Politics Fostering Intolerance and Anger at Colleges and Universities
The biggest cowards in America today can be found in colleges and universities; they are the administrators, followed closely by a large number of their faculty. They have and continue to allow our institutions to be taken over by a monolithic world view that is increasingly totalitarian and antithetical to the diversity of opinion on which the search for truth depends.
The inmates are running the asylum — and not with any of the humor of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that these Social Justice Warriors are to social justice what the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea is to democracy. In a few years, freshman handbooks may no longer be necessary. They can give out copies of Orwell’s Animal Farm instead.
Yes, it really is that bad and worse yet all of us are paying for this Liberal indoctrination of our youth. You may not be fully aware of how Liberal our colleges have become, as most of our nation’s media sources are just as Liberal and thus largely approve of what has happened. Sadly, all this is in direct opposite of the free speech movement of the 60’s, which ironically started at Berkeley. Today, Berkeley is one of the most liberal universities in our nation. Consider what has happened most recently at this school, when radical threats of violence prevented conservative, Ann Counter, from a scheduled speech on the campus. This happened even though not long before, Milo Yiannopoulos was prevented from speaking on their campus due to radicals who trashed the campus causing $100,000 in damages to the school. Both school and city police stood by and simply watched the chaos continue, even though at least one student had to be taken away by ambulance. Our colleges were once bastions of free speech but today they have become bastions of political correctness, all in accordance to what the Leftist radicals (fascists) determine that to be.
Message of Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA
Fortunately, there are a few who have become extremely alarmed by this radical movement and are actively engaged in making positive changes. Charlie Kirk, Founder and Executive Director of Turning Point USA, is leading the charge to restore freedom of thought on our College campuses. He has called universities the least diverse places in America today. This video explains Kirk’s concerns and his part in an exciting partnership with PragerU to reach students with a Conservative message. Hopefully, he and others will reverse this anti-American trend which defies what our forefathers knew to be important for our nation to prosper.
It is not just colleges who have allowed the Left to dominate, by hiring exceedingly Leftist professors over Conservatives at a ratio of 12 to 1. For the past several years children of all ages have been forced to endure a Liberal ideological slant through Common Core curriculum. Developed under the Obama administration, the program had strong opposition from the start as parents as well as teachers found the curriculum puzzling and laced with Liberal ideals. However, the Teachers Union, known for their Liberal ideology and power over schools, had a deaf ear to parental concerns.
Our youth have not been taught the tools of listening to others’ opinions and having dialogues with those with whom we have opposing viewpoints. They have not encountered skills to cope with opposing thoughts. No wonder the so-called “Snowflake” generation of students has surfaced and thus require safe places on college campuses, so they aren’t upset with language which offends them. This sad phenomena does not bode well for this nation, as these fragile and narrow-minded students advance to become tomorrow’s leaders. Thus, it is incumbent upon the public to demand appropriate changes be made in hiring practices and curriculum to reflect Conservative ideals, not just Liberal ideology. This is to enable and prepare our youth to consider opposing viewpoints and be open to understanding others’ reasoning. Open minds at the college level is exceedingly important and necessary for every student’s future, as well as the health of our nation.
Breitbart discovered that the Wellesley Student Newspaper threatened students who would not conform to progressive values, and that more than 70 Liberal groups partnered for Anti-Trump tax day protests. David French at National Review wrote about the battle at Berkeley and the resultant violence that resulted in many thousands of dollars of damage to the University.
In this present political climate marked by angry rhetoric and a willingness to use violence to achieve ends, it should be no surprise that this zeitgeist is clearly leaving its mark on Leftist-oriented college campuses. This was evidenced by the violent kerfuffle at Middlebury College when social scientist Charles Murray arrived on campus at the invitation of a student group to speak about his book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960–2010, but rather than a respectful reception, he encountered a nasty, orchestrated student protest.
In April of this year, Heather Mac Donald, the author of “The War on Cops,” was prevented from speaking at Claremont McKenna College after angry student protesters interrupted her speech. The protesters were reportedly yelling, “F—k the police” and “black lives matter.”
[Originally Published at Illinois Review]