The last week of March this year erupted with some of the most disgraceful utterances ever to pollute the country’s public discourse, again demonstrating academia’s shameful record in educating America’s past and present political leaders.
With Malice Toward All
The first involved former Attorney General Eric Holder, who echoed last year’s comment by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, saying, “I hear these things about ‘Let’s make America great again’ and I think to myself, ‘Exactly when did you think America was great?’”Trashing America has been all the rage among left-wing political operatives for decades, gushing to a crescendo in the past two years with the presidency of Donald Trump.
What role does ignorance play in such intemperate remarks? In Holder’s case, perhaps a malicious disregard of the entire historical record best characterizes his attitude toward a country that has treated him quite well, in fact.
Apparently, saving the world from totalitarian enslavement twice in the last century (three times, if you include German militarism in The Great War) matters little in his calculations for “greatness,” along with myriads of accomplishments that have benefited ordinary people, here and abroad. Further, being born in a country based on founding documents that embrace correcting past injustices should be counted as a very great blessing.
As far as Emanuel is concerned, he mouthed the typical sort of metaphysical tripe that too often passes for deep thought among loud voices in left-wing circles today. However, if he’s really serious about a “toxic environment,” he should examine the ideological effluent that has engulfed U.S. academia since the 1960s, now ranging from kindergarten through graduate school.
Indeed, mobs of the undereducated regularly leap into action nearly every time a conservative speaker appears, or tries to appear, on campus. And any passing acquaintance with the histories of communism and fascism quickly dispels the pretentions of demonstrators who parade their ignorance with placards or shout slogans resembling the sheep’s moronic chant in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.”
Chronic Imprudence
Chronic imprudence is the least offensive way to characterize utterances that range from infantile to intemperate, with a variety of possibilities in between.On the infantile side of the continuum, anyone who has raised children recognizes traits that become disorders in adults, sometimes to severe levels, as in recent years. The imprudent part involves statements we all make from time to time, without considering their implications, and which often prompt regrets, apologies, and retractions. Then, we move on to act as mature, responsible adults in our lives and professions.
Alas, if that only were the case with politicians today, who too often act with flippant disregard to norms of civilized, temperate behavior. Certainly, this has been the case during the past two years, with regard to the elite media’s excoriation of President Trump. U.S. citizens have been bombarded by elite denunciations that reflect an infantile temper tantrum, continuous attacks that burst with vile and preposterous accusations. Thus, the president has been called a Nazi, white-supremacist, racist, liar, mental defective, traitor, and fascist dictator, plus a stooge to Vladimir Putin.
Politicians have been called bad names throughout our history, of course, but the wrath that spews from the mouths of Trump critics has long since passed all boundaries of propriety and maturity.
Not catching the contradiction, her audience cheered loudly; the rest of us should abstain and think carefully.
It’s against this background that an observer is better able to assess the imprudence surrounding discussion of the most statist and socialist-leaning proposal of the past century—the Green New Deal.
Borrowing from Emanuel’s approach, let us be clear and say that Green New Deal cheerleaders and supporters have embraced imprudence as their rallying cry, which entails the refusal to consider consequences of rash actions or statements, scorn for alternate views on important issues, and contempt for rational thought processes that require analyses of cause and effect.
Again, that is the polite, understated version. Let’s cut to the chase: No ordinary persons in full command of their senses could possibly take utterances made by Green New Deal aficionados seriously, even discounting for their campaign-bloviating purposes.
The grave danger this poses to the Republic is that chronic imprudence, often reeking of infantilism, appeals to the least knowledgeable and politically naive citizens in our midst, too many of whom are incapable of assessing extravagant claims made by flashy newcomers such as socialist Ocasio-Cortez or old cranks like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). An astute citizenry would laugh them off the stage.
Which further explains the surge of socialist sympathies in the United States today; socialism in thought, word, and deed appeals to most ignorant and impressionable minds among us.
What makes this problem much worse are academic policies that embrace trigger warnings, safe spaces, micro-aggressions, “toxic masculinity,” white privilege, and other preposterous notions, virtually guaranteeing that students will be immature, even childlike, for the rest of their lives—in short, chronic imprudence, frequently descending to infantilism, in reacting to political initiatives. Like supporting socialism, for instance.
What more could we recommend to the president if we had the opportunity? Our next installment will be devoted to this question.