Facebook
X
LinkdIn
Copy Link
When it comes to using trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote the iconic Bud Light brand — a favorite beer here in the backwoods — my first impulse was in line with that of Kid Rock, who used cases of the stuff for target practice. It’s a reaction many Americans, insulted by what they perceive to be an attack on their traditional values and gender stereotypes, are having to varying degrees as they boycott the beer giant, reportedly to the tune of billions of dollars.
Progressives, meanwhile, can’t get enough of Mulvaney. He’s the darling of the media (actress-turned-talk-show-host Drew Barrymore recently knelt at Mulvaney’s feet), the White House and of many other corporations — Kate Spade, Maybelline and Nike, to name a few — who have partnered with him to endorse their products.
The culture war is reaching a crescendo, and boycotts and outrage are undoubtedly growing more necessary. Yet what we who are awake to the destructive madness eclipsing morality and sanity in our nation must not forget is that caught up among the exploding suds of beer in Kid Rock’s backyard and fawning media celebrations of Mulvaney’s “girlhood” is a human being with a soul — whom society is failing.
The Mail Online frequently compiles articles based on the antics of Britney Spears, often with a headline denoting how her behavior is “sparking concerns.” Spears, who spent thirteen years under a conservatorship, is now free to do as she likes, and the activity she appears to be fondest of involves donning barely-there ensembles and twirling around in them while she touches her body and stares with dead eyes into her cellphone camera; she then uploads these performances to social media with rambling (sometimes ranting) captions that cause many — including my Spectator colleague Kara Kennedy — to wonder, “Is Britney Spears OK?”
The last time I came across a Daily Mail, ahem, “news article” about Britney Spears, I was struck by how much the singer’s behavior reminded me of Dylan Mulvaney. The same desperate, distant stare, the same jerky, robotic movement, the same maniacal expression. People frequently see Spears’s posts and make comments along the lines of, “Oh my goodness, please somebody help her.” But I sense doing the same for Mulvaney would be considered “transphobic.” This is heartbreaking, because to me, Mulvaney is the poster child of America’s mental health crisis.
Take a moment to watch the video of Mulvaney modeling a sports bra for Nike and “exercising.”
The way he flails his arms around and tries to remember what exercise looks like is the saddest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Healthy, stable, normal people do not act this way unless they’re performing, which leads me to wonder: would Mulvaney be going to such great lengths to transition if he didn’t gain such prominence by doing so on a public platform? Our society, which is spending more time on social media than ever — two hours and seventeen minutes a day, on average — teaches people to seek self-worth on the internet, a place notorious for destroying self-esteem and wreaking havoc on people’s mental health.
I can’t imagine the suffering people who do not identify with the sex God gave them must experience. Until recently, though, transgenderism was considered to be a mental illness, and though the American Psychiatric Association now diagnoses transgender people as having “gender dysphoria,” doing so does not eliminate the mental health afflictions such people continue to endure. According to a 2020 Yale School of Public Health report, transgender people are “six times more likely to have a mood or anxiety disorder than the general population; three times as likely to be prescribed antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications; and more than six times as likely to attempt suicide resulting in hospitalization.”
For all the joyous dancing, colorful makeup and beautifully curated outfits, it’s pretty plain that Mulvaney is a person in pain. Can you imagine how unhappy you must be to undergo surgery to change the shape of your face? Mulvaney has admitted to his misery, lamenting, “Why will nobody kiss me?” and admitting that, “I’m not enjoying my womanhood as much as I was… And my pain… is very real.”
We should speak up about Bud Light’s use of Dylan Mulvaney as a spokesperson, not only because of the damage the campaign does to our Judeo-Christian values, but also because Dylan Mulvaney and millions like him are victims of a godless, empty, loveless culture. As people are alienated from God and religion, they lose a sense of purpose and value and attempt to find fulfillment in all kinds of meaningless things, such as TikTok views and Instagram likes. The result is a pathetic, sad population that’s getting more chaotic as people become more desperate. Indeed, the Pharmaceutical Journal reported last year that “The number of antidepressant items prescribed over the past six years has increased by 34.8 percent, from 61.9 million items in 2015/2016 to 83.4 million items in 2021/2022.”
We should absolutely be providing Dylan Mulvaney and every person “gender-affirming care” — which to me means that we affirm that the gender a person is born with is beautiful and good. And instead of dismissing radicalized left-wing ideologues outright, we should remember, as The Great Gatsby says, that “all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” Not everyone has experienced a loving, moral upbringing. Many people are a product of a depraved world, and we should be helping every person through every sort of mental and spiritual struggle, to find meaning and value in their earthly journey.
What Bud Light’s marketing team and other woke-leaning institution is doing by using people like Mulvaney as pawns in their game of virtue-signaling capitalism does nothing to improve the lives of transgender people or to better society. Bud Light doesn’t truly care about Dylan Mulvaney or trans rights; Bud Light cares about Bud Light’s bottom-line, which is why instead of doubling down in defense of using Mulvaney as a spokesperson, Bud Light has said nothing.
