Thank you for this. I’m a ball state graduate and didn’t know Wallace has spoken there. But I’m not surprised. The things he says are things some people in Indiana really like, even 62 years later. In fact, they may like them even more.
No one should be surprised by Tuesday’s election results there. I wasn’t.
This is a really fine essay, that earns its insights by listening deeply. It sounds like the students rose to the author's challenge of making sense of their experiences and beliefs.
But there's a lazy, thoughtless, offhand comment in the middle of it, that exemplifies the groupthink -- or rather, group NONthink -- that the students are up against.
Israel is waging a genocidal assault on Palestinians?
It's just taken for granted, like the sun rising in the east, or two plus two being four?
Only one side is in the wrong?
Such thoughtless intellectual wallpaper is simply Jew-hate normalized. It's "stupid," as the students call it. This miasma is the reason Ava is dehumanized online, and Jews around the world are threatened by actual violence.
I expected better of people who call themselves journalists. You're part of the problem.
Further proof that the young are just that--young. Also, lacking any sense of personal history, not to be trusted when making really important political decisions.
The young seem to see right through the bullshit and are judging correctly, unless you see world powers coming together to fix all of the issues we face as humans, there is no future. They’re not wrong, you’re just old and comfortable. They’ve never known a comfortable life, and we’re certainly not headed toward a comfortable future. Are you blind?
Really excellent, Leah
Thank you for this. I’m a ball state graduate and didn’t know Wallace has spoken there. But I’m not surprised. The things he says are things some people in Indiana really like, even 62 years later. In fact, they may like them even more.
No one should be surprised by Tuesday’s election results there. I wasn’t.
Great title. Channeling Edith Wharton. May you too win a Pulitzer.
This is a really fine essay, that earns its insights by listening deeply. It sounds like the students rose to the author's challenge of making sense of their experiences and beliefs.
But there's a lazy, thoughtless, offhand comment in the middle of it, that exemplifies the groupthink -- or rather, group NONthink -- that the students are up against.
Israel is waging a genocidal assault on Palestinians?
It's just taken for granted, like the sun rising in the east, or two plus two being four?
Only one side is in the wrong?
Such thoughtless intellectual wallpaper is simply Jew-hate normalized. It's "stupid," as the students call it. This miasma is the reason Ava is dehumanized online, and Jews around the world are threatened by actual violence.
I expected better of people who call themselves journalists. You're part of the problem.
Further proof that the young are just that--young. Also, lacking any sense of personal history, not to be trusted when making really important political decisions.
The young seem to see right through the bullshit and are judging correctly, unless you see world powers coming together to fix all of the issues we face as humans, there is no future. They’re not wrong, you’re just old and comfortable. They’ve never known a comfortable life, and we’re certainly not headed toward a comfortable future. Are you blind?