Is there any greater example of a mindless sheep than a liberal college student?
Fresh out of high school, on their own for the first time, swayed by the edgy politics of their college campus, they go with the crowd without every stopping once to think why.
It’s ironic, too, because there was a time when left-wing activism really did go against the status quo and claimed to attract only the freest of thinkers.
Now, left-wing activism is the status quo, and most liberal college students don’t even seem to bother to think twice about the latest outrage of the day before jumping on board.
This appears to be exactly what is going on at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, where several students signed a petition to change the name of a building named after Supreme Court Justice and Georgia native, Clarence Thomas, replacing it with the name of the woman who accused him of sexual harassment, Anita Hill.
The student who started the petition, Sage Lucero, was eventually forced to withdraw it after allegedly receiving threats, and a more successful petition began to circulate supporting Justice Thomas.
Campus Reform decided to send Cabot Phillips to SCAD to see what all the fuss was about.
It turns out, many of the students who supported Lucer’s petition couldn’t explain why, although they were emphatic in their opinion Thomas’ name should be removed.
“I honestly think he should be removed,” said one student.
“We should probably just take his name off the building, it’s not that big of a deal,” said another.
“I agree it should get removed,” a female student asserted, while a male student said, “I agree. I don’t think he represents the student body.”
This sentiment was echoed by many of the students Phillips interviewed, but things got interesting when he asked them to elaborate.
“Oh, ummm … hmmm,” mused one male student he asked to explain why Thomas name should be removed from the building. “Do you mind if I get back to you?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t done much research on this. I just saw a Facebook petition about it, and that’s kind of the extent of it,” another student explained.
When one student went as far as to compare Thomas to Hitler, explaining “He is a historical figure, though … uh, so was Hitler.”
Yes, so was Mother Thresa. What does that even mean?
When Philips challenged him to name one thing that would disqualify Justice Thomas from being the namesake of the building, the student drew a blank.
“I mean, not in particular,” he said.
Many of the students answered similarly, some even admitting they “don’t really know anything about him.”
“This is such a liberal community and, um, to degrade that in any way is not really the SCAD way for things,” one female student argued.
When Philips asked, “Isn’t the liberal viewpoint, though, like, open-mindedness and tolerance,” she replied, “I guess, but I think that’s just a way to twist the concept of liberalism.”
This is not, fortunately, the resounding opinion on campus, Philips discovered.
He found plenty of students who clearly manage to think for themselves and form a rational opinion.
“No, I really wouldn’t sign that petition … simply because I feel that even though the student body might have its certain views and values, just because you don’t agree with somebody doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t honor them,” explained one student.
Later in the video, the same student explained, “If someone doesn’t align with you, that doesn’t mean they are bad, it doesn’t mean they are wrong, it doesn’t mean you are right, it doesn’t mean that there’s anything you can’t come to terms with, as long as you do your own research and find the middle ground between you and that person.”
“I don’t think just because you disagree with someone’s politics, you should just, like, I guess dismiss their accomplishments,” another student later echoed.
When one student explained she would not sign the petition, explaining, “Just because if you hate someone, it doesn’t matter, it’s part of history and you can’t change the past.”
