8 LISTENER MAY 26 2018
W
hen I clicked on the
website of the Washing-
ton Nationals baseball
team, I was asked to take
an online survey about buying food
at the team’s stadium. I was willing
and, as usual, the survey began with
demographic questions.
The first asked my age. The second
asked, “Which of the following best
describes your gender identity? 1)
Non-binary or third gender 2) Male 3)
Female 4) I prefer not to say.” I puz-
zled over the question.
Do the Nationals really want to
know the percentage of non-binary
baseball fans who like
onions on their wieners?
Was the team’s business
unit anticipating the
answers would reveal
that males and females
do not like long queues
for food but third-gen-
der folk do? Why, they
just love to stand in line
for hours.
The giveaway that the
question was more to do
with political correct-
ness than marketing
data was asking which
option best described
my gender identity.
Not just my gender,
because that would
be so last century, butQuestions of
gender and wiener
preferences are
the garnish on US
exceptionalism.
Non-binary onions
There is no one I
admire more in
the US than the
footballer with
no team, Colin
Kaepernick.
DREW DERNAVICH/THE CARTOON BANK
“It keeps track of how long you’ve been wearing
workout clothes without actually working out.”the gender with which I identified.
Presumably, that allows a male the option of
identifying as female, or vice versa, or any other
permutation. But the Nationals will not know that
subtlety when they try to figure out if people who
identify as female would prefer to order hot dogs
online from their stadium seats, instead of going to
the concession stands.
The more I think about it, the more irrelevant
the gender question becomes. That is not because
of the four options, but because even if all 40,
patrons at the ballpark identified as third gender
or female, hot dogs and beer would still be on the
menu.
Last time I went to the baseball, I was on the con-
course with hundreds of people when the national
anthem began playing. Immediately, most people
around me turned to face the big screen and many
put their hands on their hearts.
Partly, I want to laugh when Americans wear
their hearts on their sleeves, yet I also find it
strangely moving. Of course, I, too, believe
in liberty and democracy but, like many New
Zealanders, I rarely express it. It would be naff,
forced and almost embarrassing for Kiwis to be
demonstrative, unless we were at a rugby testmatch, especially against Australia.
I stand up for any country’s
national anthem yet there is no
one I admire more in the US than
the footballer with no team, Colin
Kaepernick, who has been dropped
since “taking the knee” in a sym-
bolic protest against racism during
the playing of the anthem. He has
possibly thought more than many
of his fellow Americans about
what pride in their country means,
and what the flag represents.U
nderstanding the concept of US
exceptionalism takes time. With
the country’s terrible history,
especially slavery and the physical
and cultural annihilation of indige-
nous Americans, an honest reckoning
would not be pretty.
All of us are our own worst enemies
and America is no different. It appears
to value freedom above fairness,
allows the lost and broken to live
without hope and considers parts of
the Constitution belong
to a world that is
untouchable. Yet it has
built a successful nation
by believing in, cham-
pioning and fighting
for noble, human ideals
that most of us share
yet do not talk about.
“We, the people ...”
The US is held
together by a shared
faith that it can form
that more perfect union
that its Constitution
references. It is a unique
country. Even if we do
not put our hands on
our hearts, we should
all hope it continues to
succeed. lBACK TO BLACK
JOANNE
BLACK
IN WASHINGTON DC