In an op-ed in Newsweek Brad Palumbo points out something distressing. According to a recent Harvard-Harris poll although among Americans, generally, there is a consensus of support in favor of the Israelis following Hamas’s attack on Israel, the situation is quite different among Generation Z (Americans aged 18 to 24). 62% think that Hamas’s action was genocidal and 48% support Hamas. He remarks:
This is not normal. Such a moral perversion is not an organic belief that naturally emerges among decent people. On the contrary, it’s in large part the consequence of a corrosive and malevolent “social justice” ideology that’s being spoon-fed to young Americans on college campuses.
In this depraved worldview, which Elon Musk has dubbed the “woke mind virus,” the world is divided into two groups of people: oppressors and oppressed. Black people, for example, are oppressed in America. So, under this lens, Black Americans cannot be racist: They can only be victims of racism.
He attributes it to miseducation. While distressing I don’t think that’s quite right. I agree that it’s egoism if not narcissism but I suspect that much of it is due to an almost complete lack of anything resembling moral education. They only know what they see on TV (or maybe on Instagram) and that is largely amoral or immoral. I think that Mr. Polumbo is assuming that American young people are naturally moral and only through “miseducation” could they possibly hold such a view. I think contrariwise that human beings are naturally self-centered and that inculcating a moral sense in them is hard.
It sounds like a problem to me. Can it be remediated? Will it fix itself over time?
Missed it but did it ask anywhere if they thought there was a difference between Hamas and Palestinians? If you read through all of that answers some dont seem to make sense if the assumption is that people are supporting Hamas. Just a few thoughts. (Wife broke ankle in 3 places so busy doing stuff.) First, I dont really think a lot of people, maybe most especially young people, understand the idea of religious based terrorists. A group of people that you cant really reason with as their faith is telling them what to do. I suspect they might believe it is possible to reach an accommodation with Hamas which is not true. I think that the recent comparisons to ISIS are apt and may be a good way to teach younger people that Hamas really is evil and that killing them is really the best/only option. Kids may not be stupid but they are ignorant.
Second, they have grown up with the recent bad US mistakes in response to our being attacked. We engaged in a 20 year nation building exercise in Afghanistan which was a waste. We killed the Taliban when really we were mad at AQ and Osama. We invaded Iraq killing and displacing 10s of thousands of Iraqis when really we were mad at Saddam, or Osama or something. Nearly their entire lives they have lived with us at war and killing thousands of people who weren’t remotely related to the group that did the 9/11 attack. Last, they have also grown up with Israel and Hamas in an endless loop. Hamas kills a few Israelis and Israel kills 15-20 times as many Palestinians. Maybe they kill a few Hamas. This is “just” a worse event in the loop.
Steve
These are sore points for me since I opposed ALL of them. Not coincidentally everything I predicted about them has happened. I opposed the formation of the DHS, too, and everything I predicted about that has happened as well.