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Is Patriotism Dead on Today's College Campuses?
CNSNews.com ^ | October 05, 2001 | Lisa De Pasquale

Posted on 10/09/2001 6:33:56 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen

Following the horrific attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, more than 100 campuses in America have held anti-war demonstrations. Candlelight vigils and protests with banners reading "No Military Action," "Don't create more terrorists," "Stop scapegoating" and "Resist the racist war," are part of the anti-American culture on today's college campuses.

At Florida Gulf Coast University, faculty members were told to take down "Proud to be an American" stickers because they might offend international students.

San Francisco State University's "Students for Peace" was "formed in response to the reactionary war supportive position being taken by the US government and corporate media." Their slogan - "Fight War, Not Wars."

At Wittenberg University, a Lutheran private school in Ohio, students are displaying the peace sign rather than the American flag because the flag is a "symbol of the military and male oppression." One student explained that the peace sign is better because its circular shape "promotes a more inclusive atmosphere."

But, why the students are taking up these views should be no surprise.

The anti-war protestors of the 1960s and 1970s are now the tenured professors at America's colleges and universities. They have traded their placards and sit-ins for chalkboards and classrooms. More than 70 professors at Berkeley, along with 100 other academics, signed on to a New York Times ad calling military action "unacceptable."

Professor Clement Henry of the University of Texas-Austin is teaching a class called "American Under Attack: A Search for Meaning." Said Professor Henry, "The United States policies toward the region, especially over the past 10 years [have] engendered serious grievances. Our actions were looking to much of Arab and Muslim public opinion like a re-edition of 19th century imperialism."

On today's college campuses, this anti-American, politically correct attitude is the prevailing doctrine. Gone from course curriculums are the writings from American patriots like Daniel Webster, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Karl Marx and Andrea Dworkin have replaced them.

Students are being taught that Western Civilization has been oppressive and imperialistic. Said one student in the Indiana State Student, "[America's] economic system has hurt a lot of people."

Fortunately, many students are reclaiming their campus and their First Amendment rights. Taylor West of Harvard University organized a Rally for Patriotism and American Unity. One rally participant said it was needed because of the overwhelming "distaste of the government" and "inappropriate distrust and second-guessing of our government" throughout the campus.

Students like Taylor really are rebels in the fight for free speech on college campuses. While the anti-war march at Harvard had more than 300 participants, the unity rally only had about 50. These freethinking students aren't afraid of standing up for their beliefs in an environment that is so hegemonically leftist.

These campuses were once a haven for the exchange of ideas. But today flags are being torn down, ROTC offices are being closed and students are being silenced. Anti-American sentiments are tolerated under the protection of free speech while ideas on unity and patriotism are called "intolerant" and "oppressive."

The number of young people going to college rises exponentially every year. It is important and wholly American that these students have the opportunity that so many crave - the freedom to explore a wide range of ideas without fear of being silenced and to have pride in the country that allows them the freedoms and opportunities that so many countries do not.

(Lisa De Pasquale is program director for the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute.)
Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute


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To: Stand Watch Listen
I was on the Campus of Harvard on September 21. There was a huge banner that read:

"How do you spell State Sponsored Terrorism? Made in U.S.A."

On the banner, hundreds of students had written anti-U.S. sentiments, like "The U.S. does far worse" and more.

It really sickened me to see that.

21 posted on 10/09/2001 7:17:07 AM PDT by Carlucci
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Yesterday, there was a "Peace Rally" at the University of California, Berkeley Campus. Normally ground zero for anti-American spewage of all kinds, going back to Mario Savio and the so called "Free-Speech" movement of the early '60's.

Well, lo and behold, look who shows up but a bunch of patriotic students, chanting "USA, USA", defending our military actions, when they could get to the microphone and giving the "whirled peas" crowd the what for.

If this happened in Berkeley, for Chris sake, the rest of the country should be in good hands.

22 posted on 10/09/2001 7:21:00 AM PDT by muleskinner
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To: rdf
The article is a bit one sided, but there is much truth in it. And part of the blame lies with a decades long conservative and GOP indifference to educational policy.

Yes, you're right.
We asked the schools to spend their time and money on unimportant stuff like academics.
Heck, and all this time we should have been teaching Marxism/ Maoism.
Where did we go wrong?

23 posted on 10/09/2001 7:22:50 AM PDT by concerned about politics
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To: All
OK, I guess I'm getting a little too sensitive--but I am going to say it anyway. I have a 19-year-old brother who is in college, and he is about the most selfless, conservative, level-headed kids you would ever meet. He also seems to surround himself with those type of people. As far as I know, he hasn't run off to enlist, but if he was needed, he wouldn't hesitate to do his duty. Not everyone buys into the leftist rhetoric preached on many college campuses today (I sure didn't), although I realize many do. I just get a little weary of the blanket statements made about this generation, because I have found several shining examples of good young Americans for every one rotten one.
24 posted on 10/09/2001 7:22:57 AM PDT by Okies love Dubya 2
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To: Stand Watch Listen
"What if they gave a war and nobody came? Then the war will come to you! Those who hear the trumpets of battle and do not heed them should beware: for he who does not share in the battle will surely share in the defeat."

Berthold Brecht (German playwright and poet, and original author of the first sentence of this quote)

25 posted on 10/09/2001 7:25:32 AM PDT by SMASH IMPERIALIST LIBERALISM!!
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Hmmmm.....92% of those polled approve of the action taken, 5% disapprove. I say round up those college professors and the kids and bring back the old carnival freakshows. They can be displayed as is.
26 posted on 10/09/2001 7:27:20 AM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Said one student in the Indiana State Student, "[America's] economic system has hurt a lot of people."

Yet the moron won't pack his bags and leave the country. That really shows the thinking of those people.

27 posted on 10/09/2001 7:29:55 AM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: Okies love Dubya 2
because I have found several shining examples of good young Americans for every one rotten one.

But those are the ones the liberal press doesn't want to talk about. Therefore, they do not exist in the minds of most Americans.
Yes, it's a shame though.

28 posted on 10/09/2001 7:29:56 AM PDT by concerned about politics
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To: Stand Watch Listen
I will be having an interesting weekend. I'm returning to my small liberal arts college for homecoming (a yearly pilgrimage). My screename derives from my school and I am very firmly attached. It is a Catholic men's school and has tended toward the more liberal side of Catholicism. Thomas Burnett, Jr. is also a "johniegrad" and was one of the passengers responsible for thwarting the terrorist takeover of United Flight 93. I received a nice letter from the President of the university, a monk, talking about graduates who had either died or lost loved ones in the attack on the Twin Towers. There was none of the pacifist, America-blaming, give-peace-a-chance rhetoric that I have heard about at numerous college campuses around the nation. I was almost afraid to open the letter fearing disappointment in my community of Benedictine monks but they still continue to support ideals that I can identify with. I sure hope I don't get disappointed this weekend.
29 posted on 10/09/2001 7:30:20 AM PDT by johniegrad
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Is Patriotism Dead on Today's College Campuses?

No.

30 posted on 10/09/2001 7:30:21 AM PDT by Dan from Michigan
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To: wideawake
These college students are mollycoddled fairies, physical cowards who are deathly afraid of being drafted.

Not all of them.

31 posted on 10/09/2001 7:32:32 AM PDT by Dan from Michigan
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To: big bad easter bunny
"Wait until they get their first anthrax scare, those peace signs will turn to flags over night when they need the US."

Some of these students will never get the idea. They are deadwood, and they will get culled if things start getting serious in the U.S. When people fight for their survival, the weak don't last. And their parents have much for which they must answer. I work at a place for troubled boys. And I have seen firsthand the effect of parents who should never have had kids.

32 posted on 10/09/2001 7:35:57 AM PDT by Don Myers
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To: wideawake
You have perfectly characterized the majority of students. Not much has changed since the spoiled brats of the 60s. Strictly self interest. I have a couple of friends who are the parents of these kids and you can easily see where the lack of character comes from.
33 posted on 10/09/2001 7:36:27 AM PDT by OldFriend
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To: SMASH IMPERIALIST LIBERALISM!!
"What if they gave a war and nobody came? Then the war will come to you! Those who hear the trumpets of battle and do not heed them should beware: for he who does not share in the battle will surely share in the defeat."

I heard the first sentence of this way back in the early 70's when I was still a kid. At the time it made sense.

Little was I to know that I was the victim of leftist propaganda.

Typical of leftist slime to twist a quote like that to suit its agenda by only using the first sentence and ignoring the rest of the quote.

Changes the meaning entirely. Bastards!

Examples like that alone should wake up some of the sheeple if they would turn off the g/d race or game and get themselves educated on the internet!

34 posted on 10/09/2001 7:39:56 AM PDT by Looking4Truth
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To: OldFriend
My son is attending the engineering college at UT-Dallas. I told him about the anti-war "teach-in" on Tuesday evening.

He has classes that night, but he and a few of his friends plan to drop in -- to teach some lessons that are not on the agenda. Home truths of the sort dispensed on FR.

Patriotism dead on today's college campuses? Not by a long chalk. It may be on life support at some, and be getting smothered by the faculty at others, but it will rally and recover.

35 posted on 10/09/2001 7:42:34 AM PDT by No Truce With Kings
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Patriotism is dead for the USA. The marxists are like the taliban, no country to be loyal too.
36 posted on 10/09/2001 7:43:13 AM PDT by mbb bill
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To: Ceebass
The reason why we are so despised by the muslim rabble is because their leaders, while happy to accept our generosity, use us a scapegoat for their problems. The rabble is brainwashed into believing that the US is the reason for their wretchedness instead of their self-serving leaders and religious slavery.

EXACTLY!

37 posted on 10/09/2001 7:49:31 AM PDT by Anamensis
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To: Stand Watch Listen
As far as the professors, it never existed. As far as the administrators, it died in 1968. As far as the students, most don't understand the concept and those that do, are ostracized by the PC's and commies as fools.
38 posted on 10/09/2001 7:49:34 AM PDT by johnny7
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Yes, but only if they are Military Academies and Military Schools (VMI, Citadel, Texas A&M, etc..). All others are poisoned by leftist "educators" and PC administrators.
39 posted on 10/09/2001 7:56:56 AM PDT by TADSLOS
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Is Patriotism Dead on Today's College Campuses?

Nah. patriots know they can just turn on their TV's and get an endless tear-jerking tirade of flags, recipes for action and punditry. If you want otherwise, thats when you have to go outside and protest/teach-in, or plain ole talk to other people.

40 posted on 10/09/2001 9:18:40 AM PDT by gfactor
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