It is not necessary to detail Bruce Jenner’s transformation into Caitlyn Jenner. Suffice it to say that we have been informed that Bruce’s inner self was at war with his physical self. With the assistance of modern medicine, Bruce was physically modified into Caitlyn. This is not to say that Bruce the male was transformed into Caitlyn a female. Nevertheless, he was modified into something physically different from Bruce the gold medalist decathlete. In other words, the old Bruce crossed a line and is now a new Bruce (or Caitlyn if you prefer).
There is also a line demarcating the Old South from the New South. That line is not as discernible as in the case of Bruce, but it’s there. The Old South’s culture is distinct from the New South’s culture, with several important characteristics of culture including politics, economics and, most significantly religiosity.
What I find to be intriguing about the new Bruce and the new South is the following: Bruce is at war with reality, i.e., his maleness, and the ruling class is at war with reality, i.e., the Southern culture. Both wars stem from a Gnostic/Enlightenment interpretation of creation. According to this perspective nature is flawed and needs to be mastered. There is a dualism between nature and the soul, with the latter pursuing a quest to escape the former as created.
Bruce’s intellect informed him that he in essence is a female, or more specifically has a female soul; hence the scalpel is the instrument (weapon might be more descript) for his female soul to conquer his male body. Yankee ideology informed the Northern ruling class that the Old South was barbaric and the boys in blue were the instrument to wage war on its culture, i.e., soul. Both the new Bruce and the new South were manufactured by the agents of reform. In the case of Bruce the reformers came from the medical profession; in the case of the South the reformers came and come from the political profession.
So what’s the point? Is the new Bruce male or female or something distinct? I would never refer to the new Bruce as a freak of nature, because he/she is not a natural product. The new Bruce is more of an invention, the purpose of which only the new Bruce knows. Similarly, the new South is neither Southern (except in a geographic sense) nor Northern, but something distinct. Its distinctiveness hinges on the remnants of the Old South. But once those remnants are wiped clean, it will be indistinguishable as a distinct place. In other words, the only way to transform the Old South into the new South is to kill the former. The same goes for Bruce. There is no escape from the material world as created by the Creator. Centuries of biblical teachings affirm nature as good, Gnostic and Enlightenment arguments to the contrary. To be at war with nature is to be at war with its Creator, but if one does not believe in a Creator one does not view it as war but progress.
Bruce will never be a woman. The new Bruce may superficially talk, walk, dress, and appear as a woman, just as the new South may superficially appear “Southern”. However, both are manufactured and, to put it politely, somewhat repulsive from a Christian perspective. I dare say that the Old South would agree.
