Activists will tell us that protest is the purest form of patriotism. Sounds pretty noble doesn’t it? Academics, primarily agenda driven leftists, encourage kids to march as a symbol of commitment. I suggest a more profound form of patriotism as a predicate before protest. How about gratitude? The former definition of patriotism is grounded in the myth of utopia. Imperfection is the nature of all things, to include America. If activists are trying to create a utopia they will continually be disappointed. Protest feeds that hunger. Demanding “change” seems the way to demonstrate social awareness. Got to be ‘woke’. It’s vacuous virtue signaling. Let the world know you care about the perceived imperfection of the moment. Accomplishing or improving anything is at best secondary. Show you care.
All this comes to mind every time I watch “marches” of one sort or another and especially when the streets are filled with young people. My first up close and personal experience with the world of protest was as a witness to the anti-war movement of the late 60’s.
Let’s examine the consequences of demonstrators roused by chants of “Ho Ho, Ho Chi Minh”. To the great satisfaction of peaceniks, South Vietnam fell to the communists. What did that mean in the real world? More then one million South Vietnamese slaughtered, millions more put in re-education camps and in short order 1/3 of the Cambodian population murdered by the Khmer Rouge. Mission accomplished. Hippies and their ilk celebrated, oblivious to the communist led slaughter. Young people pleasured themselves by adorning their rooms with posters telling us to, “Make love not war”. As opposed to those who’d prefer war of course.
Campus protest was not limited to the anti-war frenzy. The inmates also decided they should run the asylum. Professors who had studied history, philosophy, literature, and economics were no longer sufficiently qualified to design curriculum. Arrogant 18-22 year olds with at best a superficial knowledge of anything demanded an end to the study of Western Civilization. The simmering caldron of campus hubris was palpable. Instead of suspensions, expulsions and arrests, acquiescence followed vandalism and trespassing. Thus respect for authority and civility in debate were deemed old fashion remnants of a racist culture. Their progeny were cultural (not opinion) diversity, identity politics, speech codes, safe spaces, hate for our Founding Fathers, racial animus and secularism. Those protests planted the modern seeds of today’s progressive movement. If you listened carefully you could have heard the death chortle of liberalism in the Democratic Party. It should come as no surprise when we see police ordered to stand-down in Baltimore, Ferguson, Berkley and San Jose while looters and rioters destroyed and vandalized.
Elites in America moved away from teaching the core principles of Western Civilization. Today reference to Western Civilization (as in ‘civilized’) is considered a micro aggression of implied racism on many college campuses.
This is the history I think about as I see kids skipping class, with parental and teacher approval. Instead of learning a bit about America, the Constitution, history or western values they complain and demand. Exercising ones rights does not always equate with intelligent behavior. It is like cheap grace. Feeling virtuous by doing nothing of value. But it feels so damn good as you skip class in order to give meaning to your life. Virtue primping is a more apt description.
Sixties protests conveniently coincided with hanging out with girls who believed in “free love” and comrades that defined avoiding service to ones country as a virtuous act. It was cheap grace for those who told us “God is dead”.
What do most of today’s young protesters share with my peers 45 years ago? Lack of knowledge and experience are givens. That lack of knowledge and experience manifests itself in a lack of gratitude. How many of the DACA demanders know anything about the miracle of America, the generosity of the American people or immigration law for that matter? Humility is in short supply. So it goes with the anti-gun contingent. They demand. They condemn. They scream and yell. Parents and teachers kvell. Politicians exploit. Solutions get lost in self-adulation; egos inflate and a sympathetic media satisfies kids desire for notoriety. Get in front of a camera at all costs.
It’s a viscous self-sustaining cycle of faux virtue. The process can be summed up by understanding something Dennis Prager has said many times, “Everything the left touches it destroys”.
In my world kids would learn a bit about the their nation before they become critics. Of course they have a right to protest. But wise parents and teachers should know better.
Producing generations of narcissists is not and has never been healthy for the nation. Nor is it the formula for happiness. Think back to when you were 15-17. Can you imagine standing before millions of adults and demanding your solutions to national policy issues? Not suggesting but demanding. Those who disagree are deemed to have blood on their hands. It’s exquisite narcissism. The kids have become props for grown-ups with agendas. Instead of education and discipline, kids are schooled in ego and ingratitude. America suffers as a consequence.