As the first student in my family to get to college in the era described by Posner, commuting to class in my beat up 1962 Rambler American, I felt contempt for the middle class and upper middle class kids engaged in the "protests", rock music and parties. It was all I could do to make it to class and have enough dough to buy a hamburger. As cigarettes at that time were 35 cents per pack, I never became a smoker because I needed the 35 cents for food.
I became confused during the Vietnam war. I had followed the official line, that the communists would take over all of Southeast Asia, and then Australia. It was nonsense. But even worse nonsense was the Maoist rhetoric and disparagement of Capitalism. Little did I realize, until much later, that the Lassiez-Faire Capitalism system in which I imagined hard work and investments would make me wealthy no longer existed, that our economy had already been captured by something misleadingly called the "Federal" Reserve bank.
Confusion, in those pre-Internet days, was the watchword. The only ones really in the know were the maipulators, who are still with us and who are as dangerous as ever, infesting the Internet as well and with then undreamed of powers of "surveillance". They've managed to convince us on an unneeded war with Iraq, threaten us with fake Antrhax attacks, kill us with medical fascism during the Covid-19 epidemic and now trick us into supporting a war in Ukraine, a country said to be more corrupt than Mexico if that is even possible.
But, we're catching on and that is the value of Posner's post. And the more we catch on to the games, the more it spells DOOM for those maintaining them and facilitating them.
Thank you for this! As someone who lived for the first 25 years of her life in a Communist dictatorship, all I wish for these revolutionaries is to be forced to live under Mao's rule--they alone (not the rest of us) suspended in time and space, and from there to be forced to watch an unending film about the horrible "imperialist" America from which they escaped.
Stalin took the blame for that since we were told that the USSR demanded their loans to China be repaid in food. Mao was always absolved of any responsibility (
I can only respond by quoting Ronald Reagan: "There you go again." The rise of antisemitism and criticism of Israeli is all the responsibility of a handful of radical professors. If only it was that simple.
I am only a few years younger than you but experienced many of the same events. But my experience was completely different. I went to a working class college (Widener University) that was largely made up of first generation students. I never had a radical professor and can't remember if there was any professor on campus who was identified with a political cause. Most of us were working and studying too hard to get involved in any political causes. I spent five years at Brown University at a time when the anti-apartheid movement was sweeping across college campuses. I lived in a house with a handful of other students, including two of the organizers of the anti-apartheid movement on campus. They held organizing sessions in our house. They were all undergraduates and there were no professors or graduate students among them. They were self-motivated and not indoctrinated by radical professors.
In my four decades of teaching on the college level I have never known of a professors posting pictures of Che Guevara. The "Mercedes Maoists" is a clever twist on the conservative criticism of "limousine liberals" that dates back to the debates over busing in the 1970s. While there are a few, very few, professors who inherited wealth, the vast majority are barely surviving and the conditions have become worse over the past few decades. Today, tenured professors make up only 20 percent of college faculty; tenure track 10 percent. More than 70 percent are adjuncts who live paycheck by paycheck and on year-to-year appointments.
Statistically, my experience is much more representative than yours. The great myth of the anti-war movement was that an entire generation of young people rose up in unison to oppose the war. The left embraces the myth because it justified their activism. Conservatives embrace it so they can avoid asking the hard questions about why America lost the war and instead scapegoat radical students and their professors. Studies have shown, however, that only a small handful of students largely at elite private and public universities participated in protests. The generation -- 18-28 -- actually supported the war in higher numbers than did their parents. America lost the war not because of student protestors but because we misapplied the "Lessons of Munich" to a part of the world where they were not relevant.
I fear something similar is happening today. It is so easy to blame the rise of antisemitism and criticism of Israel on students radicalized by leftwing professors. If you were to rank the reasons for the rise in antisemitism -- which, unfortunately, is very real -- radical professors would not even be on the list.
Yes, social media, especially Tic Toc, have played a role because they allow people to see images and hear voices to which they would otherwise not be exposed. Today, they are images of starving children and grieving parents in Gaza.
But the big reason is generational. People like you and me, who strongly support Israel, remember the early years when Israel was being attacked and constantly defending itself from larger, more powerful nations. I have vivid memories of the Yom Kippur War (1973) when a coalition of Arab states tried to destroy Israel, and almost succeeded. Israel is still under threat, as the horrific Hamas attack demonstrated, but this generation of young people are more likely to know of the Israeli settlers forcefully removing Palestinians from the West Bank and the dreadful living conditions in Gaza. Israeli is no longer considered the underdog. This generation views it a military behemoth. The right wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu, who has consciously turned Israel into a partisan issue here at home, has not helped.
I'm not saying that I agree with this generations point of view. But if we are going to get to the root of anti-Israeli sentiment among young people -- regardless of whether they attended college -- we have confront these new realities and stop scapegoating a handful of "radical" college professors.
Thanks Steve. You are right on so many fronts. Our completely different experience is not surprising. Maybe my experience would ring true only to the narrow universe of Berkeley political science majors. None of my professors thought of themselves as radical. They believed they were at the vanguard of providing a new lens from which to interpret history and modern politics. In this light, there is an interesting OpEd in today’s NY Times, “What Students Read Before They Protest,” https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/27/opinion/columbia-university-protests.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
Thanks Gerald. There are a couple of problems with this article. First, it assumes that there is a direct connection between the books students are assigned in class and their desire to protest. (The vast majority of students who read the same books go on to become corporate lawyers and investment bankers.)
Second, it assumes that the professor is assigning the books to force students to believe what they say. Most of us assign books and articles, even ones that we disagree with, simply to expose students to a range of ideas and methodologies. For example, I assign my students the opening essay in the "1619 Project." I have serious reservations about the essay and agree with the notable historians, including Gordon Wood who was one of my mentors, who have vigorously disagreed with the underlying concept. By the end of the class they will have a sense of why people accept the premise of the project and why others oppose it. The students can make up their own minds. I'm focused on their reasoning skills, not their political perspective.
Third, we need to consider changing demographics. Thanks largely to the immigration act of 1965, college campuses are far more diverse then they were when you and I attended. Asian students make up about 25 percent of the student body at many elite universities. They, and other minority groups, don't want to learn only the great classics of Western Civilization and insist that other narratives be included. (It pains me because I write about and teach "Dead White Men" history. )
Finally, the greatest threat to a liberal arts education is not coming from radicalized professors -- although there are a few of those -- but from right-wing governors and state legislators who are passing laws restricting what can be taught in the classroom. I don't need a thug like Ron DeSantis to tell me what I can and cannot teach!
“ Most of us assign books and articles, even ones that we disagree with, simply to expose students to a range of ideas and methodologies . . . .The students can make up their own minds. I'm focused on their reasoning skills, not their political perspective.”
Some really good thoughtful comments. Agree with @Citizen_Jimserac. I too felt contempt for the “Mercedes Maoists” and the kids having all the time in the world to attend what appeared to be endless protests & parties. I certainly didn’t have that luxury between working to help pay tuition & studying. In the end it’s all about money, power & control.
Seems like history isn't taught anymore and anything that happened before internet usage was widespread, is mostly unavailable online.
Every situation is somewhat different but there are lots of great lessons from understanding mistakes of the past if people pay attention and actually learn. The twentieth century is full of them and many of us are old enough to reflect and see how decisions and actions played out over time.
I still occasionally see a clueless aging person in a Che T shirt or a youngster with no real clue.
Gerald, you bring back many memories as I lived in Berkeley during the Vietnam protests and was a Political Science major there in the late 50s. I too had some radical profs but most were either down the middle, or like the head of the department rather conservative (Dr. Claude Aiken). I had some progressive profs like Al Bendich in speech, but I would not call him a firebrand. Preaching is clearly not teaching. Cherry picking facts and ignoring others I would consider academic malfeasance. I clearly remember stunning my U.S. History class lecture in Dwinelle Hall when I interrupted (one did not do those things in 1957) the professor to challenge his blatantly false narrative about FDR's upbringing as a reason for some policy with which the prof disagreed. Students need to challenge biased professors whether on the left or the right. Just be sure one has the facts to challenge. The current crop of ultra-progressives pick and choose the history they wish to remember and ignore facts that make their assertions less convincing. I had a conversation the other day with a pro-Hamas/Palestinian young person who had no idea that in 1948 EVERY Arab country attacked Israel and tried to destroy the new Jewish state. He had no idea that the Hamas credo preaches not only the destruction of Israel but the death of all Jews. He had no idea that more than a million Arabs are Israeli citizens, vote and are free to practice their religion. Is life there perfect if one is an Arab? No. But would a sane person rather be an Arab in Israel or a Jew in an Arab country? The pro-Hamas crowd seems to have forgotten WWll and how the good guys, we the Allies, firebombed the Axis until they surrendered; then the killing of civilians stopped. Israel did not invite the butchering of 1,400 citizens on Oct. 7. Israel responded as any nation would. Have far too many children and innocents been killed? Of course. One is too many. If Hamas surrenders the killing stops, at least for now. Hamas has reaped the old whirlwind and has figured out a way to capitalize on this tragic turn; perhaps it was part of a masterplan to discredit Israel and Jews in general? If so, it is succeeding with the help of some college admins and faculty. It is why some among have chosen to make sure any future Kristallnacht will come at a severe price to the perps. Hard to imagine that anyone would ever think of keeping a machine gun under their bed to greet the contemporary version of the SS.
David - you nail it when you say, “Students need to challenge biased professors whether on the left or the right. Just be sure one has the facts to challenge.” The second part seems the challenge today, and misinformation and ignorance about Israel’s history is a prime example. Of course, as a coach for high school debate, you instilled the power of reasoning and the necessity of getting the facts into your students. I remember how the best debaters were capable of arguing very well either side of a controversial issue. Today, that is a fading art…
its breathtaking to see how those who support the illegal immoral optional unnecessary genocide of millions of native arabs twist every issue to support zionism. at least cold the war yielded substantial benefit to the western experiment and US security. whereas support for Israel was once justified along those lines, we now know support for israel has been one of the biggest mistakes the US has ever made. the reason for this is israel has failed to address its illegal occupation. as a result, israel now makes the US less safe, putting US citizens at risk via an optional genocide while 8 billion world citizens look on.
Pretending opposition to israels illegal optional unnecessary occupation is anything like opposition to the Vietnam war is a farce, but expected of those whose world view is an entitled dependance on the US tax payer to fund and support their favorite cause
then wats the plan? the only plan israel has enacted is genocide and ethnic cleansing. israel has 1000 policies and actions that support their policy of genocide. they prove this every day for the past 67 years, all while dening this is policy while 8 billion people watch for 67 years and see that it is. like gender ideology, zionism is primarily a PR and lobby effort. its a sales campaign designed to scam gullible people and provide political cover for those who know whats occuring and support it. which one are you? does it mater?
im paying for israel's illegal optional genocide. are you? if you live in canada, then no. this is a policy supported by US, which im a citizen. if i were yo guess i would suggest you and author are not
The value of these Hamas University degrees are dropping fast. Why is any of this a surprise? Conservative speakers have been getting driven off campus by these red guards for a decade.
I doubt the present day student protesters have been radicalized by their professors for the most part. I for one am encouraged by the uprising on campus from a group that was forced to comply
With the covid vax with little or no pushback that implied they had been captured into compliance. The energized support for Palestinians fits into my worldview that we are all Palestinians- subject to a ghettoized life just awaiting our demise or genocide as a pawn of the new world global governance scheme. Students as a class apart were the most coerced group during the past 5 years and still are. Want an education okay get a vax. With all the vax side effects especially regarding fertility these students may never be able to reproduce. A form of genocide in its own right. Thanks to the students for taking a stand it may inspire them to continue to protest the future that is coming and refuse any more vaccines. One can hope and at 79 years of age that is all I have.
As the first student in my family to get to college in the era described by Posner, commuting to class in my beat up 1962 Rambler American, I felt contempt for the middle class and upper middle class kids engaged in the "protests", rock music and parties. It was all I could do to make it to class and have enough dough to buy a hamburger. As cigarettes at that time were 35 cents per pack, I never became a smoker because I needed the 35 cents for food.
I became confused during the Vietnam war. I had followed the official line, that the communists would take over all of Southeast Asia, and then Australia. It was nonsense. But even worse nonsense was the Maoist rhetoric and disparagement of Capitalism. Little did I realize, until much later, that the Lassiez-Faire Capitalism system in which I imagined hard work and investments would make me wealthy no longer existed, that our economy had already been captured by something misleadingly called the "Federal" Reserve bank.
Confusion, in those pre-Internet days, was the watchword. The only ones really in the know were the maipulators, who are still with us and who are as dangerous as ever, infesting the Internet as well and with then undreamed of powers of "surveillance". They've managed to convince us on an unneeded war with Iraq, threaten us with fake Antrhax attacks, kill us with medical fascism during the Covid-19 epidemic and now trick us into supporting a war in Ukraine, a country said to be more corrupt than Mexico if that is even possible.
But, we're catching on and that is the value of Posner's post. And the more we catch on to the games, the more it spells DOOM for those maintaining them and facilitating them.
Thank you for this! As someone who lived for the first 25 years of her life in a Communist dictatorship, all I wish for these revolutionaries is to be forced to live under Mao's rule--they alone (not the rest of us) suspended in time and space, and from there to be forced to watch an unending film about the horrible "imperialist" America from which they escaped.
My Romanian friend shares the same sentiment.
Did the Mercedes Maoists ever mention the Great Chinese Famine that followed the Great Leap Forward?
Stalin took the blame for that since we were told that the USSR demanded their loans to China be repaid in food. Mao was always absolved of any responsibility (
I never heard the Russian angle before. That must have been a college professors explanation.
Massive inefficiency by central government command that couldn't be questioned seemed the more likely culprit.
I can only respond by quoting Ronald Reagan: "There you go again." The rise of antisemitism and criticism of Israeli is all the responsibility of a handful of radical professors. If only it was that simple.
I am only a few years younger than you but experienced many of the same events. But my experience was completely different. I went to a working class college (Widener University) that was largely made up of first generation students. I never had a radical professor and can't remember if there was any professor on campus who was identified with a political cause. Most of us were working and studying too hard to get involved in any political causes. I spent five years at Brown University at a time when the anti-apartheid movement was sweeping across college campuses. I lived in a house with a handful of other students, including two of the organizers of the anti-apartheid movement on campus. They held organizing sessions in our house. They were all undergraduates and there were no professors or graduate students among them. They were self-motivated and not indoctrinated by radical professors.
In my four decades of teaching on the college level I have never known of a professors posting pictures of Che Guevara. The "Mercedes Maoists" is a clever twist on the conservative criticism of "limousine liberals" that dates back to the debates over busing in the 1970s. While there are a few, very few, professors who inherited wealth, the vast majority are barely surviving and the conditions have become worse over the past few decades. Today, tenured professors make up only 20 percent of college faculty; tenure track 10 percent. More than 70 percent are adjuncts who live paycheck by paycheck and on year-to-year appointments.
Statistically, my experience is much more representative than yours. The great myth of the anti-war movement was that an entire generation of young people rose up in unison to oppose the war. The left embraces the myth because it justified their activism. Conservatives embrace it so they can avoid asking the hard questions about why America lost the war and instead scapegoat radical students and their professors. Studies have shown, however, that only a small handful of students largely at elite private and public universities participated in protests. The generation -- 18-28 -- actually supported the war in higher numbers than did their parents. America lost the war not because of student protestors but because we misapplied the "Lessons of Munich" to a part of the world where they were not relevant.
I fear something similar is happening today. It is so easy to blame the rise of antisemitism and criticism of Israel on students radicalized by leftwing professors. If you were to rank the reasons for the rise in antisemitism -- which, unfortunately, is very real -- radical professors would not even be on the list.
Yes, social media, especially Tic Toc, have played a role because they allow people to see images and hear voices to which they would otherwise not be exposed. Today, they are images of starving children and grieving parents in Gaza.
But the big reason is generational. People like you and me, who strongly support Israel, remember the early years when Israel was being attacked and constantly defending itself from larger, more powerful nations. I have vivid memories of the Yom Kippur War (1973) when a coalition of Arab states tried to destroy Israel, and almost succeeded. Israel is still under threat, as the horrific Hamas attack demonstrated, but this generation of young people are more likely to know of the Israeli settlers forcefully removing Palestinians from the West Bank and the dreadful living conditions in Gaza. Israeli is no longer considered the underdog. This generation views it a military behemoth. The right wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu, who has consciously turned Israel into a partisan issue here at home, has not helped.
I'm not saying that I agree with this generations point of view. But if we are going to get to the root of anti-Israeli sentiment among young people -- regardless of whether they attended college -- we have confront these new realities and stop scapegoating a handful of "radical" college professors.
Thanks Steve. You are right on so many fronts. Our completely different experience is not surprising. Maybe my experience would ring true only to the narrow universe of Berkeley political science majors. None of my professors thought of themselves as radical. They believed they were at the vanguard of providing a new lens from which to interpret history and modern politics. In this light, there is an interesting OpEd in today’s NY Times, “What Students Read Before They Protest,” https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/27/opinion/columbia-university-protests.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
Thanks Gerald. There are a couple of problems with this article. First, it assumes that there is a direct connection between the books students are assigned in class and their desire to protest. (The vast majority of students who read the same books go on to become corporate lawyers and investment bankers.)
Second, it assumes that the professor is assigning the books to force students to believe what they say. Most of us assign books and articles, even ones that we disagree with, simply to expose students to a range of ideas and methodologies. For example, I assign my students the opening essay in the "1619 Project." I have serious reservations about the essay and agree with the notable historians, including Gordon Wood who was one of my mentors, who have vigorously disagreed with the underlying concept. By the end of the class they will have a sense of why people accept the premise of the project and why others oppose it. The students can make up their own minds. I'm focused on their reasoning skills, not their political perspective.
Third, we need to consider changing demographics. Thanks largely to the immigration act of 1965, college campuses are far more diverse then they were when you and I attended. Asian students make up about 25 percent of the student body at many elite universities. They, and other minority groups, don't want to learn only the great classics of Western Civilization and insist that other narratives be included. (It pains me because I write about and teach "Dead White Men" history. )
Finally, the greatest threat to a liberal arts education is not coming from radicalized professors -- although there are a few of those -- but from right-wing governors and state legislators who are passing laws restricting what can be taught in the classroom. I don't need a thug like Ron DeSantis to tell me what I can and cannot teach!
If only professors like you could be cloned:
“ Most of us assign books and articles, even ones that we disagree with, simply to expose students to a range of ideas and methodologies . . . .The students can make up their own minds. I'm focused on their reasoning skills, not their political perspective.”
Fascinating reading but terrifying with the parallels of today. Thanks for sharing.
Some really good thoughtful comments. Agree with @Citizen_Jimserac. I too felt contempt for the “Mercedes Maoists” and the kids having all the time in the world to attend what appeared to be endless protests & parties. I certainly didn’t have that luxury between working to help pay tuition & studying. In the end it’s all about money, power & control.
Seems like history isn't taught anymore and anything that happened before internet usage was widespread, is mostly unavailable online.
Every situation is somewhat different but there are lots of great lessons from understanding mistakes of the past if people pay attention and actually learn. The twentieth century is full of them and many of us are old enough to reflect and see how decisions and actions played out over time.
I still occasionally see a clueless aging person in a Che T shirt or a youngster with no real clue.
And it was Canada's own Neil Young who put the Kent State tragedy to music so the wider world could understand: "Four dead in O-HI-O".
Don’t forget that antizionism and explicitl antisemitism entered into what was called the New Left and the Black power movement in the late 1960s
Gerald, you bring back many memories as I lived in Berkeley during the Vietnam protests and was a Political Science major there in the late 50s. I too had some radical profs but most were either down the middle, or like the head of the department rather conservative (Dr. Claude Aiken). I had some progressive profs like Al Bendich in speech, but I would not call him a firebrand. Preaching is clearly not teaching. Cherry picking facts and ignoring others I would consider academic malfeasance. I clearly remember stunning my U.S. History class lecture in Dwinelle Hall when I interrupted (one did not do those things in 1957) the professor to challenge his blatantly false narrative about FDR's upbringing as a reason for some policy with which the prof disagreed. Students need to challenge biased professors whether on the left or the right. Just be sure one has the facts to challenge. The current crop of ultra-progressives pick and choose the history they wish to remember and ignore facts that make their assertions less convincing. I had a conversation the other day with a pro-Hamas/Palestinian young person who had no idea that in 1948 EVERY Arab country attacked Israel and tried to destroy the new Jewish state. He had no idea that the Hamas credo preaches not only the destruction of Israel but the death of all Jews. He had no idea that more than a million Arabs are Israeli citizens, vote and are free to practice their religion. Is life there perfect if one is an Arab? No. But would a sane person rather be an Arab in Israel or a Jew in an Arab country? The pro-Hamas crowd seems to have forgotten WWll and how the good guys, we the Allies, firebombed the Axis until they surrendered; then the killing of civilians stopped. Israel did not invite the butchering of 1,400 citizens on Oct. 7. Israel responded as any nation would. Have far too many children and innocents been killed? Of course. One is too many. If Hamas surrenders the killing stops, at least for now. Hamas has reaped the old whirlwind and has figured out a way to capitalize on this tragic turn; perhaps it was part of a masterplan to discredit Israel and Jews in general? If so, it is succeeding with the help of some college admins and faculty. It is why some among have chosen to make sure any future Kristallnacht will come at a severe price to the perps. Hard to imagine that anyone would ever think of keeping a machine gun under their bed to greet the contemporary version of the SS.
David - you nail it when you say, “Students need to challenge biased professors whether on the left or the right. Just be sure one has the facts to challenge.” The second part seems the challenge today, and misinformation and ignorance about Israel’s history is a prime example. Of course, as a coach for high school debate, you instilled the power of reasoning and the necessity of getting the facts into your students. I remember how the best debaters were capable of arguing very well either side of a controversial issue. Today, that is a fading art…
its breathtaking to see how those who support the illegal immoral optional unnecessary genocide of millions of native arabs twist every issue to support zionism. at least cold the war yielded substantial benefit to the western experiment and US security. whereas support for Israel was once justified along those lines, we now know support for israel has been one of the biggest mistakes the US has ever made. the reason for this is israel has failed to address its illegal occupation. as a result, israel now makes the US less safe, putting US citizens at risk via an optional genocide while 8 billion world citizens look on.
Pretending opposition to israels illegal optional unnecessary occupation is anything like opposition to the Vietnam war is a farce, but expected of those whose world view is an entitled dependance on the US tax payer to fund and support their favorite cause
No genocide.
then wats the plan? the only plan israel has enacted is genocide and ethnic cleansing. israel has 1000 policies and actions that support their policy of genocide. they prove this every day for the past 67 years, all while dening this is policy while 8 billion people watch for 67 years and see that it is. like gender ideology, zionism is primarily a PR and lobby effort. its a sales campaign designed to scam gullible people and provide political cover for those who know whats occuring and support it. which one are you? does it mater?
Go rave and rant elsewhere. You are wrong and you are boring too.
im paying for israel's illegal optional genocide. are you? if you live in canada, then no. this is a policy supported by US, which im a citizen. if i were yo guess i would suggest you and author are not
Your posts devoid of spelling and grammar (not to mention punctuation) aren’t helping your argument.
and you offer zero counter point, hence, by default you accept all of my points as true and correct statements. congrats
The value of these Hamas University degrees are dropping fast. Why is any of this a surprise? Conservative speakers have been getting driven off campus by these red guards for a decade.
I doubt the present day student protesters have been radicalized by their professors for the most part. I for one am encouraged by the uprising on campus from a group that was forced to comply
With the covid vax with little or no pushback that implied they had been captured into compliance. The energized support for Palestinians fits into my worldview that we are all Palestinians- subject to a ghettoized life just awaiting our demise or genocide as a pawn of the new world global governance scheme. Students as a class apart were the most coerced group during the past 5 years and still are. Want an education okay get a vax. With all the vax side effects especially regarding fertility these students may never be able to reproduce. A form of genocide in its own right. Thanks to the students for taking a stand it may inspire them to continue to protest the future that is coming and refuse any more vaccines. One can hope and at 79 years of age that is all I have.