the good life wins every time

The Nation magazine salutes the “lineup” of antiwar college students seen at recent demonstrations:

Almost all major campus antiwar groups are working closely with veterans, through groups like Iraq Veterans Against the War, and bringing them to speak on campus at teach-ins. Iraq vet and Bowdoin student Alex Cornell du Houx recalls his unit receiving a CARE package in Iraq from Bowdoin College Democrats and a Bowdoin peace activist group. “When the other guys in my squad found out where the food came from, they reacted very positively,” says du Houx, now working for a CDA media team. “It changed their perception of the College Dems and peace activists.”

Four years ago numerous polls found that students, like the majority of the population, overwhelmingly supported the war. Now students, more than any other age group, oppose the war. Without doubt, student antiwar activists are more sophisticated and coordinated than ever before.

 Then comes the big question, namely:

whether the movement can ignite the silent antiwar majority on campus. It remains to be seen if the legacy of the Class of Iraq will be one of acquiescence or resistance.

Based on anecdotal evidence,*** it’s easy to predict: acquiescence—total acquiescence. There is a revulsion toward war as the terrible cost of it is displayed to us on our TV screens, but is no anti-war movement, except in the fevered imaginations of the netroots and their cheerleaders.

Based on a recent study, which found that today’s college students are narcissistic and obsessed with making lots of money, I’d say it’s even easier to predict acquiescence.

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*** My children were raised among the glowing embers of leftism in downtown Manhattan. One of them is studiously apolitical, not to say anti-political (a not infrequent result of indoctrination). The other one currently attends one of the premier left-wing colleges in the United States. Believe me: there is no anti-war movement on American college campuses. There is, however, a deep love of all things hedonistic: like, for instance, eating great food, and cooking it.