College Campus Chaos

No matter where you go these days, there’s one topic that is sure to come up: the wave of college campus protests spreading across the country. It’s an issue that is top of mind for everyone and rightfully so, for what’s happening there is an important reflection of some rather unpleasant truths about American society. 

I must admit that, while I feel compelled to write about this, I’m a little afraid to do so. While there are many issues that we cannot discuss without losing our collective minds, this one tends to hit especially hard. Nothing invites the extreme like debates about the Israeli-Palestine situation. 

But we cannot let fear stand in the way of our pursuit of truth. So, here goes nothing!

Before we talk about the protests, let’s zoom out for a second. Make no mistake about it, Israel is our ally, one of our closest. Since we emerged from WWII as a world superpower, no single country has received more help from us. In fact, it’s not even close:

And rightfully so. Israel is the only legitimate democracy in the region and, let’s be honest, the only country there that really shares our values. Weighed on the grand scales of history, America has been right to support Israel. It’s also true that if Israel has made mistakes when it comes to Gaza and the West Bank, we are absolutely complicit in them. 

That being said, this doesn’t mean we have to blindly accept every single thing that Israel says or does. What kind of friendship would that be anyway?

As the most powerful democracy in world history, it is our moral obligation to confront even our closest allies if we think they are making a mistake. To question whether Israel has gone too far in their response to October 7 is a completely legitimate democratic response and something we shouldn’t be afraid to discuss. A world where this kind of debate is categorically disallowed makes absolutely no sense.

However, it appears that the protests, which may have started from this understandable, defensible point of view, have devolved into something else altogether. Calling for the destruction of Israel or singing that inflammatory song which essentially calls for the killing of all Jewish people is very, very different and neither appropriate nor legally protected.

From a legal standpoint, the US Constitution provides for incredibly broad free speech protections. You can basically say almost anything, no matter how offensive. Where you get in trouble though is when you start saying things that are likely to incite violence. I don’t know about you but if gathering in large groups and calling for the destruction of an entire country and group of people isn’t speech likely to incite violence, I don’t know what is. The case here is pretty clear-cut. 

The important question we should be asking ourselves is: why is all this happening in the first place? 

Let’s examine the various possible answers.

One rather dark notion is that there are actually a bunch of young people in America who really want to see the destruction of Israel. Call me naïve but I really don’t think this is the case. Yeah, we have some cultural problems in America and have grown increasingly narcissistic but it doesn’t feel like there’s really a mass homicidal / genocidal movement brewing here. I sure hope not at least.

Another possibility is that many people engaging in these protests are just profoundly historically illiterate and don’t actually know what it means to say thing things they are saying or sing the song they are singing. This is a scary proposition as well but for different reasons obviously. Just based on what I’ve seen and overheard coming out of the mouths of young people at coffee shops over the years and countless videos like this circulating online, this is one I’m afraid I cannot completely discount.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, it’s also possible there’s an actual strategy here—i.e. the young people know exactly what they are doing and don’t really believe in genocide or the destruction of Israel but are just using this inflammatory speech because they have deemed it most likely to achieve their objectives of ceasefire or divestment or whatever. An interesting and possible idea but also highly unlikely. This just assumes too much.

Since no story these days is complete without a conspiracy theory, let’s go there for a second. Another possibility here is that these protestors all around the country are in fact not students at all but rather the paid operatives of the global elite, the far left, or the far right. Depending on who you believe, they are there either to tank Biden’s chances for reelection or to provide yet further cover for the secret Jewish takeover of all our institutions of power or to distract from Trump’s ongoing criminal legal problems. Obviously, this is all BS but it’s interesting that we live in a world where ideas like this are spreading.

After thinking about this seriously for a few weeks, I’ve settled in an unexpected place. As much as these protests are about Israel, Hamas, and Gaza, they are also about our failure to create a world that people can believe in. You see, we have failed our youth, so much so, that many young Americans feel completely disconnected from society. This showed up on January 6^th and is visible today at college campuses all across the country and every single moment online in increasingly ridiculous/divisive invective. 

For many, there’s just nothing left to believe about the American Dream. The promise of economic upward mobility is no longer credible. Saddled with student loan debts and a mostly crappy job market, housing—the key historical element of the American promise—is completely out of reach for all but a few. Meanwhile, the rich just keep getting richer, and no matter the outrage, whether another mass shooting or a global pedophilia ring or another natural disaster, nothing ever changes. Our kids have had enough! 

With nothing to hope for, no believable American Dream on the horizon, the youth are susceptible to all sorts of dangerous messages, even homicidal and nihilistic ones. This is, in fact, precisely how Hitler was able to seduce a whole bunch of Germans to the evil designs of Nazi ideology. We are starting a problem that we simply cannot ignore anymore. 

The Universities are at the heart of this. It’s not just that they’ve been raising their prices and saddling young Americans with mountains of debt, although that’s true and a huge problem. It’s that they have been one of the chief promulgators of both woke, cancel-culture and identity politics, ideas that push us further in the direction of isolation and alienation at a time when we need to come together. 

Lo and behold, there are real-world consequences for teaching a generation of kids that there are no objective moral standards, that everything is relative, and that it’s ok to completely write people off for any mistake or offense. It should come as no surprise that the Universities are at the frontlines of this. They are being devoured by their own creation. 

As if we needed another wake-up call in America, the college campus chaos is a stark reminder that we are fast approaching a crisis.  

Ps. Things have gotten so bad out there that there is actually a game for those who need help learning how to talk to people in the real world

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