The fear of standing against the crowd is real. Peer pressure, as it was called in the 1980s and 90s, was often blamed for teenagers’ willingness to engage in dangerous and compromising behavior, such as drug or alcohol use, which they otherwise might avoid if it weren’t for fear of not fitting in, of being seen as an outsider.
The desire to belong to a group rather than be ostracized can be a powerful force that tempts people to compromise their beliefs or values in order to please the group.
During the recent era of peak wokeness, when failure to conform to the Left’s ideological line could result in one being socially ostracized, this fear of standing against the flow might not have merely cost one social standing but could literally threaten one’s livelihood. This fear of cancellation was what kept influential thought leader and writer Malcolm Gladwell from expressing his view against “transgenderism” in women’s sports.
Yeah, the same guy who wrote a book titled David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants was afraid to take on the Left’s giant.
In a recent podcast called “The Real Science of Sport,” Gladwell relayed an instance of this fear at work, while he was on a panel discussing the issue of “trans” athletes competing in women’s sports.
Gladwell observed that Ross Tucker, a sports scientist and the host of the podcast, was the only member on the panel who was willing to express his objection to males competing against females. “They stacked the panel,” Gladwell recounted. “They stacked against you, Ross. They put a trans athlete, a trans advocate, and you on the panel, and I was the moderator. And it was one of those strange situations where my suspicion is that 90% of the people in the audience were on your side, but 5% of the audience was willing to admit it.”
Later in the conversation, after noting the indisputable physical advantage male athletes have over females, Gladwell admitted, “What they’re saying is you should have to live with that. And when I heard that, I was like, ‘This is nuts.’ And yet I didn’t say anything.”
He admitted he knew the truth, that this “transgender” ideology, which preaches that identity defines reality, was “nuts” and not true, but he kept his mouth shut. He didn’t object because he was afraid of the “transgender” cult — what we not-so-affectionately dub the Rainbow Mafia.
Gladwell is a highly respected and widely recognized intellectual and influential thinker, especially among America’s elite. This is evidenced by Time magazine listing him among the 100 most influential people in the world, Newsweek picking him as one of the top 10 thought leaders of the decade, and his having written seven New York Times bestsellers with over 23 million copies sold. In other words, Gladwell is no slouch.
Yet despite all his head knowledge and influence, and even though he knew that “transgender” identifying males competing against girls and women in sports was “nuts,” his fear of going against the tide motivated him to compromise the truth.
The consequences can be very real. Clay Travis of Outkick just posted on X, “Saying men aren’t women and don’t belong in women’s sports cost me $7 million a year from @FanDuel. They canceled @outkick’s deal over this. Why did most sports media stay silent on men in women’s sports? They took the left wing cash over the truth.”
What we fear will often direct our actions more than we realize. Scripture speaks to this issue when it warns against fearing mankind more than fearing God. Proverbs 29:25 states, “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” And the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians writes, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Adherence to truth matters more than popularity. By Gladwell’s silence, motivated by his fear of offending others he viewed as significant, he tacitly endorsed a lie.
It is good that he has finally admitted it, and hopefully, he continues to stand for the obvious truth. However, despite all the accolades and his reputation as an influential thought leader, Gladwell has proven to be untrustworthy. How will we know in the future whether he is being honest or simply going along with the intelligentsia crowd?
What Gladwell’s admission also suggests is that the cultural elites may finally be starting to take a stand against “transgenderism” — at least in women’s sports. Perhaps it’s an indication that the tide is shifting, and that a return to cultural sanity is coming.
