In 1942, Sir Arthur Harris, head of the Royal Air Force, declared, “The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everybody else, and nobody was going to bomb them.” By the end of World War II, around the clock bombing from Allied forces completely decimated Germany. Like war, sometimes politics lends itself to over-confidence and self-destruction.North Carolina progressives have hitched their political wagon to H.B. 2. For good reason, with little else to run on, cultural shifts offer them a massive advantage on LGBT issues. Eschewing compromise, the victory strut gains momentum with every announcement over any boycott or economic threat against the state. Facts regarding H.B. 2 are subservient against the narrative of standing against “hate” and “oppression.” The incessant cry is “just stop the bigotry!” The worst news for proponents of H.B. 2 came when the NCAA and ACC announced the removal of some high-profile and popular championship and playoff games from North Carolina. The NCAA has played games in Cuba and China, but North Carolina has a much more important lesson to learn. However, a small reverse ripple in the tidal wave of backlash against H.B. 2 emerged from the ranks of collegiate athletics itself. Oklahoma Wesleyan University and College of the Ozarks in Missouri announced they were withdrawing from the NIAI cross-country championship after the council of presidents held a contentious 11-9 vote to pull the event from Charlotte. Two schools outside of North Carolina defended the state against the prevailing narrative of bigotry. “Shocking as it may sound to my presidential peers, Oklahoma Wesleyan University actually agrees with the state of North Carolina,” declared school President Everett Piper. “We, too, think that women should be granted the privacy of having their own toilets.” Everett continued in a reasoned defense of his position that uplifted the dignity of the female and an explanation of the proper interpretation of Title IX law. Shaped by Christian worldviews, the vocal schools added only a murmur amid the noise, but as Russian novelist Aleksander Solzhenitsyn once noted, “One word of truth shall outweigh the whole world.” It’s too early to say if speaking some basic truths about human sexuality and anatomy will cause more to stand up and suggest a few things might be going wrong in the world today. Unfortunately, many schools violate their own conscience and agree to go along because they’re scared of losing federal funds. The demands and decrees of those who suppose they know better come from powerful people. It’s hard to gauge whether a silent majority might emerge from the rubble of confusion about gender norms. Former vice president Spiro Agnew once observed that, “America’s silent majority is bewildered by irrational protest.” One thing is certain; we do tremendous damage to human dignity and freedom when we cast aside long-established universal truths. Two relatively small schools, though, have decided to chip away at what has been deemed the popular and right way of thinking in today’s culture. But what happens if others do so too? Often times, the incessant clamoring and shouting against something deemed unpopular occurs because it might in fact be the right way after all. The backlash against the backlash has no megaphone, but it still can be heard, and could grow stronger.
