It comes as no surprise that so many academics at our most prestigious colleges and universities view Israel — and America for that matter — in a negative light.
The elites have not exactly hidden their contempt for both countries. You can read the evidence for yourself in their books, lectures and social media postings.
Similarly, you can take it to the bank that the progressive academy cares not one whit about middle America’s disdain for them. Their progressivism is too engrained; they accordingly have no curiosity about or interest in the opinions and viewpoints of the Trump-voting irredeemable deplorables (to borrow a phrase) living in flyover country.
But academic indoctrination would not be the danger it is today without the (at least) passive approval of so many parents. And so I write today about the decline in parenting skills — especially the failure to address the reality of real-life consequences for acting out.
Understand, this review is not limited to the parents whose sons and daughters can be seen dressed up in black fatigues (ANTIFA’s favorite uniform) while throwing molotov cocktails at federal buildings and cursing African American police officers at social justice riots. These are simply criminals due appropriate prison sentences — a more likely outcome should a law-and-order Republican president be elected in 2024.
The longer-term issue lies with the larger number of students who do not riot but nevertheless happily indulge and promote progressivism’s daily assault on common sense — with no thought to life consequences.
These, then, are the offspring of parents who thought it inappropriate or unimportant to instill their values in their children. (What I like to call “free agent parents.”)
You will recognize them at the next neighborhood gathering wherein they can be heard proudly bragging about how their nineteen-year-old sophomore at Colombia opened their minds to how misaligned their value system had been all these years.
How their child convinced them to see the world through a woke prism. How “silence is violence.” How free speech is a dangerous relic of a “racist” culture.
How words like “mother” and “father” and “American” are inappropriate and hurtful. How trans men really do not have an advantage over biological women in athletic contests.
How babies are born either “oppressor” or “oppressed” — depending on the pigmentation of their skin. How Israel is simply an “occupier” that had it coming on Oct. 7th.
How there should be no job (or other) consequences for those who advocate on behalf of the terror sponsoring Hamas or seek to invite violence against the Jewish State. And so the regurgitation of left wing idiocy proceeds apace at our colleges — state and private — expensive and inexpensive — exclusive and not so much.
The influence campaign is successful at the point wherein parents accept the notion that their child knows more about gender — economics — American history — world history — grammar — child rearing — socialization — and even the nuances of Middle Eastern wars … than they do.
That this post-modern aspect of parenting would have been summarily rejected not so long ago is seldom part of the conversation.
The good news is that this most recent take on the world’s most important job is not preordained. Serious parents of pre-teens still have time to get the job done … to ensure their son or daughter is infused with the background and values that will survive indoctrination by freshman year sociology professors.
It should not be that difficult. A good time to start is … now … years ahead of the time your child leaves the nest for freshman orientation.
Bob Ehrlich on November 2, 2023
