How transgenderism became the new Tide Pod challenge

This week, American Compass released a new survey that all of the GOP 2024 hopefuls should probably pay attention to. They looked at the priorities of Republicans and conservatives in the United States to find out which issues are most heavily driving voter interest and what they hope to see in the coming years. They discovered that there has been a significant shift in conservative attitudes recently, separating what they define as the “Old Right” from the “New Right.” People aligned with the Old Right were still concerned with traditional Republican priorities such as lower taxes, spending, and debt. But among the rapidly growing New Right, the category of “cultural challenges” was the highest priority by a significant margin. Those issues included woke corporate policies and the left’s obsession with race. But the largest segment of respondents identified “transgender activists trying to erase the difference between boys and girls” as the greatest cultural challenge facing the country.

Overall, voters were overwhelmingly concerned with cultural challenges. Illegal immigration and American manufacturing were also selected by at least half…

Unsurprisingly, the cultural issues most often selected are therefore also those on which voters want to see politicians focus most time and attention. Overall, voters allocated 44% of their points to the cultural challenges, 23% to consensus challenges, 19% to New Right challenges, and 14% to Old Right challenges.

The cultural challenges, along with immigration, remain the most important for all segments of GOP voters. They are the top issues for all demographic groups and also the top issues for those who choose any other particular issue. For instance, among voters who choose tax rates as a top challenge, 37% also choose regulation but 50% choose woke corporations and 55% choose transgender activists. Among those who choose regulation, 23% choose tax rates but 63% choose woke corporations and 68% choose transgender activists. On those issues, unsurprisingly, politicians within the party have all lined up behind the same positions.

There are clearly few things motivating voters on the right these days more than the growing social contagion of transgenderism and how the left has become obsessed with it. It infects school systems, the medical industry, and the government itself. But how did we arrive at this historical junction in what seems like such a short period of time?

Looking at the question from a broad perspective, it would be easy to blame the internet for all of this. And it’s obviously true that social media has played a large role in this “transition” of social consciousness. But it’s equally obvious that the group driving the transgender craze the most is young people, including minors. Should we be surprised? Not if you’ve been paying attention to the way various waves of craziness have preoccupied our youth for much of the country’s history.

There were times when it seemed as if the entire country was obsessed with hula hoops and slinkies. Those things still exist, but they are no longer an obsession. And they were (and remain) mostly harmless. Such crazes have traditionally heated up, only to eventually cool down. But in the internet era, everyone wants to feel “special” (particularly our youth) and increasingly drastic measures are required to stand out from the crowd. There was a time when “the Tide Pod challenge” was alarming adults around the world. Children were filming themselves eating colorful packets of laundry detergent and posting their antics on social media. Some of them literally died.

We can view the spread of transgender mania in the same light. Gender confusion was long known to be an exceedingly rare mental disorder that primarily affected the young. But once it gained acceptance among adults, all children suddenly saw a tiny minority of their peers being heralded as “special” and deserving of additional rights and protections. The fact that the “treatment” for transgenderism involves debilitating medical procedures and even irreversible surgical operations was swept to the side. There was little to no pushback from many adults, so the risks were minimized or even denied. And the medical industry saw the birth of a multibillion-dollar industry falling into their laps, so the choice was obvious.

With all of that in mind, the reason that this issue has rushed to the vanguard of the New Right should be obvious. The impact on children isn’t just a problem today. It will impact the future for generations. That’s why parental rights in schools are also a top voter priority. This isn’t just a battle for the present. It’s a fight for the future. Tragically, it’s also a  fight where conservatives are still facing an uphill battle. The Tide Pod Challenge of our time is not going well.