As the Pro-Hamas protests at Columbia remind me of the Pro-Viet Cong and NVA protests at Columbia over 50 years ago, I recalled a movie that seemed to capture the times back then – “The Strawberry Statement.” Watching it again reinforced what I thought back then. Plus, it really looks like everyone making the movie was high. The bottom line is both protests are expressions of youthful ignorance fueled by young exuberance.
It’s shocking to see hundreds of college students on any one campus supporting the barbarian savages who committed the October 7th massacre, rapes, and kidnappings. It’s damning to see college professors support the same. It’s confusing to see the wide ranges of college administration responses from appeasement to enforcing the rules.
It was shocking to see hundreds of college students on any one campus supporting the Communist enemies fighting against U.S. soldiers. Killing our own. Aiding and abetting the enemy in wartime is treason. But, no one was even tried. Like today, it was damning to see college professors supporting the enemy.
Other than the shared shock and outrage at such extremism on campus and the compelling evidence of abject ignorance among the protesters, there are differences that matter.
The growing numbers of zealous, Israel-hating Muslims in America and billions of dollars Arab states invested on our colleges are different than the peaceniks, hippies, and draft dodgers during Vietnam. The Soviet support for the Anti-Vietnam was amateurish, awkward, nickel and dime stuff compared to the paid protesters, planned events, tents, signs, etc. flowing from dark money – always attributed somehow to George Soros.
In both protest times a hard look at the numbers shows how few students actually act on extremist ideas. The difference today may be the true ratio of support. Hamas barbarism may be more popular than the Communist insurgency and their manifold war crimes. Haven’t seen good numbers on that breakdown.
The division of America by world view is the same. It’s the same teams on both sides of the Great U.S. Culture War. Same political party jerseys. Similar class divisions. Different ethnic dividing lines between Jews and Muslims.
The social aspects of protest aren’t clear from my seat in the old Seniors’ “Amen corner.” My friends from High School and the friends I made at the most super-uber Liberal grad schools in the U.S. said much of the protest movement, for boys, was about getting laid and high. The movie “Strawberry Statement”, based on Columbia 68 riots, suggested the same.
When the nationwide college protest in October 1969 came to West Point, about a hundred girls and very few guys walked around the public areas. There were a lot of Military Police visible. The protesters politely sat down during the double-Regimental parade. The lucky cadets who didn’t have to parade that day, got to talk up the girls and many dates were made. Dunno how many marriages came from that Autumn day.
Furthermore, the bravado of protesters then and now indicates how little they have to fear from the State. 1970’s Kent State and Jackson State exceptions prove the rule. Demonstrators in Moscow, for the few minutes they have, show a fearful respect when the police haul them away. The same is true for the Hong Kong demonstrators no one has ever heard of again. The coddled, privileged college kids crying about oppression might get a bruise if they provoke it.
It’s still not serious stuff. In DC the connecting streets between the circles were designed by L’Enfant to be covered by the effective range of cannons at the time. The 1932 Bonus March is the closest the U.S. has come to giving “a whiff of grape” to suppress riots or rebellion in DC. The combination street fight, clown show, and guided tour that was Jan 6 at the U.S. Capitol wasn’t an insurrection. Serious people know Jan 6 wasn’t a real insurrection, attempted coup d’etat, or revolutionary warfare.
When I had to drive past Anti-Vietnam demonstrations to pick up my girl friend from nursing school, I was struck by how un-serious the demonstrators were. If they were willing to die for their cause, they had excellent fields of fire down those DC streets. They were all about the political theater. Fun times. Virtue signally as a mating dance.
The challenge now, like 50 years ago, is to not let the protestors be in charge of anything until real life, hard history facts, and more light on what’s happening educate enough of them from the errors of their misspent passion.
Moreover, so many college administrators and educators should be fired. Replaced if possible or let the institutional corruption collapse the ivory tower of cards.
Move the long arc of Higher Ed history away from today’s stupid, ignorant, and malevolent, anti-Western Civilization antipathy.
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