As a Hampshire College graduate, the bizarre series of outrages regarding the American flag come as no surprise. In fact, these are the inevitable result of a curriculum and campus atmosphere which promotes an intensely harsh and rancorous critique of America.
Furthermore, President Lash actually seemed to attribute to his college such virtue and high-mindedness that its soil could hardly be considered part of the tainted USA. Most Americans must find all this completely incomprehensible. I am pretty sure that I can explain it; but only because of full-blown obsession with Russian/Soviet history and literature.
After viewing a dozen hours of Soviet anti-American propaganda from the 1920s to the 1980s, I found out exactly what they thought of us. In the process, it was disconcerting to learn that their litany of condemnation was virtually identical to what I had been force-fed at Hampshire:
America is a racist, imperialist, war-mongering exploiter. The government is run by corporations. There are only two classes — the very rich and the very poor. Democracy is a sham because the two parties are identical and puppets of the oligarchy. There are constant riots and repression and Americans are shallow consumers who are completely manipulated by Madison Avenue … there is nothing in America which is redeeming … and so on.
It was the Soviets’ number one project to manipulate the American left and inject these “ideas” into our consciousness. Their full intention was that — in good time — “demoralization” and self-loathing would set in and be sufficient to lead to the revolution they daily worked for. However, these implanted ideas were very, very sticky and 25 years later Hampshire College actually experienced enough loathing of its own motherland to see fit to remove the shameful American flag, so that “dialogue” about America’s worthiness/unworthiness could be engaged in.
All in all, I think that Hampshire College has performed an enormous public service in making a national fool of itself. Maybe these events have opened a “dialogue” regarding educational malpractice, indoctrination and a delusional critique of America based on something between granule and pebble of truth.
Professors who overtly and/or covertly foist their misbegotten radical ideology and historical illiteracy on credulous students should be rigorously challenged. Who will do the challenging … well, nobody will do the challenging.
David Zimicki
Haydenville
The writer is a Hampshire College graduate.