Nathan Glazer, 95, is one of the last living intellectuals who helped shape U.S. policy during the 1960s and 1970s. During a teaching stint in 1964 at the University of California Berkeley, he said that radical students who sought social reform practiced “humiliation of others” and “the destruction of authority — any authority — whether necessary and worthwhile or not.”
Recently, my wife and I were coming home from dinner and we passed a small park where a demonstration was being held. The demonstration consisted of one woman, a campus activist, holding a “#MeToo” sign with eight other signs stuck in the ground behind her.
I don’t believe the young woman was one of the radical students described by Glazer but instead part of a group that is destined to make the lives of women better and she should be commended for her actions. But there are radical students at the University of Utah who fall into the group that Glazer condemned in 1964.
Ben Shapiro, a conservative commentator, was scheduled to speak at the University of Utah the night of Sept. 28, 2017, but before he could speak, a raucous demonstration was held in front of the Park Building on campus.
A group of around 400 protesters, made up of members of Black Lives Matter, the LGBT community and others, marched from the Park Building to the Behavioral Science Building, chanting, “It is right, do it now, Ben Shapiro, go to hell,” but these obscene protesters were not successful in stopping the speech and more than a 1,000 vied for the 400 seats available in the Behavioral Science Building. “Humiliation of others” and “the destruction of authority — any authority whether — necessary or not,” was certainly evident at the University of Utah — my alma mater — that day.
Shapiro is the founder and editor-in-chief of the conservative website Daily Wire and has been opposing Pres. Trump since 2016. The New York Times labeled him “the Cool Kids philosopher.”
So, what did Ben Shapiro say that caused such a uproar? “This is America, you are essentially free to do what you want. Freedom is harsh, freedom is unsparing. It means you are free to speak,” was his message.
“This notion that America was created specifically for the benefit of rich white males to preserve their power is absolute and utter hogwash, just complete bull,” Shapiro told the crowd. Now, those words are certainly worthy of bringing out the worst in you, don’t you think? Shame on you, Black Lives Matter and LBGT community. Shame on you.
For the second Saturday in a row I asked the following question to my progressive friends at breakfast who are not campus activists: “Why don’t the Democrats propose a tax cut for the middle class?” I know that they realize that I am there because they had just agreed with me that Trump is a moral bust. But when I asked the question, they looked at me like I was talking Chinese.
Now I ask you, “Why are the liberal elites so self-serving and unable — or unwilling — to solve the problems of ordinary people?” My progressive friends are not self-serving, but they are unwilling to discuss and/or debate the idea of a tax cut for the middle class.
“Our country was founded on the principles of individual dignity, limited government and a faith in human progress brought about with debate and reform,” said The Economist in a September editorial.
The U.S. has entered into a period of partisanship that I encountered only once before and that was the '60s and '70s because of the Vietnam War. Protests, marches and killings (Kent State) were the norm. In retrospect, I now realize that discussion and debate were absent from American dialogue.
So, do you think that I will be able to get my progressive friends to enter into meaningful debate about a tax cut for the middle- class?
Robert Pembroke is the former chairman and CEO of Pembroke’s Inc. in Salt Lake City.