Seventy years ago, William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies, a brutal novel that sent shivers down our collective spines by exposing the raw hate and brutality hiding in the dark corners of our minds. Showing that such evil could be present in a group of young school-age children made the tale all the more harrowing. Today we have a scenario unfolding on university campuses across the U.S. that, while not yet as ghastly violent, threatens to come close.
The viciousness is already in evidence, with mobs of people chanting “death to Jews,” “death to Israel,” and “death to America.” Watching students screaming and spitting at Jewish students while blocking them from entering the university shocks the senses. Others have vocally endorsed Hamas, a terrorist group that murdered 1200 civilians in Israel only five months back, and called for more of the same.
Understandably, Jewish students have left campuses fearing harm, and most disturbing, many faculty members have supported and even joined in the so-called Palestinian protests. Columbia University was overrun and has already turned to online classes, while USC canceled graduation events. Other campuses plan to follow suit.
In the insane world of victimology that divides the world into the oppressed and their oppressors, there are many strange bedfellows. Those who might have championed Black Lives Matter in 2020, and those marching for transgender freedom in 2022 now join the Islamic jihad against Israel, America, and all the Western civilization represents.
This is happening despite what should be obvious incompatibilities among the groups. “Trannies for Hamas” is the ultimate oxymoron. But the idea that misery loves company holds true. The bond of victimhood needs no other cohesion than the hierarchy of intersectionality.
One USC student reported that many protesters hiding behind masks were not USC students at all. According to an administration official, of the 55 arrested on the UT Austin campus, 26 were not students at the school.
Whether these are actual students or paid professional agitators, one thing is clear. The number of near-simultaneous campus events springing to life leaves no doubt that outside money and coordination is fanning the flames. Someone is buying and transporting the tents, equipment and people appearing on campuses overnight.
Attempts to clear the illegal tent camps from universities turned violent, with hundreds of protesters arrested across the country. At Emerson College four Boston police officers were injured.
Sadly, many students, especially Jewish ones, may never again feel safe on American university campuses. One Jewish professor was forced off the Columbia campus by the administration because they couldn’t guarantee his safety. On some campuses, members of the faculty are contributing to the chaos. How can this be happening in America?
I don’t think anyone should be surprised by these behaviors. The Marxist-based intersectionality, DEI, blatantly racist anti-racism, angry transgenderism, and lesbian feminism being taught on campuses would not likely end any other way. The classic Marxist slogan, “Workers of the world, unite,” would be appropriate if any of these people actually worked.
Fractionalized and marginalized woke tribes now look for any offense, from micro-aggressions that defy reason to the recalibrating of words and speech as actual violence. Anything could trigger a reaction. William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and the Declaration of Independence have all earned a trigger warning lest some unsuspecting student be assaulted by the words therein. Even the woke word “trigger” itself has now been canceled as an evil remnant of the oppressive patriarchal West.
Safe spaces, segregated graduations, and censorship of all dissent on campuses have made bubble boys out of our students. Instead of learning actual tolerance and being properly immunized through discourse and the debate of ideas, the students are more like institutionalized psych patients living in padded cells, drugged with uniform ideological indoctrination by Marxist professors and prone to violent outbursts at the slightest provocation.
These are the pampered elite, who are not subject to the same laws of behavior, morality, and economics as the rest of us. Instead, they are taught and encouraged to be nihilists who should tear down all norms just because they can.
One could make an argument that our educational system is an anti-education system. There are school districts in America with entire student bodies graduating with reading and math skills well below expected standards. And universities with majors in anti-racism and lesbian feminist dance certainly have left facts, reality, and reason far behind. Even medical schools are graduating doctors with a pledge to DEI, not to long-standing basics like the Hippocratic Oath and to do no harm.
There are two dangerous reactions to these campus events. One group are the apologists. It’s not so bad, really, just the rebellion of youth in mostly peaceful protests. That was the Summer of Love in 2020. Nothing to see here. Like the man who sees a tiger and pretends it is a kitten. Billions in property damage, dozens of deaths, and hundreds of injuries later, there are still areas that have not recovered. The other reaction is more the deer in the headlight response from those who can’t believe their eyes and ears. They are in shock, frozen on the spot unable to run or do anything. Both get eaten.
Knowing what we know, should we expect good behavior from such a poorly prepared for life, thoroughly indoctrinated group? We had better demand civil behavior, or we will soon see savages painting their faces and sharpening their blades. And by then it will be too late.
Ed Thompson has worked in education for over 25 years, both tutoring individuals and teaching classes. He has helped students from three to seventy-three years old, and in subjects from beginning reading all the way to MBA classes and postgraduate biology. Students ranged from severely challenged to gifted and advanced. This work has given him a unique perspective and has led to insights on what’s broken about our educational system and how we can make it better.
He is the host of the Basic Education Series podcasts and author of educational books. Learn more at https://basiced.substack.com.
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