(OPINION): An Open Letter to the New Religion of Intersectionality

Author: Joseph Gendron

On January 19th, feminist author Jessica Valenti tweeted, “I’m willing to bet that fifty years from now, a defining image of this political era will be the smug white MAGA teen disrespecting a Native elder and veteran. It just captures so much.” Personally, I believe she’s right, but for all the wrong reasons.

I was born in 1995, some say that this is the first year of the newest generation, “Gen Z”. The typical Millennial mindset seems ridiculous to me. Since the Baby Boomers hit the scene, society has moved in a progressive direction, but my generation will tolerate this no longer. Gen Z, in their early 20’s and teens, are already more conservative than Millennials, and as a self-identifying Gen Z, I think I know why.

For years we have watched powerful media entities, politicians, and celebrities berate the people we looked up to, and it began to feel like a personal attack as members of Gen Z are essentially included in the attacks for viewing and enjoying this oh-so-problematic content.

We remember when the media came to attack Joe Rogan. We remember when they attacked PewDiePie (who everyone should subscribe to by the way). We remember when they attacked Kevin Hart and countless other comedians. We remember GamerGate, when we just wanted to be left alone with our hobby.

I find myself at a loss for words at how terrible it is for leftist media to attack people, some of which have more regular viewers than a show on CNN. Someone like Kevin Hart, who are loved by so many young people, should not be ostracized by the liberal media. We remember all the lies. “Deplorable,” “sexist,” “racist,” “Nazi,” “bigot,” “far-right.” We remember all the names they’ve called us. And we will not forget.

So now we have Nick Sandman, the now infamous “smug white MAGA teen.” I won’t pretend to know what was going through his head in that moment, or I guess ever, but I know what goes through mine when I watch a video like that. I believe that on some level, whether we realized it or not, many of those in Gen Z saw this same thing.

We have been force fed this new religion, told of our original sin of “privilege,” and told countless times of how terrible we were for simply being ourselves, the way we were born. We saw the fruits of this new worldview, where the only worthy goals in life are to work, follow your impulsive pleasures, and topple the “white supremacist capitalist patriarchy” that had been built up and left for us by hundreds of generations that came before us.

We saw the wage slave adults with their dead eyes. Many of us grew up in broken families and if we were lucky enough not to, we saw it second-hand, as surely at least one or more of your friends were the product of divorce. We know that yours is not the way.

I believe Nick Sandman knows this too. When I saw him standing firm, I saw an embodiment of what I feel in my heart every day. To me, his stand was a statement. It said, “I have my own moral system, my own values, my own beliefs. I don’t need yours and I reject it. I know what is right and what is wrong, and you cannot own me.” His stand proved that all the left’s power is given to them by our own consent to capitulate and stay silent. This was Nick Sandman’s only crime, that he refused to capitulate.

For far too long, the left has finger-wagged and lectured to us. Virtue signaled to us how much more morally pure they believe themselves to be compared to despicable right-wingers. They have told us that all males are sexist, all whites are racist. Told us that we don’t deserve anything that our parents worked so hard to give us, as it was all gained as consequence of stealing land and oppressing the other. They’ve tried to co-opt and inject their ideology into all of our hobbies and entertainment. We have grown tired, we have had enough.

The reason the left flew into such an extraordinary fit of hysteria is because for many, this is the first time they have seen this new generation, with its new rebellion, as every generation needs one. But this time, our rebellion is to reject this new blue religion that has been pushed on us for so long. The intersectional identitarian left has lost its mind, because it has seen the bed that it has made, and it knows that very soon, it will have to lie in it until it is nothing but an ugly page in a history book.

Contributor: Joseph Gendron