I was reading today about the speech the UN ambassador Samatha Power gave at a commencement at a women's college recently. During that speech, Power pointed to the woman at Columbia who walked around campus carrying a mattress in an effort to shame a student who, she claimed, had raped her. This act of political theater got a lot of coverage in the media. The university actually gave her academic credit for the effort and it barred the male student from speaking out about the supposed rape. Eventually, after an investigation, the conclusion was that there was no evidence of any rape. In fact, the reality seems more like the revenge of a woman who was spurned than the response to rape. Now, I don't pretend to know all the facts surrounding this story, but I do know that the relevant authorities concluded that there was no basis for a rape charge and that there was likely no rape at all.
So why is Samantha Power telling the graduates about this event as if the rape had happened? The answer lies in certain ideas that form the dogma of modern liberalism, ideas that liberals stick with even when the facts point to something else.
Remember when John Kerry told a group of young people that they had to study and stay in school or they would end up fighting with the army in Iraq? Like any good liberal, Kerry's view of the military is completely negative and was formed based upon stereotypes that developed during the Vietnam War nearly 50 years ago. Back then, there was a draft which granted deferments for college students. That meant that going to college was a good way to avoid the draft and with it the need to fight in the war. That draft, however, ended roughly four decades ago. Since that time, we have had an all volunteer army. As a group, the armed forces have higher levels of schooling than the population as a whole. That, however, does not matter to Kerry or other liberals with similar mindsets. Soldiers are dumb and uneducated in their minds. The facts don't matter.
And what about all the police killings of unarmed black youths. You know the ones that we have heard about over and over again in the last few years. Police departments are all racist, right? That's what the liberals and the media (same thing) tell us. The facts, however, are quite different. The number of people killed by police has fallen dramatically over the last thirty years. We are now at an historic low in the numbers of people shot. That is also an historic low in the number of black youths shot. Indeed, the police across the country have been quite successful at reducing crime from where it stood thirty years ago. There have been many fewer armed confrontations and many fewer fatalities. But if you watched the media or listened to the libs, you would be sure that there is an epidemic of police on black youth violence. Why consider the facts, when the political narrative is so ingrained in their minds.
Another area where these ideas that don't die have surfaced is in education. President Obama has been trying through his presidency to get a nationally funded pre-school approved for all students. You know, it would be Head Start for everyone. The problem, of course, is that the Department of Education has done studies that show that Head Start provides no lasting benefit for those who attend the program. By third grade, those from similar backgrounds who went to Head Start and those who did not are performing equally as well in school in all relevant metrics. The program does not work, but Obama wants to expand it tenfold. In the liberal mind, it is an idea that won't die.
America does not have the luxury of living in the fantasies of the liberal mind. We are stuck with reality.
So why is Samantha Power telling the graduates about this event as if the rape had happened? The answer lies in certain ideas that form the dogma of modern liberalism, ideas that liberals stick with even when the facts point to something else.
Remember when John Kerry told a group of young people that they had to study and stay in school or they would end up fighting with the army in Iraq? Like any good liberal, Kerry's view of the military is completely negative and was formed based upon stereotypes that developed during the Vietnam War nearly 50 years ago. Back then, there was a draft which granted deferments for college students. That meant that going to college was a good way to avoid the draft and with it the need to fight in the war. That draft, however, ended roughly four decades ago. Since that time, we have had an all volunteer army. As a group, the armed forces have higher levels of schooling than the population as a whole. That, however, does not matter to Kerry or other liberals with similar mindsets. Soldiers are dumb and uneducated in their minds. The facts don't matter.
And what about all the police killings of unarmed black youths. You know the ones that we have heard about over and over again in the last few years. Police departments are all racist, right? That's what the liberals and the media (same thing) tell us. The facts, however, are quite different. The number of people killed by police has fallen dramatically over the last thirty years. We are now at an historic low in the numbers of people shot. That is also an historic low in the number of black youths shot. Indeed, the police across the country have been quite successful at reducing crime from where it stood thirty years ago. There have been many fewer armed confrontations and many fewer fatalities. But if you watched the media or listened to the libs, you would be sure that there is an epidemic of police on black youth violence. Why consider the facts, when the political narrative is so ingrained in their minds.
Another area where these ideas that don't die have surfaced is in education. President Obama has been trying through his presidency to get a nationally funded pre-school approved for all students. You know, it would be Head Start for everyone. The problem, of course, is that the Department of Education has done studies that show that Head Start provides no lasting benefit for those who attend the program. By third grade, those from similar backgrounds who went to Head Start and those who did not are performing equally as well in school in all relevant metrics. The program does not work, but Obama wants to expand it tenfold. In the liberal mind, it is an idea that won't die.
America does not have the luxury of living in the fantasies of the liberal mind. We are stuck with reality.
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