Seriously. Drag shows used to be hilarious.
I’m too young to remember Milton Berle’s Your Show of Shows but he was “must-watch TV” in the 50s and people especially liked it when he dressed up as a woman. I’ve seen some clips on YouTube and they’re quite funny.
Then in the early 70s we were treated to the hilarity of The Flip Wilson Show. His “Geraldine” was uproariously funny.
People “got it”. Nobody, except for a few blue-noses, were offended. The entire men-masquerading-as-women trope is a solid one stretching back centuries.
Comedy is a great way to let off steam and men dressed en travestie is an entertaining comedic sub-genre.
But the next story isn’t funny at all. Not by a long shot. 
In fact, it’s abominable.
Because you see, here in the Great State of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma City school system decided to hire a certain Dr Shane Brent Murnan as principal of John Glenn Elementary School. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/oklahoma-school-hires-drag-queen-principal-once-arrested-child-porn-drugs
Murnan, has an interesting past (to put it mildly). Besides the fact that he performs as Shantel Mandelay in various venues which includes reading fairy tales to toddlers, he also entered the Miss Gay Oklahoma pageant.
As if that’s not bad enough (and it’s truly horrible), he was busted twenty years ago for possession of child pornography and drugs.
Yup, you read that right. The school board saw nothing wrong with placing this pervert in the midst of little children. What, in God’s name are they thinking? Worse, they’re sticking by their decision.
I could –conceivably–expect this type of insanity from the Bay Area, perhaps Seattle, but Oklahoma? This state is so red the soil is red. (Seriously, once you get 60 miles to the west of Tulsa, the black alluvial soil of the eastern part of the state turns into a very reddish clay, which is rich in iron.)
As to the other thing, you know what I mean. Contrary to what Lou Gossett said during the boot-camp scene in An Officer and a Gentleman, Oklahoma has never been known for being full of “steers and queers”.
That the culture is lost is without question. I do, however, want to go off on a tangent if you will. Specifically, I have a pointed question to the ladies out there. And it is this: why do you allow men to masquerade as hideously ugly women? When they do this, it’s not a stereotype of womanhood but a caricature of femininity. It is the polar opposite, a grotesquerie if you will, of what it means to be an attractive woman.
In other words, it’s positively misogynistic.
Contrast this with transvestitism in the past. In Some Like it Hot Tony Randall and Jack Lemon were able to pass themselves off as attractive young ladies. Same with Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari in TV’s Bosom Buddies. None of these actors tried to make themselves look hideous. They tried to blend in, to not attract attention to themselves. Same with Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie. I could see how Charles Durning would find “her” attractive.
Now, let’s compare (for the sake of argument) minstrel shows. You know what I’m talking about: white actors wearing blackface and pretending to be black all the while exaggerating black facial features.
September 1931: Minstrel show performers Alexander and Mose. (Photo by Sasha/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Do you think anybody could away with this today? The former governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia had his political career destroyed because he posed in blackface (or a KKK robe, we’re unsure which it was). A similar picture of Justin Trudeau almost derailed his career.
So what’s my point? Only this: that people of all ethnicities today –but especially black people–are outraged by such distorted representations of their race and I can understand why.
But where are the various women’s groups voicing outrage at these grotesque images being promoted as “entertainment”? Nary a peep.
Back to the issue at hand. Why aren’t the good people of Oklahoma City up in arms? Have we gone so far down the moral drain that we don’t care about pedophilia? And yes, I said it. Any man who has had child porn on his computer should never be allowed anywhere near children (even if he never committed actual child molestation). Period. Full stop.
To all you liberals out there, what did you think would happen once you forced “tolerance” and “diversity” down our throats?
Well, you may not have expected it. But it happened.
They were fun because drag queen shows were not politically charged. No one thought for a moment that a “Geraldine” was attempting to be taken seriously. No one was expected to sign-up for men dressing like women to fulfill their fantasies at the end of the show. They were almost exclusively about the degree to which someone was successful emulating a famous person or flat out comedy, like in “Bosom Buddies” or “Mrs. Doubtfire.” Not real life. It’s the real life, in your face, component of today’s drag queens that is a “drag.” – Women aren’t offended; we’re disgusted. Especially with the part that involves drag queens interacting with children. – They remind people of scary clowns; the kind you want to run from. How could anyone think they resemble women? Is this what mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and wives look like? No!
“Women aren’t offended; we’re disgusted.”
Gail, my question is what age group of women are disgusted? My age group (60-70) maybe. Forty and younger, maybe not so much. Twenty-five and younger, even less so. And that possibility astonishes me because women have fought against being “put in the corner” so to speak (think back to the ’50’s and early ’60’s). Women athletes have fought hard for their achievements, yet who is it that is pushing them back into the corner? Not other women, certainly.
I find the whole thing puzzling.
Scary clowns is the perfect description. There’s a progression to the thing. When you have men in drag selling makeup to young ladies at the department store makeup counter, it’s a disgusting and pathetic joke. No female aspires to look like them or be told “beauty secrets” by those creeps. It’s also offensive. When a woman is alone in a parking garage or women’s restroom with a man in drag, it’s scary. A mentally disturbed person could do anything. But when you have a pedophilic gender-bender in charge of a school, it’s downright criminal.
It may have been “fun,” but was it a good thing?
It is true that men dressing up as women has a long history. It is also true, however, that up until the 20th century, actors were seen as misfits and were socially just a short step up from gypsies and degenerates (often all three together). It was “entertaining,” but it was always suspect (see the writings of St. John Chrysostom all the way to John of Krondstadt). There was always a hint of perversion and “danger,” which made it tantalizing over the centuries.
Not all actors were “like that”, of course, but enough of them were suspicious enough to cast a cloud over the profession (the coming of movies and television changed everything, creating “stars”).
One of my favorite historical details in the movie Gettysburg is Longstreet’s conversation with Lee about the scout Harris:
Longstreet: “You remember him, sir, the actor.”
Lee: “An actor?! We move on the word of an actor?!”
Where did the idea for those drag shows come from? For some of those guys, it wasn’t “an act.” They could hide their particular desires under the cover of “entertainment.” J Edgar Hoover wasn’t the only closet tranny in those days. Maybe those actors weren’t like that, but they often partied and hung out with those who were, getting “ideas.”
Rob Halford, the lead singer of Judas Priest was asked about “homophobia” in the metal scene, and he literally laughed out loud. He thought it was hilarious and ironic, considering that the fashion and stage moves of those rock singers came right from the stages of the 70s gay night scene. Rob Halford and Freddie Mercury. Little Richard.
There is a straight line from Liberace to Drag Queen Story Hour.
This isn’t an “anti-Boomer” rant. As a Gen-Xer, we had Eddie Izzard, RuPaul and MTV. I thought it was “fun” too. Perhaps those “blue-noses” were on to something. “Lighten up Francis” became a cover to let the enemy in the gates and beyond. Satan plays the long game.
How did America get here? The answer lies in your record collection. And mine. You wanted Woodstock. We wanted MTV. We all got it, in spades.
I don’t get to do that. I don’t get to build a moat around the bands and pop culture stuff I like and throw stones at everybody else. The Doobie Brothers and Nirvana are in the dock together. All of it was a lie. A siren song, to bring us to this point. I think for many people in America, that is the reality that many people are denying. What’s the difference between Led Zeppelin and the metal band Ghost? Degrees, not kind.
Perversion was normalized in the name of “art,” “fun,” and “liberation.” I think we all bear responsibility for that, in as much as we participated in it. I have come to believe that Nostalgia is a demonic deception, akin to Prelest.
What to do about it?
As a Gen-X long time music fan, I have come to realize most of the music I love was really designed to take the listener away from Christ. Almost all of it denies Christ in one form or another, and promotes some kind of feel good philosophy, driven from the music itself – because just listening feels good. I was so into it and in some cases still am, now selecting music that is the least offensive!
But really any sort of entertainment drags us away from reality and contemplating what is good, and soon we come to understand that we need to turn away FROM IT ALL.
Couldn’t agree with you more. Your right!
Yes, I largely agree (except for Zeppelin, I love them). Transvestism was always bad but when it was divorced from gay sex it was just seen as ridiculous and entertaining. But it is a blurring of the genders which has always been a no no. It’s just another symptom that we have lost the patriarchy which is essential to Christianity.
Zepelin rocks.
…float higher than regular rocks…
Very well said, David.
What an incredible analysis! Thank you!
I’ve always found drag shows/transvestism totally weird.
In the past, I’m pretty sure that people have deemed me boring for thinking so – I don’t care, it’s not my job to meet others at their interests so that they find me entertaining.
These days transvestism is even more pathological – socially and institutionally – and with western governments now requiring that we be cheerleaders for it or else we lose our jobs or our kids or whatever, that’s just beyond the pale of effing messed up.
Salvation for this country ain’t coming from the educated white post-Protestant political/cultural elite class. They’re too far gone…. totally lost as a group. The only ones who take them seriously anymore are themselves.
Salvation for America – if it comes – will come from the “simple and uneducated” – those Americans who’d never be taken seriously on a public level but who each individually have more wisdom than 3 million Anderson Coopers put together.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God…. (1 Cor. 3: 18-19)
There’s a lot of self-deception/delusion going on in America right now. Sometimes it seems that’s all we now got! It’s terrible.
I also need to add that — yes, I know he can be controversial in some Orthodox Christian circles — I fully agree with Jay Dyer that the modern West’s insane girl-crush embrace of all things trans-related is intentional and has been purposefully crafted by the political/cultural Western elite.
There’s no way in hell that a society goes from thinking that homosexual marriage is a bad idea (this was America in 2008…. remember how Obama couldn’t come right out during his ’08 Presidential run and say that he fully supports homosexual marriage… it was too controversial 15 years ago!)…… there’s no way go from that state in 2008 to the full-on embrace of all things trans-related…. we’re talking not even 15 years later. Cultural desires do not change that quickly…. changes of that magnitude take generations.
This forced embrace of all things trans is 100% artificial, purposefully crafted, and intentional.
I completely agree. Lately, rather than listen to the Orthogoodthinkers who think Dyer is atrocious, I decided to actually take the time and listen to him.
The guy’s smart —real smart. He has it pegged just right: Tavistock Institute, MKUltra, RAND Corporation and God knows who else, have been putting Western society through massive psyops.
Yes, Jay is very well read, very bright, I think he’s humble too, and very articulate. He’s not afraid to say what needs to be said.
Did you see the OCA’s recent convert survey results – open the slide show survey results at the bottom of the webpage. On slide 33 you’ll see who they listed as the #1 cited online influencer among their surveyed Orthodox Christian converts…. Jay Dyer.
What he’s saying and doing matters.
FTS, thanks for directing us to this survey. It’s very well done and (mostly) in good faith. However, when we get to page 33, the one that deals with podcasts, it steps on itself: on the one hand, putting the top ten podcasters/influencers then putting a disclaimer to the right quoting somebody who said that “all the on-line apologia needs to stop”.
Schizophrenic.
Here’s some sobering statistics: https://www.blinkist.com/readytoharvest
My favorite is slide 42…. I totally grew up with the shaming you’re-not-good-enough “atmosphere” depicted on the right hand side of the slide…. very old-school Orthodoxy…. yet somehow I still see God’s love come through in Church? In a way it’s miraculous.
I struggle with jealousy of those whose welcome to the Orthodox Christian faith is the “we love you” atmosphere depicted on the left-hand side of the slide. May God help me heal from this envy.
Bull’s eye!
Doubtful. The simple and uneducated class have by and large become accustomed to the bread and circuses that the political and cultural elites have fed them.
Much that is loved by Americans—from their popular music to their infatuation with sports and cinema personalities—has to be consigned to the dustbin, along with the false idol of American exceptionalism.
The culture has to be rebuilt from the ground up—a return to beauty, order, and high art whose purpose is to glorify God and set our minds upon the higher things.
Many self-identified American conservatives functional liberals—they lead profligate and promiscuous lives and amuse themselves with things that cater to the lowest common denominators of society. Until the dumbing down is attenuated, there is no practical, worldly hope for a reversal. Baked into the cake.
They were never fun for me. They creep me out the way clowns do.
It was evidently with good reason that glorious Saint John Chrysostomos railed against the theatre of his day and those Christians who attended it. In our time it has proven itself a multifaceted tool for the promotion of homosexuality, division between generations, ridicule of Christianity and tradition. That many Christians in the last century thought men pretending to be women was innocent amusement would not have carried much water with St John, I suspect. The nations of the West abandoned God utterly when they accepted evolution (life developing from eons of death), then accepted prohibition of Christian prayer in schools, then accepted the murderous abortion of the inconvenient (under select circumstances at first), then accepted homosexuality (but my homosexual son is a very kind), then began electing homosexuals to high office. Now we belatedly realize the schools we’ve been paying dearly for, are cranking out graduates who can barely read, can’t do basic math, are incapable of logic, ignorant of history, programmed to obey pagan directives; that our institutions are full of people who substitute their emotional preferences and delusions for law. Christ’s formerly Christian nations are in a lawless death spiral, turning into a mass of ignorant, pleasure seeking, self-worshipers who will be constantly looking for the next group to blame for their increasingly dire circumstances. IMHO
Looks like the check from Soros cleared: https://orthochristian.com/156152.html
I imagine schism within the Cypriot church will be down the road.
P.S. I’m curious as to how previous generations procreated without having had any compulsory sex education? Just asking.