You Are What You 'Feel'

Just because you want to be something, does it automatically make it so? If I feel like a kid does that mean I'm a kid? If I feel like a millionaire does that make me wealthy? If I feel like a tree will I grow leaves? If I feel like an In N Out burger does that mean I'm hungry?

Well actually it does, but that's a completely different thing entirely.

Bruce Jenner feels like a woman so he becomes one. 'How wonderful, how emancipating,' says our liberated society. 'Isn't that beautiful?' Practically overnight entertainment and press media begin to refer to him as 'she' and even bristle if someone dares to call Jenner by the name of Bruce. How dare we not recognize that this person has changed gender? I suppose not to acknowledge the switch is to be labeled transgender phobic (or more appropriately, transJenner phobic).

And what makes this odd story even odder is even though Jenner has had plastic surgery on his face, breast augmentation and had his Adam's apple shaved down, he has said he has no plans to undergo the complete 'downstairs' sex change surgery. 'I'm totally heterosexual, ' he says. 'I was always attracted to women.' So if he has become a she and is sexually attracted to women, does that mean he/she is a lesbian?

But here's the thing, no matter what Jenner removes or augments, he cannot alter the fact that he was born with an X and Y chromosome. That X and Y is what biologically determines that he is a male. Two X chromosomes is female and he ain't got 'em.

He may be able to change his cosmetic makeup, but no amount of surgery can change his biological makeup. Too bad scientific facts don't matter anymore in our upside-down world. Jenner 'feels' like a female so he is. Period. End of discussion.

In our permissive, self-absorbed 'if it feels good do it,' and 'be all you can be' culture, the key word is 'whatever.' Whatever makes you happy. Whatever you want. Be whatever you feel like you are.

Feel like a girl? Abracadabra! Okay, you're a girl. A dream is a wish your heart makes and today any dream can come true. Wishing makes it so. Bam!

When he was in the White House it was said that Bill Clinton was 'the first black president.' Recently Obama claims he's given such staunch support to Israel (which is patently false and downright laughable) that he is in reality the first Jewish president. Confused? Don't be. You can assign yourself any race or ethnicity you 'feel' like these days.

'Feel' like an American Indian? Professor Ward Churchill does, so he makes the claim (with no substantiation) and he begins a career teaching Native American studies at universities. Elizabeth Warren 'feels' like an American Indian too, because her grandmother had high check bones, she says. So she claims to be an Indian, even though no credible evidence exists to support those claims.

Which brings us to Rachel Dolezal, a professor of Africana Studies at Eastern Washington University and the now former president of the NAACP in Spokane who was outed last week by her parents as being white.

She has pretended to be black for years, posting photos of a black man she said was her father but wasn't. Her heritage is mostly German and Czech and her natural coloring is fair.

But she 'feels' black. Dolezal is now facing a city ethics probe because she identified herself as being African-American on her application to serve on the citizen police ombudsman commission.

Tom Hanks' son, Chester, uses the N word freely in rap songs and on social media, he speaks and texts using a black urban dialect. He posts photos of himself attempting to look 'bad' as he poses holding handguns in the best gangsta fashion. He has never said that he 'feels' black, but it is clear he would rather be that than what he really is, an ultra-rich spoiled movie star's kid.

What if tomorrow Bruce Jenner wakes up and feels like a female Mexican illegal immigrant? Will he get a job as a maid? If he lives in California he can qualify for all kinds of welfare benefits, including a food stamp card, taxpayer paid schooling, and health care. In the old days he would have simply been deported.

I'm beginning to feel like James Bond so I'll stop now, get into my tux and whip up a batch of Martinis as I save the world from the bad guys. If I feel like a Jewish World Review columnist next week I'll be back.

We'll see.

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JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a letter to his congressman. He's also a Southern California-based freelance writer.