November 21, 2006

Shall We Cede the Campus?

It seems that barely a week goes by that I don't read a story about censorship of a conservative or pro-American speaker or writer through one of a number of mechanisms. Michelle and Charles have been doing excellent work highlighting the truth about what cesspools of anti-American nastiniess our university campuses have become. Conservative and pro-American speakers routinely have their campus speaking events cancelled or restricted by university administrators. Campus events that aren't cancelled by administration officials are stopped by physical action or bomb threats. In the broader context, many conservative writers live and work under death threats. Though university campuses have become ideal environments for making good on such threats, the universities often refuse to cooperate with adequate security measures.

This is the state of our world today. The most unruly and difficult are getting their way by throwing tantrums and threatening death and destruction. The civilized are asked to contemplate the "root causes" of the unruliness rather than condemn these actions. The civilized are asked to avoid taking any action which might further antagonize the "disaffected youth."

Over the last ten or fifteen years, encompassing the current wave of left-wing anti-American temper tantrums, many of our leaders have told us that just "taking the high road" would pay off for us in the long run. Some assured us that there would be a public "backlash" against those who don't know how to behave properly in public.

Here we are, ten years on. Much has changed, but in any good direction. The left-wing protests have only gotten more vociferous. We've been accused of being "digital brownshirts"--while the other side has an army of REAL, PHYSICAL brownshirts who are not at all shy about doing very real, physical "brownshirt" things. The left-wingers and campus Islamic groups very effectively use violence and the threat of violence to shut down dissent on the university campuses. In the meantime, there's been little, if any "public backlash" that I can ascertain--not even within the Boards of Trustees who are supposed to be paying attention. As near as I can tell, the public has just come to expect this sort of thing from the left, and it's taken in stride. In the meantime, a valuable point of view is silenced through the raw exercise of power. Right under the noses of the campus administrations, a thugocracy has taken over.

I don't have a solution to this problem as of yet. I don't think physical violence by our side is the answer. Setting aside the moral issues, creating martyrs (even bruised martyrs) would be counterproductive. I'm sure the jihadis would dearly love to have a photo of a white male College Republican punching an Arab kid. If there was a picture of the Arab kid punching the white kid first, we all know that picture would never make the papers. I'll admit I'm better at identifying problems than proposing solutions. What I do know is that our current strategy of being polite and taking our lumps graciously certainly doesn't appear to be working too well.