Scott Tibbs


When pronouns serve as a broad phylactery

By Scott Tibbs, September 21, 2022

When Jesus spoke in Matthew 23, He warned of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees: "But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments." Recognizing that the improper use of a thing does not negate its proper use, the Pharisees were not using these religious symbols to honor God. They were using the symbols to parade their virtue before men. The Lord justly condemned the religious leaders' hypocrisy.

Today, one of the things people use to signal virtue is their pronouns. While some people want to use pronouns that do not fit their biological sex, that is not what I am about today. When a "cisgender" person announces his pronouns, when there is no need to do so, he is signaling his virtue over "trans rights" to the public. He is publicly showing his "solidarity" with trans people by telling everyone to refer to him using normal grammatical rules for anyone else. (Cisgender refers to someone who does not have gender dysphoria - meaning he identifies with his biological sex.)

Note this is not about people with gender dysphoria wanting others to use pronouns that do not match their biology and genetics. That is a totally separate issue. This is about virtue signaling by modern Pharisees. A cisgender person announcing his pronouns does not advance the cause of "trans rights." It does not make an argument or advance changes to law or corporate policy. A "cisgender" person announcing his pronouns serves only to advance his own narcissism.

I could list many more examples of virtue signaling on many other issues, but this is the main point: Too much of the discourse on our political and cultural issues is made up of people who are more interested in parading their own "righteousness" around instead of actually doing something productive. It is the mark of a fundamentally un-serious and narcissistic culture.


Opinion Archives

E-mail Scott

Scott's Links

About the Author

ConservaTibbs.com