I’m encouraged by the number of kids speaking out against the genocide occuring in Gaza. Protests have erupted all over the country and I’m assuming that this will continue well past the school year.
There’s two things happening here that we should talk about.
First, the Republicans have been shouting down any inkling of liberal ideology for years and they’ve drastically ramped it up in the Trump years. And this is something that the Democrats should fight against much harder, but they won’t, because, well, I’m supposed to not say bad things about groups of people, but, oh hell, come on we all know it, they’re wimps. There I said it.
The second is that we’ve been telling these kids their whole life that America stands up for freedom, human rights and dignity. That we stand against war crimes and genocide. Basically, that we’re the good guys in a world of anti-freedom zealots. And get this, they bought it. Hook line and sinker. And then they go off to school and what do you know? God darn it, the good guys are selling bombs and giving political cover to a country that is clearly violating every value that they were told we represent. Jeez louise, no one prepared them for that. But the good news is that while they might be letting their passions get the best of them at times they’re actually really smart as well. And they figured it out quick and now they’re pissed that it’s happening in their name.
And so going back to point number one, what do the adults do? We call the cops on them. So unfair, we tell them the difference between right and wrong their whole life and then when they catch us breaking the rules they’re the ones who have to get in trouble? Seriously?
Well to be fair plenty of adults are mad and plenty of adults, me included, support them. Protesting injustice is how we make things better. It’s how we ended Jim Crow, got the women’s right to vote, the 40 hour…, oh never mind you don’t care. But there are forces at work here that know the difference between right and wrong and they don’t care about being right, they just care about winning. And these university presidents are making a big mistake by kowtowing to their threats. And the Democrats are wrong for not adamantly standing up for free speech and quelching this drive to scare everyone into submission.
So you probably figured out that the only reason the President of Columbia University, Minouche Shafik, phoned in the police is because she was raked over the coals by Republicans in a House hearing last week and she promised she would put an end to it. The overall agenda of the Republicans is to stifle any protesting that doesn’t support their authoritarian agenda and we’re just seeing the beginning of what they’ll do if we don’t push back. And that’s where the wimps come in, I mean the Democrats, thay really need to stand up for our values, even if we’ve rarely ever actually done so.
Because the kids bought into it, not their fault, it’s a better story than the truth. But just like Jefferson didn’t mean “all people” when wrote “All men are created equal” and future generations picked it up and ran with it to create a better nation, well the kids right now are taking the bullshit we fed them and trying to make it right.
I for one applaud them for it. Do they say the wrong things sometimes? Not have all their facts straight? What are they supposed to be perfect in the face of hypocrisy?