New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi has claimed previously that she is “not a liberal,” and does her job in a non-partisan manner.  I don’t follow her work closely but I have no reason not to take her at her word.  That said, her penchant for finding raaaaaaacism in something as innocuous as the original Trump/Pence logo tells me that she has some social justice warrior tendencies lurking somewhere within.  I suppose working with the Anthony Weiner mayoral campaign as well as associations with the Washington Post, GQ, and Esquire might help facilitate some of that too.

Suffice it to say that it’s probably a safe bet that Nuzzi is one who doesn’t view the current manifestation of our culture’s ongoing sexual revolution with quite the same cynicism as I do.  Given that I think we are witnessing nothing short of the implosion of common sense and a societal declaration of war against God’s created moral order, Ms. Nuzzi and I probably aren’t on the same page.

Which is why it was so fascinating to see her inadvertently stumble over the tripwire of insanity that is being laid so enthusiastically by the progressive left.  It happened as Nuzzi was reporting on the Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s 2020 Membership Forum, where several Democratic presidential hopefuls had gathered.  During an apparent crowd Q & A with Julian Castro, Nuzzi tweeted this:

At Planned Parenthood event: a non-binary activist just asked Castro how he’ll expand sexual & reproductive health for trans people. Castro responds by first asking which pronoun the activist prefers. They replied, “I actually don’t use any pronoun,” which received some applause.

— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) June 22, 2019

First of all, if you say that nonsense actually makes sense to you, I don’t believe you.  If you tell me that a societal embrace of this silliness is not likely to have any serious consequences, I doubt you’ve thought very far beyond the shallow sloganeering of rainbow-clad activists. 

But there’s more.  Here’s a list of common subject pronouns: I, You, He, She, It, We, They.  Now, go back and read Ms. Nuzzi’s tweet.

The activist doesn’t want to be identified with the use of pronouns.  It’s so absurd a proposition that even a hospitable and sympathetic journalist like Ms. Nuzzi can’t even report on the exchange without doing it. 

Unsurprisingly, her error was noticed by some fellow “non-binarians” (not sure if that’s the proper term or not, but given that we’re at the point of just making up words to suit our purposes these days I figured I was on safe ground).  Jeffrey Marsh, a contributor to Oprah Magazine, Time, and Variety, attempted to offer some clarification:

I am nonbinary, I use they/them pronouns. I don’t know this activist’s motivations, but it’s possible that “I don’t use any pronouns” is shorthand for “I don’t use any third person pronouns” Some nonbinary folks feel it’s better to ask others to use our name instead of ‘they’
💛

— jeffrey marsh (@thejeffreymarsh) June 22, 2019

Nuzzi responded by pointing out that she wasn’t trying to insult the activist by calling them “they,” but stopped short of saying the obvious: “but that’s just how normal people talk and there’s nothing wrong with that.”  I really hope our betters will decide it’s okay to push back against this before it’s too late.

I believe in compassion.  I also believe that helping push society over the cliff of reason into a pit of moral insanity isn’t compassion.  Not for any of us, including the confused ones pushing so hard.