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Posted on 09/26/2001 6:44:42 AM PDT by g'nad

Something Frivolous
(American Innocence is Alive and Well)

By Nathan Porter

In the wake of the attacks it has become necessary to lament the fact that America lost some of its innocence. The same thing was said after Oklahoma City, the Viet Nam War, and the assassination of JKF. Each of these events has been cited as the moment America lost its innocence. Webster’s defines an innocent as a very naïve or simple-minded person. Anyone who fears the events of September 11th have stripped America of its innocence need only look on our college campuses to find simple-mindedness alive and well.

I suppose it was predictable that as the shock of the terrorist attacks gave way to talk of war the media would seek the opinions of the least informed among us; college students. Verbose yet uninformative, educated but ignorant, certain college students view themselves as better and brighter than everyone else, and in times like these they take to the streets feigning intelligence while spewing ignorance. Without facts to justify their positions, their only debating technique consists of spouting tired clichés that sound good but lack any substance.

I’ve never understood why the media holds the opinions of college students in such high regard, particularly when it comes to understanding human nature and world events. Having spent a great deal of time in college, I can state with certainty that none of them have a clue about life and won’t until they’re at least 30. I suspect that prior to the events of 9-11 the most pressing issue these students discussed was which is the best tasting food to come out of a can. It’s understandable, really. They are so insulated by the frivolities of the college lifestyle that they haven’t yet learned what life is like in the real world.

CNN jumped into these intellectually-murky waters late last week when Aaron Brown introduced a story about the growing peace movement: “If the nation is moving towards war, and it appears to be, it's important for us in the news business to make sure all voices in this debate are being heard, and we're going to do that.” What followed was a series of images and statements that give new meaning to the phrase ignorance is bliss, and there’s nothing quite as blissful as a peacenik college student.

The piece began with a group of students shouting, “1, 2, 3, 4, we don't want your racist war!” I suppose it’s possible that the average college student could’ve slept through the attacks of September 11th, but it seems to me this racist war was brought to us, whether we “want” it or not.

Perhaps it would help those who shout such senseless slogans to frame the conflict this way: Vicious racists of the lowest order attacked the United States. These militant-Islamic creatures are BIGOTS; hatemongering, religious bigots bent on eradicating anyone who does not look, dress, pray, and act as they do. That means you, Susie Q. Coed. How should we defend ourselves, have a sit-in?

The idiocy drones on: “If our Congress and if the executive are going to take extraordinary measures under these circumstances, they must at least justify to the public why they're taking such actions,” said an unnamed student. Is anything the government has done to date really been “extraordinary” in light of what happened? It seems to me quite ordinary for the government to marshal all its forces to complete the most important task set forth in the Constitution, providing for the common defense. Does this require more justification than an attack on our shores?

Another student tried to explain the makeup and motives of the new peace movement: “There are people from basically every part of the political spectrum binding together against what we feel is an unjust war.” An unjust war? What could possibly be unjust about protecting these feeble-minded college students from future terrorist attacks?

These students were none to pleased with President Bush’s speech to Congress.

“It's like a move towards like a globalization of a police state,” worries one. I’m no fan of unchecked globalization and I will vigilantly watch for signs of government using this event to wage war against our freedoms, but I've got news for you people, not every act of the state is illegitimate and not every attempt to act globally will lead us toward a global police state. Want a global police state? Let the Taliban win.

”Scary,” said a female student of Bush’s speech. “He's like we're going to go to war and you're either going to be with us or against us.”

“The thing that people like us want is justice,” opined a male student, “but what our government's going after is punishment.” Dude, punishment IS justice. You strike me as the type of fella who when taking a shower uses the washcloth to wash his ass before using it to wash his face. Not too clever.

Of course no discussion about the terrorist attacks would be complete without someone blaming it on America. Explained one hopelessly-ignorant-young-coed, “This is an attack on like our domination and economic exploitation over the entire world.”

And that statement is, like, so completely stupid…totally. But what should one expect from someone who gets her “news” from Kurt Loder? These attacks are not about economic oppression; the Taliban and Al-Qaeda want no part of any economy. The fact of the matter is the US has a record trade deficit with many poor nations. For all you college students out there, a trade deficit occurs when we as a nation import more than we export. At present, two-thirds of US imports come into the country duty free. That is not exploitation. Exploitation, for all you college students out there, is the unethical use of something for one’s own profit. The US does not profit from a trade imbalance.

Furthermore, America must compete on an uneven playing field. Our industries must adhere to stringent environmental regulations, minimum wage requirements, and child labor laws. These “exploited” nations rather like this situation and do not want to give up their competitive advantage. It is these nations that are doing the exploiting of their own people. If it weren’t for the American consumer there’d be a lot less economic activity in these countries. Would these “exploited” workers be better off if Americans did not buy their goods?

To find out why some consider this coming act of self-defense unjustified we must look deeper into the motives of these terminal protesters. CNN's Jason Bellini met with some New York University students in an attempt to understand why they do whatever it is they do.

“Who are these peace activists?” Bellini asks. “They come from a new school of protest. The anti-globalist school. They're applying to America's new war a philosophy expressed in Seattle and around the world in protests against the IMF and World Bank. They believe global alliances, like the one President Bush is forming to fight terrorism internationally, make victims of the poorest and weakest members of the world community.”

So there we have it. No wonder these children oppose defending America against terrorism, as anarchists they support the goals of terrorism. The events of 9-11 have been called an attack on civilization and, of course, anarchists are no fans of civilization. Nor are they fans of truth. In fact, Afghanistan, with its lack of electricity, infrastructure, and rule of law is an anarchist’s dream nation. Perhaps we should create a UN chartered anarchist homeland in Afghanistan, gather up all the young anarchists from around the globe and dump them there so they can blissfully live free from US economic exploitation. No Starbucks, no Blockbuster, no Dominos, no WTO, just anarchy. What a wonderful world that would be.

What these children-scholars fail to realize is that by attempting to deny Americans the ability to defend ourselves from terrorism they are in fact embracing a type of globalization, an idealistic, utopian globalization that seeks to rid the world of oppression and yet force everyone love each other. This will never happen. Human nature won’t allow it. Perhaps someday, when they grow up, they’ll understand this.

Fortunately, some of them already understand. After listening to the frivolous, meaningless words of his protesting peers, one young man remarked, “Be meaningful. Like say something that has some merit to it.”

In other words, peaceniks, be anti-self-defense if you want to, this is America after all. But at least have the good sense and maturity to acquaint yourselves with facts first. Making clichéd statements without the factual ability to support them makes you look stupid.

Jesse Jackson came out of the woodwork this week to prepare youngsters across the country for the possibility of being called to fight for their country, and while donating blood he said, ''I find that when you give blood, it's an act of sacrifice rather than greed. It's a serious act, instead of something frivolous.... and it's a real act of maturity.''

True enough. Spouting tired, anti-war rhetoric after the nation has been attacked is frivolous but sacrificing of the blood of American soldiers is the most serious act of all. An act that sometimes is justified and even required by a mature nation. I wish it weren’t so, but it is, and the ability to understand that sad fact is perhaps the utmost sign of maturity. American maturity.

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