner, who is clearly suffering, but we should not celebrate his mental illness. He needs prayer, not a party.
Read more: Red State
Image credit: 1903 painting by John William Waterhouse — “Echo and Narcissus.”
