Odd hobbies and the Culture War

Instead of flying cars and Star Trek replicators, the 21st century has given us mostly stupid wars, environmental collapse, economic collapse, and, now, plagues.   Worse, we do not seem to want to work together to solve any of these problems because scoring points on the Other Team is so much more fun than, say, getting a vaccine to protect oneself and everyone else from dying.  Cooperation and community is just so last century, like TV antennas and shag carpeting but without the cool retro charm.  

What did get, from the cool electronic devices that almost make up for not having flying cars, is the Culture War.  This is the set of silly 'issues' devised by our oligarchs to keep the people whose only policy is massive tax cuts in power.  And yes, this essay is going to be nakedly partisan, because whatever else it is, the Culture War is a Republican Party operation.  

This is a post written by Rod Dreher of The American Conservative freaking out about a BBC article discussing a 15-year-old drag queen.  He asserts that the existence of a kid with an unusual hobby is evidence that the West is 'declining.' 

"Cherry West is what liberals want boys to be, or at least have no objections to boys embracing this repulsive identity. Conservatives — or at least Hungarian ones, if not US Conservatism Inc. grifters— don’t believe that. Which side are you on? A lot of people — especially conservatives — want to sit this out, but that option is not available to us. The Left will not allow that. If you are not consciously and actively opposed to this stuff — and act politically and otherwise to push back, as the Hungarian ruling party is doing — then you might was well get used to the cultural castration represented by Cherry West."

He provides no evidence from any source to support his assertion that liberals want boys to be Cherry Wests.  He is correct that we don't have any objections to boys adopting drag as a hobby, any more than we object to them making model airplanes or playing Dungeons and Dragons.  This does raise the question as to why should I care about Dreher's opinion any more than I care about Cherry West? Aren't both things, like, just opinions, man? No, they are not, because Dreher wants his opinion to carry the force of law.  

I think Dreher is perfectly entitled to his opinion about Sam Carlin, the boy who plays Cherry West, and Carlin's family, but neither he nor anyone else should be able to use government authority to punish that kid or his family.  (FWIW, in the BBC article, Carlin's family refers to the boy using masculine pronouns and the character with feminine ones.)  Carlin's family supports his hobby.  There is nothing in the article to lead one to conclude that Sam Carlin is at all sexually active or even what his sexual orientation is.  He does perform at Pride parades, which is an indication but by no means conclusive.  There is just nothing in this piece to suggest that Sam Carlin is being victimized at all.  

Dreher, in fact, never discusses anything about whether Sam Carlin is being victimized.  He simply calls Cherry West 'disgusting.'  He further says that conservatives should be 'consciously and actively opposed to this stuff' and should be politically active in that opposition.  What Dreher doesn't say, and what I want to know, is what form does that political opposition take? 

He frames his condemnation of the kid, his family, the BBC, and liberals, in an article praising Victor Orban and the Fidesz Party in Hungary's policies restricting what Fidesz calls 'gay propaganda' toward children.  Hungary's law mostly bans mention of nontraditional gender roles in any media designed for kids.  The government of Hungary can, under this law, outright ban a publication, require the publisher add a disclaimer, or restrict access to the publication to anyone under 18.  Here is a link to an article discussing the law in greater detail.  Dreher supports the Hungarian law, including its penalties.  The question that this raises is: how much further does Dreher want to go with punishment? 

It is important to remember here that laws banning things don't, actually, stop anyone from doing or making those things.  Bans give the government the authority to fine or imprison people who keep doing those things.  It's one thing to dislike something or be disgusted by it.  It's another thing entirely to want the people who do that to be imprisoned.  Culture Warriors want to put people in jail for hobbies, or at least won't deny that they want to do so.  Prosecution and jail are very expensive.  To Dreher and company, that expense is justified even if it means we don't have the money to handle our other problems. I strongly disagree.