What The Campus Thumbsuckers Want
Stephen Moore writes in the New York Post about the "grievance generation" now turning campuses into nursery schools with beer:
I've noticed that these students attend my lectures not to learn anything -- they know everything already -- but hoping that I'll slip up or say something they can label as offensive or that violates their eight-volume campus speech code.When I ask them what they want, a typical response is a "radical transformation of the economy" to reduce income inequality, racism, sexism and, of course, to end climate change. Government will command these changes to achieve this transformation. These are young Stalinists willing to suspend almost every basic freedom and civil liberty for "the greater good."
...I can't help contrasting these campus attitudes with a recent meeting I had with a group of soldiers who had returned from Afghanistan. These brave men and women risked their lives every day. They had real bullets shot at them, not the verbal ones that the campus leftists find so offensive. They have genuine and, in some cases, life-changing injuries -- ringing in the ear, post-traumatic stress syndrome and broken limbs.
...Yes, I admit that these complaints are made of every generation. But this one seems seriously off -- and we made them this way. A generation that has grown up in more affluence and personal freedom than any other in history has been taught to hate the free-enterprise, wealth-creation process that gave them what they want in the first place.
As I keep pointing out, the grievance-hunting is a shortcut to power -- unearned power.
Let's remember that this is a generation that has had a whole lot handed to them, and, through technology, has had easier lives than people at any other time in history.
Work for power? Ruh-roh, Shaggy...that's scary.
No, they'll just mass-complain their way into it.
via @MichaelShermer
The good news is that not all college students have signed on for a stint in the Junior Stalinists.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/princeton-students-stand-up-to-political-correctness-2015-11-24?link=sfmw_fb
Conan the Grammarian at November 29, 2015 11:49 AM
If we just ignore them maybe they'll go away. But, inevitably, busybodies are drawn to government like flies on garbage.
Canvasback at November 29, 2015 12:29 PM
My son worked at Staples for a year after high school. He knew he wasn't college material all along. He joined the Marine Corp, did four years and is now at technical school for automotive restoration. Paid for by the GI Bill.
It hasn't been easy for him, but he values his education now because he financed it with blood and guts in Afghanistan.
He has very few snowflakes in his school, but he says that invariably, they were the ones handed everything on a platter. He tells me the ones who appreciate free speech and varied opinions always seem to be the ones paying their way through.
Annie at November 29, 2015 12:32 PM
Also from Moore's piece:
JD at November 29, 2015 12:44 PM
There have always been radical/stalinist students in college. They see the collection of their fellow naive students as a natural base for organizing. They had sympathy from the liberal professors for their idealism. In 1967, disruptive sit-ins were tolerated without arresting anyone.
The difference now is that the professors and administrations are themselves radicals/stalinists or quite close. They favor the protests and demonstrations as part of their own desire to change capitalist "cut-throat, competitive" society into a community of loving and selfless sharing. Motto: We are the smart ones and should run everything.
Thanksgiving should always be an occasion for remembering the Plymouth colony and private property among the Pilgrims of 1623.
http://cafehayek.com/2014/11/quotation-of-the-day-1185.html
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[edited] The Pilgrims had thought “the taking away of property and bringing in community into a commonwealth would make them happy and flourishing,” Gov. William Bradford wrote. Instead, “this community was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort.” Young, able-bodied men resented working for others without compensation, which they saw as an injustice.
After three winters of near starvation, Bradford and his advisors experimented for the spring planting. They set aside a plot of land for each family “that they should set corn every man for his own particular, and in that regard to trust to themselves.”
“This had very good success for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could use, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better content.”
The women now went willingly into the field, carrying their young children on their backs. Those who previously claimed they were too old or ill to work embraced the idea of private property, eventually producing enough to trade their surplus corn for furs and other commodities.
Grateful for their ample harvest in 1623, the Pilgrims set aside a day of thanksgiving. “Any general want or famine hath not been amongst them to this day,” Bradford writes in an entry from 1647, the final year of his history.
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Andrew_M_Garland at November 29, 2015 1:34 PM
>> The difference now is that the professors and administrations are themselves radicals/stalinists or quite close.
That's my take on this situation as well, and I suspect that many are actively colluding with the students. This was plainly evident at Mizzou, but it's also apparent when an Administration commits to major programs as well as curriculum and policy changes without any formal review.
At Brown, the President has put forward a $100MM comprehensive 'action plan' and is only allowing a few weeks for it to be reviewed. The plan includes specific allotments for new positions, research grants, budget enhancements for campus centers etc. It's unlikely that this was something they whipped together in a few days. I suspect that these proposals had already been developed and the Administration is using the protest as an excuse to do an end run around the approval and budgeting processes.
Norm at November 29, 2015 7:42 PM
I appreciate the editorialist telling it like it is:
Who’s to blame for all of this? Alas, we are. The parents who caved in to every instant-gratification demand, showered them daily with nothing but positive affirmation and gave them time-outs rather than spankings.
Cue the parents prattling about "you can't discipline them without someone calling CPS," etc. Nonsense.
These aren't well-adjusted, savvy kids arriving at college and being corrupted. Sure, college can be an echo chamber, but this mass madness is a mass failure in American parenting. The rest of us have to pay for it, figuratively and literally.
Kevin at November 29, 2015 8:11 PM
end climate change
Oh, they want to end climate change? how...noble of them. Fortunately, I have a formula they can follow:
Move to an Amish colony and join them.
No phones, no computers, no internet, none of that. No electricity, either. Oh, and one more thing:
By the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat.
I R A Darth Aggie at November 30, 2015 6:43 AM
Of course the aggrieved students at Brown will complain their tuition is too high and demand that someone else pick put the tab.
Want lower tuition? Stop implementing $100MM comprehensive action plans funding new positions, research grants, and campus centers.
Conan the Grammarian at November 30, 2015 6:54 AM
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