Wokeness Lives: A “Trans-turtle” Sits on Mental Health Board — and Other PC Madness

By Selwyn Duke

“Woke is dead,” declared the New York Post December 30. And, my, that would’ve been a fine Christmas present. Unfortunately, while an election changes who’s at the USS Government’s helm, as with all large ships, it can take ages to turn about. (Hence the Titanic’s inability to avoid the iceberg.) What’s more, that’s just the ship of state. But politics is downstream from culture, not the other way around. And in our culture, wokeness — that killer of souls and civilizations — may, it’s true, now have the sniffles. Yet it’s still alive and all too well.

Donatello She Ain’t

For a case in point, meet JD Holt, a woman who, well, has come out of her shell. Per a Thursday New York Post article:

A member of a state panel advising the director of Oregon’s Health Authority (OHA) made a wild first impression at a meeting by proclaiming, “I use they, them and turtle for my pronouns.”

JD Holt, who also goes by “JD Terrapin” on Facebook, made the declaration with a straight face while introducing [herself] at a virtual council meeting on Dec. 20.

“Hello everybody, it’s JD. I use they, them and turtle for my pronouns. I’m in the Springfield-Eugene area and I get to be part of the council,” Holt said enthusiastically.

Other members of the Consumer Advisory Council in the meeting were seen blinking and hiding any reaction to the bizarre animal-world identity.

… Gender Wiki, a website that documents non-binary genders, describes “turtlegender” — also dubbed “tortoisegender” — as a legitimate “xenogender” identity in which a person “feels a gendered connection to turtles.”

Now, one could question Holt’s commitment. She’s not, after all, like the man who has had cosmetic surgery to try to turn himself into a parrot. Nonetheless, some are alarmed that she’s in a role advising her state on the best practices for achieving mental health. Holt isn’t the only, uh … anomalous individual on the board, either.

Star of the Freak Show

That is, lest you be concerned that a turtle would slow down proceedings, never fear. OHA has another unbalanced member who balances Holt out. As commentator Olivia Murray adds,

a “shooting star” gendered person also sits on this mental health advisory board and no; I’m not joking as he/she introduced himself/herself as “Luke A Shooting Star” in a December meeting.

Returning to the would-be turtle, if you want to take a gander at her, check out the video below.

Meet JD Terrapin Holt, an actual member of the Oregon Consumer Advisory Council. JD uses “Turtle/They/Them” pronouns and helps develop policies surrounding mental health and addiction.

This is real…pic.twitter.com/fASoZkJN6V

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 10, 2025

As for Star Boy, I believe this is him at LinkedIn.

Woke Jokes Abound

There’s more wokeness, too. Also in Oregon, Democratic Governor Tina Kotek just declared March 10 Abortion Provider Appreciation Day (tweet below).

Do something about it! I bet Kotek doesn’t represent the majority of residents.

— Karla Gibson (@KarlaGi48528904) March 11, 2025

Of course, some might expect political correctness in the Beaver State, influenced as it is by pusillanimous population center Portland. But Oregon isn’t alone in being gone, as the experiences of the patriotic Dugger Band in Tennessee evidence. As commentator Todd Starnes reported yesterday:

Jordan and Seth Dugger had written a song called “True Colors.” They had been invited to perform on the station’s [WSMV's] “Today in Nashville” program.

But when station management read the lyrics — they told the boys from the mountains of East Tennessee that it was politically biased — because it promoted America.

Then there are other recent stories attesting to wokeness’ staying power. A sampling:

• “‘Medical malpractice’: U. Washington health center offers abortion pills without ultrasound.”
• “Baylor twists Scripture to justify slavery memorial.”
• “Fire professors who oppose ‘gender-affirming care,’ Harvard faculty chair says.”
• “University of Central Florida hosts weekly ‘Queer Christian Fellowship’ with ‘Queer Interpretation of Scripture.’”
• “Costco triples down on ‘wokeness’ as board member defends DEI practices, rebukes companies scrapping policies.”

Reality Check

None of this is to say there hasn’t been a cultural shift — at least for the moment. As the Post wrote in its December “Woke is dead” article:

As for that rear-view mirror, there are promising signs. Preferred pronouns are quietly dropping from email signatures. The sanctimonious University of Michigan is firing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff. Walmart has dropped the term DEI altogether. Investors are suing the retailer Target for putting commitments to DEI, environmental, social and governance and Pride Month above the interests of shareholders. Formerly left-wing Silicon Valley billionaires are publicly excited about, or even bidding to participate in, the Trump administration.

It is normal, of course, for traditionalists to cheer this; you may feel you can breathe a bit again. But the danger is that conservatives have a habit of mistaking an election win for long-term electoral hegemony. Why, they may even mistake it for deeper cultural change.

First, note that President Donald Trump captured the popular vote in 2024 by a mere 1.5 percent. More significantly, he won four of his seven swing states by a 2.2-percent margin or less. And had he lost those states, Kamala Harris would be president.

Consider as well that people largely vote their pocketbooks. If the economy isn’t good prior to the 2026 midterms, the GOP will likely fare poorly. Ditto for the 2028 presidential election. And if the Democrats do regain control of the executive branch in 2028, there again may be a great promotion of wokeness.

Turning the Ship

To reiterate, however, the cultural battles are most significant (and, yes, politics can influence this). And perspective is needed.

Conceptualize a culture war as a battle for territory, that fixed commodity. The so-called Left has been conquering traditionalist “land” for many decades, taking, let’s say, 90 percent of it over time. The current anti-wokeness campaigns, successful though they are, still just amount to a regaining of some previously lost territory. So now, maybe, the Left occupies “just” 85 percent of the 90 percent it originally captured. Again, too, this reversal of fortunes can itself be reversed — relatively quickly.

So what’s the proper course of action? First, understand the above, that evil is always afoot and must be combated. It’s never time to beat your cultural swords into plowshares in this world. (You get to rest in Heaven.) Second, and as I often emphasize, we mustn’t just complain about the woke social code. We must replace it with a better one.

That would be the virtues (the opposite of “virtue signaling”), those objectively good moral habits discovered long ago. (I elaborated on them here.)

This is the only legitimate way to reverse that Gramscian “long march through the institutions.” For there’s a simple, inescapable rule in life: If you don’t follow the Truth, you will follow a lie.

Replacing wokeness with anything but virtue will just be the correcting of a flaw with a flaw.

                   This article was originally published at The New American.