CBS's Hartman Finds ANTI-WAR TEENAGE PROTESTERS are CLUELESS !

MRC ^ | Friday, March 14, 2003 12:35:47 | BrentBaker

[fight_truth_decay]

Clueless anti-war high school student protesters mocked by CBS News. Really. Wednesday's 60 Minutes II ended with a short piece by Steve Hartman, the guy who does the very Americana "Everybody Has a Story" vignettes, on how he suspects high schoolers are just using the protests to get out of class: "To me, giving up algebra for peace is a kind of like giving up brussel sprouts for Lent, just a little too convenient to be commendable."

Hartman showed how they really need "to pick up a newspaper."

Cut

MRC analyst Brian Boyd alerted me to the Hartman piece, which aired at the end of the March 12 60 Minutes II, and put together a transcript of it.

Sitting in a coffee shop, Hartman began: "Everyday I come to this coffee house in Los Angeles. It's across the street from a high school where twice now I've seen students walk out of class to protest war with Iraq. Now to me, giving up algebra for peace is a kind of like giving up brussel sprouts for Lent, just a little too convenient to be commendable. "And it's not just here, kids are walking out of high schools and junior high schools all over America. The object used to be to sit-in and take over the school, now kids just give up the ship, abandon class to stand on a street corner and bark. Never mind that at their age-"

High school girl protester, amongst maybe 20 or so along the side of a major street: "Make love, not war."

Hartman: "-they have no business making either. I just think if they're going to picket-"

Same teenage girl: "Peace not war."

Hartman: "-they ought to pick up a newspaper."

Same girl, holding a blue sign from "Not in Our Name" proclaiming: "No War on Iraq, No War on the World," .. "People who never did anything are just being bombed and suffering and becoming homeless. People-"

Hartman to her: "Where?"

Girl: "Everywhere. They, didn't they bomb Iraq?"

Hartman: "No, not yet."

Girl: "They bombed Afghanistan, right?"

Hartman: "Yeah, yeah."

Girl: "They did and yeah, people are dying and it's, it's not right."

Hartman: "They kind of got the gist."

Hartman to a teenage guy: "The leader of Iraq is?"

Hartman narration: "They're just missing a few details."

Guy: "Umm."

Hartman: "What comes to your head? Just right off the top of your head."

Guy: "Osama bin Laden."

Hartman: "Osama bin Laden?"

Hartman's piece then jumped from the street side to conservative actor/author Ben Stein's house.

Stein declared from his sofa: "I'm stunned when I meet them and how little they know."

Hartman: "Ben Stein is a lawyer, Star Search judge and fellow skeptic on this issue."

Stein: "Wow, we can miss class and have meaning in our lives and we're only 15 years old and don't know where Iraq is on the map. What a great deal."

Hartman, over video of Stein's backyard with smoke pouring out of a small device on the ground: "Ironically, even as he ranted about America's misguided youth, outside his own son was trying out the smoke bomb recipe he got from the Anarchist Cookbook. Really."

Stein talking out his back door to his teenage son: "Don't do that, Tommy. What if you set the tree on fire. Why don't you go into Beverly Hills and pick up some girls?"

Hartman: "At least he does know the leader of Iraq."

Back to the teens on the street, Hartman picked up where he left off, with a the dumbfounded guy: "Why does Osama bin Laden keep coming to my head?"

Girl protester: "What else do we feel strongly about?"

Hartman: "Finally, the most insightful comment of the day."

Teenage girl, the same one as earlier, reading from a flyer: "OK, 'healthcare not welfare.' I mean, 'healthcare not welfare,' yeah."

Hartman: "Actually it says, 'healthcare not warfare,' but I digress."

Hartman to the girl: "And you feel strongly about that?"

Girl: "No, but, I mean, like I do but I don't know enough about it."

Hartman then tried to suggest both sides are equally naive: "And that says it all. I see too many kids and way too many adults on both sides taking a firm stand without a leg to stand on. Apparently, it's better to pick a side than admit you watch way too much Jerry Springer. Which by the way, is a name I'm sure they do know."

Hartman to the clueless guy: "Saddam."

Guy: "Saddam Hussein?"

Hartman: "There you go."

And that was the end of Hartman's piece.

Of all the 60 Minutes II stories on Wednesday night, which included a Dan Rather report on how the Patriot II missiles supposedly don't work, this is the only one without an online mention or summary, at least as of Thursday night.

The 60 Minutes II page: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60II/main3475.shtml

[WellsFargo94]

"It seems most of these little bastards must have American hating parents."

How many parents know where their kids stand on any issues though? My kids are well informed, but we watch and read the news and try to stay informed of the issues. We have great discussions as well. Too many families don't, which is sad. But you make an excellent point.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Our tax dollars at work in the public schools.

The smart kids with a head on their shoulders...the ones that will be leading this nation one day, are sitting in class working while these dunderheads are out "protesting" and making fools of themselves. The idiots in the streets are the ones that get camera time and they are the ones that are casting the impression that public-school educated kids are all mush heads. Ain't so.

[goodieD]

Can't reprimand the little ignoramuses any more..bad for the self esteem doncha know? LOL.

[saxxa]

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm..like , when that guy i saw , on , like m.t.v. , ummmmm playing the saxaphone thingy , ummmmmmmmm.......was with that ummm fat girl ummmm and they were doing it ??? ummmmmm.....bubba??? ummm

[glory]

Hey, I agree with you--I only graduated in 88 and I can remember teachers still had control in the classrooms and kids still worried about taking bad reports home to parents.
What has happened in that short 15 yrs indeed?

[Stand Watch Listen]

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[NEWwoman]

You are right about the parents/guardians.

Many factors come to my mind.
Here are a few:
1. Apathy
2. Moral relativism
3. Lack of vigilence
4. Not teaching the 4 R's: Reading 'Riting, 'Rithmetic, and Reason
5. Indoctrination
6. NEA (more concerned with politics than kids' education).
7. etc.

[NEWwoman]

You give me hope.

[sweetliberty]

"we can miss class and have meaning in our lives and we're only 15 years old and don't know where Iraq is on the map"

..

[ArneFufkin]

Teenagers are goofballs by default, especially this generation who has been ripped off by the fifth column educrat syndicate. My great objection is if they skip class work to pursue this nonsense. Many can't read or write at even a minimum of proficiently, much less understand the nuances of political science or World History.

[white trash redneck]

They sound like future DemocRAT voters.

[Wright is right!]

It seems that SeeBS "60-Minutes-II" has simply ripped off Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" segments. He does them every week on the Tonight Show, and it's just like this. The Pageant Of The Clueless.

Michael

[fight_truth_decay]

When did high schools allowing masses of students "walk outs aka strikes" for protest rallies evolve? I always had to have a parental slip to leave classes..doctor's appointment, probation officer, funeral, etc.

..kidding about the p. officer {joke}

[3catsanadog]

Before we put the blame solely on public schools, we need to ask what the hell the parents of these uneducated, misinformed and ignorant kids have been doing for the last 16-18 years...I place blame on b

Soccer, dance lessons, music lessons, gymnastics, Little League, midget football, and the weekly session with a therapist.

[fight_truth_decay]

Jay Leno's..

He hits on college students mostly...even scarier!

[Publius6961]

CBS's Hartman Finds ANTI-WAR TEENAGE PROTESTERS are CLUELESS !

And this is news because?
They're called children because they don't know enough to be independent in thought or life.
That's why it's an embarrassing stupidity to ask a second grader her opinion of the Iraqi problem.

(Not the kid, the adults who make up the stuff)

Yes many adults are just as ignorant but we can laugh at those.

[fight_truth_decay]

Before we put the blame solely on public schools, we need to ask what the hell the parents of these uneducated, misinformed and ignorant kids have been doing for the last 16-18 years.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

[Wright is right!]

"He hits on college students mostly...even scarier!"

Jay's at his best when pointing out the stupidity and/or ignorance of the incompetent. "Headlines" is another bit out of the same mold.

Michael

[L,TOWM]

Even better are the ones at home, learning, learning, learning. My 9 year old daughter knows the difference betweeen Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden. She also does'nt WANT this country to go to war, but also does'nt want to get gassed, anthraxed, or smallpoxed either. She is willing to go along with the evil that does THIS country the least harm.