August 5, 2024

"It was incredibly different and it was incredibly painful and hurtful, this division of Americans that he has embraced of normal people and everyone else."

"I am a normal person. Queer people are normal Americans. I, I mean, I don't, whatever, I don't, I don't divide the world between normal and abnormal people. I don't think that helps anyone. And in a lot of ways, I think I lead a much more average life than he does. I am not a millionaire. I lead a private existence. And, and specifically the term 'normal' really scared me because he has set up a war between 'normal' people and those who are trying to attack them. You know, I, I'd shared some pretty personal stuff with him about my experience as a trans kid, because I know what it's like to sit and cry as a kid and think I have to fix myself. There's no way that I can be this person and be loved and have a job and be accepted and be okay. And that is a devastating experience. And I was so hopeful that it would be easier for future generations...."

Says Sophia Nelson, in the new episode of the NYT "Daily" podcast, "She Used to Be Friends With JD Vance."

She's speaking to the podcast host, Michael Barbaro, who had just said, based on Nelson's text exchange with Vance, "You say to him... 'The political voice you have become, seems so, so far from the man I got to know in law school,' and JD Vance replies to you, 'I will always love you, but I really do think the left's cultural progressivism is making it harder for normal people to live their lives.'"


I avoided that article because it seemed like a politically motivated betrayal of a private, personal relationship. I almost avoided the podcast. But I let it play and was impressed by the Nelson's moderate, intelligent tone, and quite aside from whether I approve of the violation of privacy, I'm interested in the subject of normality. Democrats have been straining to call J.D. Vance "weird," even as he's — is he? — purporting to represent the normal people.

And another thing: Nelson's description of transgenderism is quite different from what the experts have been saying. Nelson describes a belief in the need to change to satisfy others in order to "be loved and have a job and be accepted and be okay." I thought it was about reconciling one's inner self-perception with the outward manifestations of one's body. Where should pleasing others come into play? If it's about other people, those other people ought to be accepting of gays and lesbians. Masculine women and feminine men deserve full acceptance within human diversity.

109 comments:

Yeah Right Sure said...

"Queer people are normal Americans." Um. Isn't "normal" the perfect antonym of "queer"?

Dave Begley said...

This poor Nelson person is probably mentally ill. But JD was very nice to her. Good for him. Nice guy.

Rafe said...

I’ve known lots of moderate, intelligent sounding people who are mentally unwell.

Add another to the list.

- Rafe

Ann Althouse said...

@ Yeah Right Sure

Yes, and I think that's why Nelson proceeds in the next sentence to stumble and then reframe her point in different words:

"Queer people are normal Americans. I, I mean, I don't, whatever, I don't, I don't divide the world between normal and abnormal people"

jaydub said...

"I avoided that article because it seemed like a politically motivated betrayal.." It seemed that way because that what it was, that and a continuation of the Vance smears in the MSM. It's kind of like the constant denigration of DeSantis when he was assumed to be a threat to the left wing.

The NYT and the WAPOO are the absolute worst excuses for newspapers in the US.

Breezy said...

“Nelson describes a belief in the need to change to satisfy others in order to "be loved and have a job and be accepted and be okay."“

Gosh, I think the non-LGBT* people feel the exact same way…. Just let everyone live their lives in peace. Don’t cross lines that are there for a reason, ex trans women competing in women’s sports.

Leland said...

Still feels like a politically motivated betrayal of a private, personal relationship. If I'm voting for a politician based on their inability to satisfy their personal relationships while satisfying the majority of everyone else, then I'm doing it wrong.

Sebastian said...

"'I will always love you, but I really do think the left's cultural progressivism is making it harder for normal people to live their lives.'"

Sounds like a pretty normal statement. Also valid: what's the LGBTQ+ movement about but queering the culture?

"a politically motivated betrayal of a private, personal relationship"

By a very "private" person.

"Nelson describes a belief in the need to change to satisfy others in order to "be loved and have a job and be accepted and be okay.""

Fits two theories: contagion and gay anxiety.

"If it's about other people, those other people ought to be accepting of gays and lesbians."

So, is the trans cult about latent progressive distaste for gayness? Turning your kid into opposite gender is preferable to an icky gay/lesbian in the house? Not meant as sneer--a real question about motives.

"Masculine women and feminine men deserve full acceptance within human diversity."

Well, yes. We deplorables are fine with that. Not the left.

Achilles said...

Yes, and I think that's why Nelson proceeds in the next sentence to stumble and then reframe her point in different words:

They must divide us because they cannot say openly what they actually want to do to the country.

Jamie said...

Quite aside from whether the former trans kid's solution to her youthful despair was likely to be effective, I think she's making the word "normal" into what she wants it to be (or thinks it is, or thinks Vance thinks it is).

"Normal," in the very limited context provided, seems more probably to me to mean, at worst, "not requiring medical or psychological intervention," and perhaps simply "statistically ordinary on multiple measures," rather than "the opposite of me." I know that I'm biased on this point because from everything on transgenderism that I've been reading over the past several years, all actual evidence supports the once common but now-deprecated view that it's a condition of mental illness, best treated by helping the sufferer come to terms with his or her physical body as it is, rather than thrusting the sufferer into a life of medicalization and a psychic struggle to force the wider world's acceptance of his or her own perceived internal/external mismatch as reality.

Crimso said...

"I lead a much more average life"="normal"

"than he does"="abnormal"

planetgeo said...

"...he has set up a war between 'normal' people and those who are trying to attack them."

So how is it that HE has set up the war if it's the 'normal' people who are being attacked?

Birches said...

It is not normal that me or my children should encounter a man with a penis in the locker room of our city's pool.

The end.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I have to plead ignorance on this one. Seems to me Nelson feels personally betrayed (with all the pain concomitant) because Vance is not a champion for "the left's cultural progressivism." Is this what is meant by the personal is political? I really don't know.

Achilles said...

I avoided that article because it seemed like a politically motivated betrayal of a private, personal relationship. I almost avoided the podcast. But I let it play and was impressed by the Nelson's moderate, intelligent tone, and quite aside from whether I approve of the violation of privacy, I'm interested in the subject of normality. Democrats have been straining to call J.D. Vance "weird," even as he's — is he? — purporting to represent the normal people.

They cannot talk about the open borders.

They cannot talk about the war in Ukraine.

They cannot talk about the war in the Middle East.

They cannot talk about the recession we have been in for over a year.

They cannot talk about the destruction of millions of full time jobs that were replaced with part time jobs.

They cannot talk about the destruction of purchasing power of the American worker.

Birches said...

And that's exactly what JD Vance is alluding to in his good bye email.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

In the efforts to defeat Orange nothing. nothing. nothing must be spared.

Gunner said...

Didn't MSM run this same script with Palin and Paul Ryan: digging up gay friends and black girlfriends to try to smear the Republican VPs? So predictable. I guess the only way to avoid this is never be friends with a Democrat, like Mike Pence.

Sally327 said...

There's a quote that I cogitate on some times, because I'm not exactly sure what I think of it:

“If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.”
― E.M. Forster


It's not necessarily applicable here, there's no treasonous betrayal of country happening (or is there??) but it comes to mind because who is betraying who? Did Senator Vance betray his friend by adopting views that seem to categorize her as a freak or has she betrayed him by allowing others to use her personal relationship with him to score political points? People drop friends all the time, different interests, move away, other demands on time, whatever. Who really broke this friendship off? Who's the betrayer here?

Steve said...

"I mean, I don't, whatever, I don't, I don't divide the world between normal and abnormal people"

But JD Vance is weird and you shouldn't vote for him.

Former Illinois resident said...

Apparently only Sophia's opinions matter, only Sophia's self-defined beliefs matter. Only a decade ago, trans-behaviors were viewed as atypical, not normal, not child-appropriate discussion topic, accepted but not celebrated as "better". Our American popular culture has arrived at point where anti-social (hip-hop) anti-heteronormative family (LGBTQX), anti-religion is both celebrated and seen as personal achievement worthy of special attention and public acclaim. Here is how society itself collapses. Three, two, one....

doctrev said...

There is no such thing as a trans "friend," because they will betray you for Reddit upvotes.

Sounds harsh, but this event among others is evidence that MAGA needs to be far less trusting of degenerates. Then again, I don't trust JD Vance and fully expect him to be a Mike Pence type with better camouflage.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

It’s the lamest, and most deliberately disingenuous, of smear tactics. Truly contemptible.

But anyway, dumping tranny acquaintances is something most Americans can easily envision. So not a politically profitable smear. More part of the curious Democrat Talking To Ourselves campaign.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

"...this division of Americans that he has embraced of normal people and everyone else."

Does that mean JD was for DE&I before he was against it?

I told you people JD cannot be trusted.

West TX Intermediate Crude said...

Yeah Right Sure got it right- queer is the antonym of normal
They think "heteronormative" is pejorative, even though hetero is normative.
They think paternity leave should be as long as maternity leave, and for the same reason.
They think XX humans can compete in physical activities and sports with XY humans.

This is not about oppressed vs oppressor, or queer vs normal.
This is gaslighting, and they are mentally disordered.
Having a mental disorder is not shameful, but it is not anything to be proud of either.
Don't fall for it.

Dave Begley said...

Nelson is JD Vance's Christine Blasey Ford.

If that's the best the Left can do, JD wins.

How horrible and creepy to puke out all the details of their friendship in a crass political move. This is one of the reasons I hate the Left. They are really the worst people in the world who will say or do anything for political power. It all started with Anita Hill.

I expect to see Nelson on MSNBC and CNN very frequently.

Lance said...

"I really do think the left's cultural progressivism is making it harder for normal people to live their lives."

That statement would be better if it left out "normal". Cultural progressivism leaves everyone's life harder.

AlbertAnonymous said...

“I will always love you, but I really do think the left's cultural progressivism is making it harder for normal people to live their lives.'"

Sounds reasonable. Not the gotcha they were hoping for I suppose.

Frankly, I think his use of the word normal in that context can include the person to whom the message was sent. The “cultural progressivism” as he calls it does all this dividing that he/she is complaining about, and makes these people choose sides (or feel like they have to) when they’d rather just “be normal”.

Ugh, we have 3 more months of this garbage?

Owen said...

Another Tormented Soul hogging the mic with almost-incoherent expostulations about something called “normalcy,” which (paradoxically) is the ground state for society, in which (are you sitting down?!?) we don’t bother each other with our personal journey through yet more identitarian crises.

The fact that Nelson betrayed the expectation of confidence that is part of sincere friendship, is just icing on the cake.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

His simple statement is objectively true. Regular Americans are suffering needlessly from the policies that progressives embraced, from lawfare to open borders to allowing homeless to take over public spaces to the very poor education outcomes we endure etc.

In contrast she sounds hysterical. No one is threatening gay people. If anything the crazy transactivists are creating the environment where their gay allies might be unfairly shunned because of the actions of crazy trannies like Scott Weiner and Gavin Newsome. Conservatives didn’t do that. Groomers and authoritarian politicians did.

Dixcus said...

Althouse noted: "Nelson proceeds in the next sentence to stumble and then reframe her point in different words ..."

As soon as you announce that there are "normal Americans" and that queer people are in that group as opposed to the other gorup, then you are saying there are "not normal Americans" and that queer people are not in that group, but some other people must be in that group.

So who are the not-normal Americans, Mr. uh.... Ms. Nelson?

The traps they set for themselves must be navigated mid-sentence.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Is Vance’s definition of normal ever examined fairly in the podcast?

Dave Begley said...

Nelson is JD Vance's Christine Blasey Ford.

Expect to see her on MSNBC and CNN very soon.

Dixcus said...

I will just observe that normal people don't go around proclaiming that they are normal.

If you must proclaim that you are normal, that is ipso facto evidence to the contrary.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Maybe I’m weird but none of my gay friends are crazy progressives, most are pretty conservative. If you didn’t know them well you might not realize they’re gay.

Oso Negro said...

Coming of age is one of the oldest themes known to literature. Nowadays kids can’t simply join the military, hitchhike across the USA, or suck a few cocks on Fire Island to find their jam, they have to become eunuchs. Stuck in eternal adolescence.

gspencer said...

The ex-friend needs mental help.

Iman said...

Yes, whatever. But…

Your 401k will be unburdened by what has been.

Sally327 said...

Nelson's description of transgenderism is quite different from what the experts have been saying. Nelson describes a belief in the need to change to satisfy others in order to "be loved and have a job and be accepted and be okay." I thought it was about reconciling one's inner self-perception with the outward manifestations of one's body. Where should pleasing others come into play?

I didn't take her comment to mean that she felt she had to change to satisfy others but more that as long as she was conflicted and consumed with this problem of being trapped in the wrong body, she wouldn't be able to have the confidence and energy to go out and get a job and find someone to live and have (yes) a normal life with other people in it. That not transitioning for her was the abnormal life that she would be forced to live, being normal would be to transition.

narciso said...

Actually most of the times readers thought the release of the communications was a betrayal

Patrick Henry was right! said...

Being a victim is not a high status thing. Being a hero is. The turn, if it comes at all, will be in the rejection of the idea of glorified victimhood. And it can't get here soon enough.

Iman said...

Well, shim, Mark Hamill and teh white duds for Kamala can fuck right off.

IMO.

Gusty Winds said...

"Normal"

Lets take Madison, WI. A naked bike parade to "save the planet' through the downtown farmers market with children present IS NOT NORMAL. And it makes normal people's live difficult.

Most of Madison is abnormal. I'm sure even the normal people shopping for produce are conditioned just to put up with it. If the normal people complain, they are shunned, ridiculed and ostracized.

Todd said...

For the new left, everything is political and there is nothing they won't do, no "norm" they won't break, no rule they won't change in order to gain more power and more control.

We went from "we just want to live our lives" to "bake that cake". From "we just want to be together" to "you must marry us". From "let us be part of mainstream society" to "watch us twerk mostly naked in our parade". We went from "we want to be accepted" to "you MUST celebrate us". All the while the definition of "us" now includes men in women spaces and adults that want to have relations with childern but SURE, it is Vance that is the problem.

Michael K said...

Of course this was a political shot at Vance. It will,no doubt, be followed up by more. His response was good but will be distorted.

Gusty Winds said...

Drag queen story hour for grade school children IS NOT NORMAL. Neither is having drag queens dance for them, and teach them how to tip a stripper.

This is extremely abnormal and actually insane. It makes life for normal people difficult when thrust upon their children.

mikee said...

"he has set up a war between 'normal' people and those who are trying to attack them"

One might read that as JD Vance understanding the situation exactly correctly. Why are trans people trying to attack normals?

Drago said...

And THEN JD Vance lunged for the wheel of the vehicle and turned it directly into the LGBTQ parade while screaming "This Is MAGA Country" and grabbing the parade-ers subway sandwiches!!!....and their chips as well!

Gusty Winds said...

Letting a guy out of jail who just tried running over his girlfriend with his car IS NOT NORMAL.

And then, that same guy runs over dozens of people in a Waukesha Christmas parade and kills many.

Soft on crime Milwaukee DA John Chisolm made it difficult for normal people attending a Christmas parade in Waukesha, WI to live their lives. F

For those in Milwaukee, this is the new normal. We're still resisting in Waukesha County.

Earnest Prole said...

I’m confused. Didn’t we just go through a week of dividing Americans between those who are weird and everyone else?

AlbertAnonymous said...

Drago wins the thread at 9:26…

Gusty Winds said...

Stocking a junior high public school library with illustrated "how to give your friend a blow job" manuals IS NOT NORMAL.

When parents have tried to read these books in front of Liberal School Boards who allow it, they are shut down because the board says it's inappropriate content for the meeting.

THAT'S NOT NORMAL. That's insane.

Wa St Blogger said...

Oh please, please, please! I want MORE media efforts to demonize and divide based on the anecdotal, rather than discussing policies. It's not like we are electing the most powerful person in the entire world. This is high school prom. Let's keep thing in perspective, here.

Chris-2-4 said...

"I will always love you, but I really do think the left's cultural progressivism is making it harder for normal people to live their lives."

Imagine ending a friendship with a person who cares enough for you to say they will always love you over a sentiment this benign and then trying to cast yourself as the victim.

Iman said...

Don’t be so formal
While discussing the abby normal

Iman said...

Think of a future unburdened by the has-beens.

n.n said...

Leftists lunge. That's not queer, and it is weird.

Skeptical Voter said...

NYT always reaching out--and willing to do some pretty despicable things. I'm glad our host takes on the task of actually reading the NYT sparing the rest of us.

Mrsmyth said...

I think you misinterpret Nelson. When she says, "I know what it's like to sit and cry as a kid and think I have to fix myself. There's no way that I can be this person and be loved and have a job and be accepted and be okay," she means that she was afraid that if she told people who she truly was and lived as transgender, they would reject her.

RCOCEAN II said...

You can always count leftists coming out of the woodwork to attack their former "Friends" when they become prominant conservatives/MAGA types.

Leftists can never be trusted. They will always put "Party above all". One doubts whether they're human, at times.

wendybar said...

J.D. is correct, and she is another Progressive who can't handle the truth, even if it slaps her in the face.

n.n said...

NYT will wield its fish wrap to wild the people is a liberal lemma of a weird, gray crone.

Mikey NTH said...

The pain of discovering that your friends may have their own opinions.

Temujin said...

A normal person doesn't get their complaints taken up and aired by the NY Times or on podcasts.

Owen said...

Chris 2-4 @ 9:26: “… Imagine ending a friendship with a person who cares enough for you…”. Yes. Really a tragic turn, where the kindness and candor of a friend become grist to be exploited by the befriended one, who uses them to further xir own pathological self-conception and need for attention at any price.

In what universe is it normal to sell out one’s friends?

I guess I’m old-fashioned, but it was Nelson’s abuse of the relationship, more than the content of the “revelation,” that really irked me. And, yes, intrigued me: why would a “friend” ever do that? Is it an excrescence in a unique or rare circumstance? Or is it just SOP with today’s confessional politics? How much more of this Ill-smelling offal should we expect?

Howard said...

You hyper partisan conspiracy theory hobbyists are not normal either. JD like KH is all about ambition and will take on any convenient view that will move them forward. Obviously they work their ambitions towards different demographic marks.

gilbar said...

Meanwhile,
the economy continues to collapse..
unemployment is skyrocketing..
inflation continues unabated..
the Democrat Party's Endless Wars continue without result..

and Kamela Kackles all the way to the bank..
Soon vote counters will say she's received Over a HUNDRED MILLION votes, without a single ballot being filled out

Aggie said...

"Where should pleasing others come into play?"

'Pleasing others' comes into play when it's you I'm giving the instruction to. Submit & Comply!

..."I don't divide the world between normal and abnormal people" ...as she proceeds to do precisely that, at length, reinforcing that sexual perversion is normal, and heterosexuality is weird.

It's not going to work. The progressive left has spent the last 10 year stuffing aberrant acts and outrageously destructive behavioral mores down the throat of self-effacing, normal people of all kinds. They've come after their kids, right out front with it, poking the bear. It won't work. The reaction they're provoking won't get the result they want. It's OK to be normal, just like it's OK to be white, just like it's OK to be anything - as long as it's not at the expense of another identity group, as long as it's not an authoritative, tyrannical infringement on their life.

gilbar said...

It's The Economy, STUPID
Isn't THAT weird?

Gusty Winds said...

Blogger Owen said...
Chris 2-4 @ 9:26: “… Imagine ending a friendship with a person who cares enough for you…”. Yes. Really a tragic turn, where the kindness and candor of a friend become grist to be exploited by the befriended one, who uses them to further xir own pathological self-conception and need for attention at any price.

In what universe is it normal to sell out one’s friends?


COVID made selling out ones friends, and alienating family members a NEW NORMAL for liberals. Masks, lockdowns, mRNA vaccine mandates. If you objected to any of these you were ostracized. "Fuck your freedom"! It was all exacerbated by social media virtue signaling.

Now, the transgender push/propaganda is the new normal for liberals. Question any of it and you're Hitler. Sexist racist blah, blah, blah.

Now running a candidate who received ZERO primary votes, and refuses to be interviewed on any policy positions is the new liberal normal.

Libs are cemented in their fake moral superiority. There is no room for even slight disagreements.

Go ahead. Get married. Gay people deserve the civil protections and penalties for marriage. Fine. But you're not allowed to support gay marriage, and question the sick transgender push.

Joe Smith said...

Don't. Fucking. Care.

A few more things more important going on as the world is on fire and we don't have a president.

Howard said...

How is Johnny Eyeliner a Return to Normalcy?

The Advocate Header: "How JD Vance went from thinking he was gay and changing his name twice to being an anti-LGBTQ+ extremist"

Michael K said...

Howard, Vance changed his last name a couple of times to his mother's new husband's last name. Then he just took her maiden name, Vance. Reading would be good for you, Howard, especially if it was not DNC talking points.

Creola Soul said...

The very fact that the left are getting their panties in a wad over Vance is reason enough to vote for him.

Gusty Winds said...

I was talking to a 63 year old female liber cousin of mine. We used to be close. She lives in La Crosse, and is a local liberal lawyer.

She was telling me a friend of hers said "I can't even talk to anybody who is a Trump supporter." My cousin responded "you can talk about your kids, and all kids of other subjects other than politics".

Now, I thought my cousin was also full of shit, and was validating the closed mindedness of her liberal Karen friend, while passively trying to placate me.

Not all conversations need to be political. But to be so high and mighty that you can't even broach the subject with those heathens beneath you is a sickness.

It's a sickness well defined in Gad Saad's Book "The Parasitic Mind."

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Says the resident conspiracy theorist.

Kevin said...

I see Althouse doesn't have a tag for "crocodile tears", so maybe we should stick with the latest version of "civility bullshit".

Mr. D said...

There’s always a market for betraying conservative friends who become prominent.

mccullough said...

Yale Law School isn’t normal.

Valentine Smith said...

I read somewhere recently about the way the Narcissus myth has been misinterpreted. It’s not that Narcissus fell in love with himself but rather that he didn’t recognize himself. That there sums up perfectly the trans experience. Their need to have the world accommodate their delusion does coincide with what we think of as the narcissist’s need for power over others.

I should have noted where I read this fascinating interpretation. Damn!!

Big Mike said...

I avoided that article because it seemed like a politically motivated betrayal of a private, personal relationship.

It seemed that way because it was that way.

I almost avoided the podcast.

You should have.

Loudoun County is not far from where I live here in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. The Loudoun School Board’s support of transgenderism resulted in two teenaged girls being raped in girls’ rest rooms, with the girls and their families basically being told to suck it up in the name of intersectionality. Elsewhere transgenderism has resulted in women being punished for complaining when biological men invade their locker rooms and make a point of waving their junk in the faces of underaged girls. Is Nelson going to apologize to the normal, biological women who have been victimized by transgenderism? Will Althouse? Not holding my breath.

Ann Althouse said...

""I avoided that article because it seemed like a politically motivated betrayal.." It seemed that way because that what it was...."

Yeah, but you can't say that when telling why you avoided reading the article. "Seemed" is required for accuracy. It's not as though I'm missing something. I chose not to read the article (and I still haven't read it).

Peachy said...

No one can say anything without being called a "trans-phobe, a racist or an homo-hater" by the left.

Yeah - normals have a hard time navigating the insanity of the modern progressive left's speech crimes and ever changing speech codes.

If mentioned - That too - hurts the tender feelings of the fascist speech crime left.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

The irony is that, should the Democrats fail to steal the election, the trannies and whatnot are going over the side. And it won't be Republicans doing the pushing.

Ann Althouse said...

"I read somewhere recently about the way the Narcissus myth has been misinterpreted. It’s not that Narcissus fell in love with himself but rather that he didn’t recognize himself."

I like the famous Gore Vidal definition: "A narcissist is someone better looking than you are."

Jupiter said...

"... he has set up a war between 'normal' people and those who are trying to attack them."

Whereas, she would prefer that normal people remain favorably inclined to those who are trying to attack us.

hombre said...

Actually, "the bond ended" when Sophia betrayed their friendship for political, and probably financial, reasons. Vance's emails to him were thoughtful and respectful. The "normal" spin is word salad to justify the betrayal.

The refusal of the LGBT movement to divest itself from the "T" is a mistake. The "Ts" and consorts are an immoral, child mutilating cult. As part of it, Sophia's behavior is to be expectd.

PM said...

Trans is a subset of 'special needs'.
Not in the sense they need help with day-to-day functioning.
They're the kind of special that requires special attention.

loudogblog said...

Pointing out that there is a difference between normal and abnormal people is not the same as saying that one is better or worse than the other.

Also, "normal" is not well defined these days. It means different things to different people. I'd be willing to bet that the word, normal, means one thing to J.D. Vance and another thing to Sophia Nelson.

They say that words can have power but should you really give words power if they are not well defined?

"Oh! Oh! Oh!
I hug myself 'till my arms turn blue,
Then I close my eyes and I cry and cry
'till the tears come down
and I taste them. Ah!
I love to taste my tears!
I am special.
I am special.
Please, God, please --
Don't let me be normal!"

- The Fantasticks (by Jones and Schmidt)

Jupiter said...

"Masculine women and feminine men deserve full acceptance within human diversity."

Althouse, you get to choose your friends. But you don't get to choose my friends.

Mason G said...

"I'd shared some pretty personal stuff with him about my experience as a trans kid, because I know what it's like to sit and cry as a kid and think I have to fix myself."

Do normal people sit and cry and think that they need to be fixed?

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I’m still bothered by her use of that phrase that Media loves, “embraced.” What evidence is provided that Vance “embraces that mentality that divides our country?” Take a whiff of smelling salts and explain how you concluded that about Vance.

Rabel said...

So Sophia, despite the breast removal, turns out to be just another Mean Girl with a Burn Book.

Kakistocracy said...

So Vance is saying people who break the law (Jan6) sometimes shouldn’t be punished especially if you agree with their views?

Man the GOP has gotten weird

And soft

Inga said...

Hearing Trumpists call themselves the “normals” is cringeworthy. Can’t even laugh at it anymore.

Owen said...

Rabel @ 12:44: “ So Sophia…turns out to be just another Mean Girl with a Burn Book.”

What a depressing prospect: that this creature (and others of similar ilk) is assembling and using an ever-growing collection of remarks and gestures by unsuspecting friends or acquaintances whose future careers may make these tidbits lucrative.

Like a book full of autographs that can be cashed in, preferably at the moment of maximum vulnerability.

Yes, this speaker is indulging xirself and hurting Vance; but the damage extends much more widely and deeply. Who if anyone can anyone still trust?

Todd said...

What evidence is provided that Vance “embraces that mentality that divides our country?”

Well he didn't respond with 110% support of her and her position. He dared to have a differing opinion from her.

As a result he ipso facto "embraced that mentality that divides our country".

It is him that is dividing by not fully embracing everything she wants.

Todd said...

As the country moves forward, 20 or 30 years from now when those writing history have the benefit of perspective, it would be very interesting to read about how nearly half the country could say:

Hearing Trumpists call themselves the “normals” is cringeworthy. Can’t even laugh at it anymore.

All over the idea that it is good and "normal" to encourage boys to keep their penis and girls to keep their breasts, as well as allowing girls to have their safe spaces.

The fact that some see that as "cringeworthy" shows you all you need to know about them.

Michael K said...


Blogger Inga said...

Hearing Trumpists call themselves the “normals” is cringeworthy. Can’t even laugh at it anymore.


There goes Sam Brinton fan cringing again.

PM said...

'Hurtful' is a tell that the person using it is inane.

Amadeus 48 said...

Meh. I lost a friend of 45 years over voter ID. I didn't handle it well, so I'll accept most of the blame:

My mistake: being candid about what the Demmies are up to.

Rabel said...

I notice that the Advocate and NPR (this story has been all over liberal media for a week) use "they" as Sophia's preferred pronoun while the Times uses "she."

Did the Times, which had the lead story on this and is ever so woke about these things, decide that "they" was weird and wanted to normalize their protagonist?

Also, Sophia, a public defender, Yale grad and activist has very, very little online presence. Was it scrubbed before the hit?

walter said...

The rule of Lemnity said...
"...this division of Americans that he has embraced of normal people and everyone else."
Does that mean JD was for DE&I before he was against it?
--
How would that follow?

"There goes Sam Brinton fan cringing again."
Don't forget Dick Levine.

JIM said...

Did she misinterpret what he wrote? Because it seems to me he was referring to her as normal but this outside force was making it hard for her to live.
But Vance is aligned with Trump. so he's an enemy now apparently, and anything to the right of far left is weird, of course.

Lurker21 said...

Competitive normality isn't a game worth playing, but most people would probably think that even a millionaire is more normal than a transsexual. Millionaires are a lot more common (maybe in both senses of the word) than they used to be. Even working-class Lunchbox Joe Biden is a multimillionaire.

So even Yale Law grads put their foot in it sometimes. "Normal" is a tough concept to use nowadays. He could have said "non-political" or "non-activist" or "non-militant." Maybe he should have left the adjective out altogether and left it at just "people."

wendybar said...

Howard said...
How is Johnny Eyeliner a Return to Normalcy?

The Advocate Header: "How JD Vance went from thinking he was gay and changing his name twice to being an anti-LGBTQ+ extremist"

8/5/24, 10:23 AM

Now do Obama....who started as an anti-LGBTQ+ extremist until he flip flopped to get votes, and HOW many times has he changed his name??

Big Mike said...

Watching Olympic volleyball reminded me of an incident I mistakenly left out of my comment at 11:10. Down in North Carolina a female high school athlete named Payton McNabb was playing in a volleyball match against a team that included a 5’ 11” trans athlete. He spiked the ball into McNabb’s face so hard she was knocked unconscious and left with brain injuries and partial paralysis on one side of her body. At the time, the trans athlete and some of “her” teammates thought it was funny, and laughed out loud.

No, we Normals do not support transgendered “female” athletes. We do not support psychologists who con minor children into thinking that an irreversible surgery resulting in their sterilization is the only way forward — while hiding same from the children's parents. We hold the surgeons who make money performing those irreversible surgeries in deep contempt. We do not support the mobs who threatened violence against Riley Gaines.

And may God damn Sophia Nelson, and any other person who thinks any of our Normal positions is wrong, to eternal damnation in fiery pit deep in the bowels of Hell.

RMc said...

it seemed like a politically motivated betrayal of a private, personal relationship.

Gee, y'think...?!

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

So the Big Takeaway is that people who are super-political and the Big Media who amplify and repeat their political views easily assume every action and decision normal people make is based on “normie” political views, which are so amorphous that the super-political elites and Big Media are completely unable to clearly articulate those allegedly important beliefs other than saying that people whose rallying point is “leave me alone” (“leave me and my family alone”) actually are more strongly motivated by some sick desire to “divide” LGBT activists.

Their projection is reaching psychotic levels.