Malcolm Gladwell: Welcoming the Prodigal Back to Reality
Malcolm Gladwell recently appeared on The Real Science of Sports Podcast and he spoke about a panel on trans women in sport at the 2022 Sloan Conference, which he chaired
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Malcolm Gladwell awoke from the GenderWang fog!
Okay, reader, let’s get to the heart of the matter — Malcolm Gladwell came in from the cold and many feel pretty indignant and downright angry about the praise he’s received for admitting his foolishness and cowardice in capitulating to the GenderWang fundamentalist mob. I’ve included the video of the Sloan Conference panel on transgender athletes so readers can refer to that if they wish to see Gladwell’s performance for themselves. Disclosure: I didn’t watch it, I see no need to do so, I’ve heard the arguments in favour of trans women participating in female sport all along and think they’re radical progressive brain-worm nonsense. However, I included the video here, since that’s the focus of this essay about Malcolm’s confession.
Look, reader—I understand the reactionary anger. I also understand the difficulty of a public figure admitting his error in public fashion as Gladwell did this week. I understand that people will feel more willing to follow suit when they see Gladwell welcomed out of his GenderWang fog with grace. I understand that wanting to hold a struggle session for Gladwell makes us as cruel and morally reprehensible as the GenderWang fundamentalists.
When I observed the anger and indignation of some of my compadres in the fight against GenderWang, my mind instantly went to the parable of the prodigal son, a staple of the religious teaching I received as a Catholic child.
Here’s an excerpt about the prodigal son from Brian Zahnd, with a link to Zahnd’s book below that.
“In the story of the prodigal son, the father bears the loss and forgives his son from his treasury of inexhaustible love. He just forgives. There is no payment, there is no appeasement. Justice as punishment is what the resentful brother called justice. Justice as reconciliation is what the loving father called justice.” — Brian Zahnd, 25.03.22
“The prodigal son is transformed by his father's grace and compassion, his boundless mercy and goodness.” — Eric H. Janzen, 14.10.22
People who have fought against GenderWang for many years, how will you receive the confessions you know will continue to flow through from those who cowed and capitulated to the fundamentalist mob? Can you transform the GenderWang prodigals with grace?
Excerpt From The Prodigal Son, Luke 15: 11-28.
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your propertywith prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Background and Facts
In 2022 Malcolm Gladwell chaired a panel about the issue of trans women in female sport. Ross Tucker appeared on that panel, outnumbered by radicals who took the position that trans women should compete against female athletes, despite their obvious and significant physical advantage. Recently Gladwell appeared on Ross Tucker’s podcast and they discussed that panel event from three years ago. Gladwell admitted that anyone who has experienced male puberty has a physical advantage over anyone who has not, irregardless of their gender identity. Meaning, Gladwell admits that he agrees male humans should not compete in female sport.
Here’s the relevant clips from the podcast episode.
Transcript
Gladwell: I mean there's many interesting things to say about that conversation. One was that it was a particular moment which has passed. If we did a replay of that exact panel at the Sloan conference this coming March, it runs in exactly the opposite direction.
And it would be, I suspect, near unanimity in the room that trans athletes have no place in uh in the female category. I don't think there's any question. I just think it was a strange I mean, I felt, I mean, I was the— reason I'm ashamed of my performance of that panel because I share your position 100%. And I was count the idea of saying anything on this issue. I was in a l believe in retrospect in a dishonest way. I was I was objective in a dishonest way. I let a lot of really of howlers pass um without comment.
Because I didn't— and and I said to you in an email there was that moment remember when and I forgotten her name she's wonderful sorry I forgotten their name um a very very thoughtful person uh they were the the trans athlete on the panel and at one point they turned to you Ross and they said Ross you have to let us win. And it was at that moment that I realized this position has gone, this argument has gone to the furthest extreme.
What the trans movement is not asking for—Uh they're not asking for, you know, a place at the table. They're not asking for—to be treated with respect and dignity. What they're asking is for no one to question the considerable physical physiological advantage they bring to the sport, and no one to question if they're gonna win these races by five seconds, suck it up.
You can watch the entire episode, below. (A thinking-out-loud aside—I wonder, why does Gladwell have a poster of Mao behind him?)
As you can imagine, Gladwell’s admission evoked a strong reaction of self righteous indignation.
From J.K. Rowling’s Xwitter reaction: “A rash of condescending men will swarm my mentions when I post this to tell me I should be pleased about Gladwell’s cautious backtracking. No. He hasn’t changed. He’s merely sensed a shift in what it’s acceptable to say and feels safe to align himself with the new consensus, excuses for his previous behaviour to the fore. He isn’t an ally, he’s a weathervane.”
Here are a couple other reactions from Xwitter.
When I look at the degree of projection in this tweets, I almost want to laugh. Suddenly a celebrity intellectual (or influencer or author or whatever we want to call Gladwell) who caved to the GenderWang mob bears responsibility for the disfiguring body modification of young people, the destruction of heterodoxists’ careers, the losses experienced by female athletes, the destruction of women’s rights-privacy-safety. Not to mention we see the invoking of Goodwin’s Law.
Reader, one man’s weakness in the face of a cruel mob of fundamentalists seems to do a lot of heavy lifting here. Not sorry, I reject all the projection in these reactions.
Understandably, many people feel quite angry about this latest turn of events. I don’t begrudge anyone their anger and hurt feelings and deep-seated resentment. Not at all. I don’t think it’s constructive, though. And I won’t make the feelings of other people my problem.
Note, in response to Rowling, I’m not a condescending man. I don’t need any allies, this isn’t a team sport, it’s real life. Weathervanes have utility, they tell me about wind direction, whereas “allies”—humans onto which we project our romantic and egocentric ideas about an issue—don’t have any utility. I don’t need confessors to “change,” this ain’t a religious conversion convention, it’s a shift in opinion we happen to find ourselves living through at present.
Look reader—I frankly DGAF if Gladwell lives in the self-interested coward box or not. My life will function fabulously either way. It won’t diminish the victory I see in his public confession. I have long stopped needing moral purify from complete strangers, or from anyone, really. I’ve come to accept humans as messy, complex, flawed creatures. I also remember that I’m one—it’s fine.
Anyway. I agree with Tristan Hopper. Reader, we each get to choose how we respond. You can choose and then own your choice. Call out culture, or call in culture? You decide. Then get on with it. Calling in seems more amenable to bringing about change, doesn’t it? (Incidentally, the term call in culture comes from Brad Jersak.)
Tristan has a very valid point. He knows all too well that people hide in the closet with their heterodox views out of fear. As a National Post columnist, he hears from people who agree with the heterodox viewpoint and remain quiet out of fear of reprisal.
Who can judge the fearful? Readers can do that if they wish, I choose not to do so, because I think it’s not constructive, it consumes good energy for bad, it gets me nowhere fast. Fact remains, I want this nightmare to end and I welcome the shift that’s indicated by people such as Gladwell admitting they erred. I admire the courage it takes to humble oneself and admit wrongdoing.
It would appear that people on both sides of the debate express dissatisfaction with Gladwell coming in from the GenderWang fog and saying he messed up and that he feels ashamed about it. Moral of the story — you can’t please people, stop trying, know yourself and your values and stand up for what you believe no matter what. Don’t look around the room for any “allies,” that’s fearful and weak. Remember in school when we would look around the room before putting our hand up? Not sure about anyone else, but I left high school years ago. I’m a big girl now, I know myself and my values and I’m good with standing up for what’s right. I don’t need a fan club or any external validation for doing the right thing. G-d never sleeps, He sees all. I see justice as a long game, and vengeance doesn’t belong to me, it belongs to G-d.
Deuteronomy 32:35 —
35Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them.’
Romans 12:17-19 —
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
You can take a look at how badly the GenderWang fundamentalists have taken Gladwell’s confession.
So, people who have fought against GenderWang fundamentalism over the past decade, will you demand payback or appeasement of your wrath via a struggle session? If yes—that’s so Mao, dude. How does this make you any different from the fundamentalists you and I have battled for the past decade?
Do you realise that, historically, most people aren’t victims, they’re perpetrators?
Readers, do you think yourself morally superior to the GenderWang contingent? Do you think yourself morally superior to the silent majority who secretly holds your heterodox views and cowers in the closet out of fear? How so? Because, truth be told, if we found ourselves in 1930s and 1940s Nazi Germany—with considerably higher stakes—most of us would behave like the silent majority, and not like Schindler. You can do the moral posturing thing all you want, human nature remains unchanged. Not everyone thinks like you.
Besides that obvious reasoning, the fact remains that few will come out of the closet if they think we’re all gonna bash them into a struggle session, or play scapegoat with their admission of guilt. When you decide to fixate on intention and the silly notion that they’ve not changed, that’s a distraction. It’s fallacious. Like I said, this ain’t a religious conversion. “He hasn’t changed” … well, he sort of did change, because he admitted he did wrong and felt ashamed about it. If you’re discounting his confession because you doubt his sincerity, then perhaps I should question your sincerity? Maybe it’s all a game. Nonetheless, his admission = win for women’s rights. I’ll take it. You do as you wish in your self righteous indignation, I’ll take the victory for women’s rights.
Do you want change for women’s rights? How badly?
Do you want to be right, or do you want to be in the light? That’s a you decision.
Whatever you choose, it’s yours to own.
So, if you’ve chosen to publicly disavow GenderWang, then own it. It’s a difficult road to walk, it’s punishing and isolating. You chose that path. So, when the silent majority or the capitulators decide to come out, your hardship belongs to you, not to those who chose the easy path—because you’re an adult and you chose that path, knowing its consequences.
Embrace the decision you made. Embrace the consequences of choosing heterodoxy, with poise and grace, and even gratitude.
We exercise Free Will, each of us. That means we choose a course of action, and we choose the consequences of our chosen course of action. G-d’s mercy may seem like wrath when we have to accept the consequences of what we chose. Note: you can’t see the full consequence of another’s choice—you might think Gladwell got off pretty free from scorn and cancellation. You don’t have access to any internal reactions he’s experiencing in response to his past choice to capitulate and his current choice to come clean and step into the light. You and I can judge him harshly and say he’s a self interested douchebag, maybe he might fit that description. I don’t know and I’m not losing sleep over it, reader. Gladwell remains a human, with human emotions that we don’t see from here.
There aren’t any allies in humanity when it comes down to brass tacks. Loyalty exists in a human setting— on a level we all operate from a place of self-interest. Most of us aren’t a Jesus character. Sorry, martyrdom exists as an exception and not a norm.
Individuals choose what they choose, on their own—they don’t bear responsibility for things they didn’t do. Association isn’t causation. Systems and institutions caused the harms of GenderWang. Decision makers who enabled laws and regulations created the conditions that caused harm. Radical activists who pressured decision makers created conditions that caused harm. Professionals who promoted harmful clinical algorithms, and those who implemented them, caused harm. Media which cowered to the popular opinion and wrote and published lies contributed to the harm. We have many moving parts to this story.
Surgeons who performed experimental gender affirming surgery, surgeons who performed mastectomies on teenage girls, medical doctors who prescribed chemical castration hormones to children—they all bear responsibility for their choices and actions. Social workers and counsellors who threatened parents with the death of their child in order to coerce their consent to an experimental treatment bear the responsibility for their choices and actions. Administrative decision-makers who chose to allow males to compete in female sport, the male athletes who chose to compete against female athletes, and who chose to take opportunities away from female athletes bear responsibility for their choices and actions.
Gladwell bears responsibility for poorly moderating that panel at the Sloan Conference in 2022. Ross Tucker—who was on the panel and had to deal with Gladwell dropping him on his head—seems ok with the situation, he and Mike Finch seem okay with the conversation they had with Gladwell so, what’s your deal? If you’re discounting his feel angry at the injustice of the situation well, that’s your problem and you can, like a grown up does, go deal with that on your own in your life.
Gonna be blunt. I tire of the whingey b1tch syndrome. Outrage has become a favourite drug of choice people reach for when they navigate these kinds of issues in public discourse. I admit that I did for a long time, it felt heavy to carry and looking back, it seems quite poisonous, unhealthy, and futile.
So, let’s think the prodigal son story, and let’s remember the takeaway lesson from that story. No payback, no appeasement of wrath, no struggle session — no indulging resentment. Only welcoming the prodigal from his admission of wrongdoing with grace.
You don’t have to bake Gladwell a cake, you don’t have to prepare him a feast. You can think he’s following the winds of change for his own self interest. The result of his confession remains the same in the context of the discourse. So take the win. And move on.
Thank you for this. I wonder that no one is talking about the badly needed offramp for those people, especially young people who are still wandering in the wilderness searching for the exit.