Cast the First Stone
Let’s workshop this poem about teen games of control that lead, by collective momentum (seen in soccer riots and Black-Friday hair-hat-yanking stampedes), into irreversible decisions like sex surgery
scent of the day: Murkwood, by Pineward (a muted scent of fir balsam and black hemlock over mossy incense)
Cast the First Stone You had to have Jordans in school— yet you would have defied today’s bully temptation (beguiling tweens to double down onto a puberty-blocker path toward glitter scalpels) to make your teachers, under threat of the pc ax, dance to your newfangled pronouns?
The poem "Cast the First Stone" is a pointed critique of moral hypocrisy and the ease with which individuals claim a higher ground while conveniently forgetting their own past compliance with societal pressures. Addressed to those who claim they would resist contemporary moral trends, the poem holds a mirror to those same individuals, reminding them that they were once themselves eager to fit in, as symbolized by their desire to wear Jordans. The rhetorical move here is to question the reader's ability to truly stand apart from peer pressure, particularly when it comes to controversial and rapidly shifting social norms—namely, the use of new pronouns and the policing of language in educational settings.
The poem juxtaposes two periods of social conformity: the speaker recalls a time when wearing Jordans was a near-necessity for acceptance in school, subtly underlining how even minor acts of conformity can be driven by immense social pressures. This detail is not arbitrary; it calls into question the reader’s potential to stand up to much more intense social dynamics, like those faced by today’s youth navigating issues of gender identity. The poem draws attention to a new kind of conformity that exists under the guise of personal empowerment but is deeply embedded in a trend-driven culture where the stakes are much higher—this time involving the life-altering decisions of transitioning and gender identity politics. The question the poem raises is not just about whether one would resist these trends today, but whether anyone really has the strength to stand against the tide when conformity is woven into the fabric of adolescence and peer identity.
The reference to making teachers "dance to your newfangled pronouns" evokes a specific contemporary anxiety about the power dynamics in classrooms, where students wield unprecedented influence over language and behavior. The poem highlights the extent to which these power dynamics can feel coercive to those in authority, often involving threats of being labeled transphobic or politically incorrect. But the poem is more than a critique of these students; it is a critique of those who believe they are somehow immune to these dynamics—those who claim they would resist the pressure to conform to pronoun usage but fail to realize how often they themselves conformed to similarly arbitrary social markers, like brand-name shoes.
In drawing this parallel between the past and the present, the poem suggests that no one is truly above the pressures of conformity. The same individuals who so adamantly wore Jordans in their youth would likely have succumbed to the same pressures faced by today's adolescents. The reference to puberty blockers and "glitter scalpels" makes the stakes of this new conformity more visceral: while past acts of conformity might have seemed trivial, today's pressures involve body-altering, life-changing decisions. The poem asks: would these moral critics have resisted the "bully temptation" to make their teachers comply with pronoun usage, or would they have fallen in line, just as they did with fashion trends?
The poem raises important questions about the nature of social influence, power dynamics, and moral conviction. It reminds us that, regardless of the time or issue, peer pressure has a powerful way of compelling compliance. The concluding rhetorical question—whether the reader truly believes they would have resisted—challenges the reader to confront their own history of conformity and question the strength of their convictions in the face of real-world pressure.
The poem "Cast the First Stone" critiques moral hypocrisy by drawing a parallel between past and present forms of social conformity. It challenges those who believe they would resist current trends, such as the use of pronouns in schools, by reminding them of their own compliance with peer pressures in the past, like the compulsion to wear Jordans. Through this comparison, the poem explores the complexities of peer influence and the illusion of moral superiority, ultimately questioning whether anyone can truly stand apart from societal pressures.
Social conformity, peer pressure, moral hypocrisy, pronouns in schools, gender identity, societal trends, adolescence, power dynamics, contemporary issues, personal empowerment, puberty blockers, body autonomy, moral critique, social trends, classroom authority.