War Destroys Leftist Orthodoxies – WSJ

After Hamas s attacks on Israeli civilians, a director of diversity and inclusion at Cornell s business school glorified terrorism, writing about the resistance being launched by Palestinians. Remind me why we have DEI departments? At Harvard more than 30 students groups signed a letter claiming Israel was the only one to blame. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is worried about the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Twitter is littered with tweets saying this is decolonization in action. All these support an oppression narrative.

Where did these people get such ideas? The universities. Here s an introductory-level EMR (Ethnicity, Migration, Rights) class at Harvard: Global Rebellion: Race, Solidarity, and Decolonization. The course discusses how to rebel against global white supremacy. I found similar courses at Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke and other top schools. Another Harvard colonialism course studies decoloniality which sounds like a made-up academic term that turns out to involve anti-oppression and de-Westernizing. Notice how so many grievances mimic Marxist class struggles. Why does radicalizing and dividing students over identity take precedence over, well, real inclusion?

The attacks were in light of the orgy of occupation. Those are the words of Mohammed Deif, military commander of Hamas. Iran s (drone-stricken) Gen. Qassem Soleimani included Hamas in the Axis of Resistance. The United Nations has a Special Committee on Decolonization. Sound familiar? Occupation, resistance, decolonization progressive talking points all.

The economist Ludwig von Mises wrote in 1947 that the Soviet s agenda was aided by korisne budale useful fools, which has since morphed into useful idiots. While an overused expression, it fits this time. Those speaking of occupation, resistance and decolonizing are pure and simple useful idiots for terrorism, running interference and providing a rationale for depraved behavior. These witless nitwits have also aided Iran s attempt to stop Saudi Arabia from joining the Abraham Accords. While many university presidents have since come out against the barbaric attacks, the damage has been done. A Great Discrediting has begun.

via www.wsj.com

Andy Kessler.