By ALBERT M. SPUNGEN
Los Alamos

I just finished teaching my high school students about the 1960s and the youth movements of the time.  Although the events going on today on college campuses and on some high school campuses resemble those days, they are not at all similar other than youth involvement. The 1960s rebellions, whether you agreed with them or not, were directed against all the ills of the time. They involved opposing a war America was fighting with boys caught in a clearly unfair draft system. They involved forcing the government and society into granting long overdue civil rights to minorities and women. They involved breaking educational norms that were outdated and stultifying.

This present round of student rebellions is being conducted by a spoiled generation where “everybody gets a trophy just for participating. “This is the generation that lost out on in-person learning while in high school or middle school so did not learn how to interact or debate or research. Now, they are in college and involved in calling for the destruction of Israel which translates into genocide of Jews. They wear Hijabs now like they wear torn jeans, as if in either case they could understand the plight of those involved in war or living in poverty. They scream because they do not know how to carry on a civil discussion.  They spout hateful slogans and threaten fellow students.

No one wants to see innocent people die and to protest that is a just action. So, why aren’t these students demonstrating against the thousands of civilian deaths in Ukraine caused by Russia’s illegal invasion?  Why aren’t they protesting against North Korea putting their people in concentration camps and executing them? Why aren’t they speaking out against the Chinese mistreatment of the Uyghur? Why aren’t they opposing Iran’s treatment of women? Why aren’t they organizing against foreign leaders who espouse killing gays? This world is full of injustices so why choose the Israeli war against Hamas?

I believe the answer is clear. This “selective outrage” being exhibited on campuses is nothing more than bald-faced anti-semitism. It is a disease of the body politic that has infected Western society for centuries and is rearing its ugly head again.