SHAWMUT: Columbia Alumni WWII

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Columbia Alumni WWII

Bret Stephens WSJ wrote citing the supposed situation of former Columbia alumni should Adolph Hitler have taken the forum at the prestigious university prior to WWII as one its deans, John Coatsworth, suggested:

"In just a few years, some of these men will be rushing a beach at Normandy or caught in a firefight in the Ardennes. And the fact that their ideas were finer and better than Hitler's will have done nothing to keep them and millions of their countrymen from harm, and nothing to get them out of its way." http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/bstephens/?id=110010648

In 2007, 2008, or further into the future, some Columbia student, alumni or professors could be taking their orange Volvo from a parking valet at a restaurant. And, though they are people high ideals; finer and better than Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in only a quarter of a mile their values, if not their identities, will be in question.

Where did that rucksack with Semtex from the orange Volvo that exploded a couple of blocks up the street come from?

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"Americana"

With no due respect:
I use the term 'Americana' quite frequently. It's that crowd I refer to who take great inspiration in articles they find in months-old magazines left in laundromats. It's often written by a waning celebrity thirteen-steps-short-of-twelve who's been 'in recovery' for two months (this time). Sometimes it’s written by not even a has-been, but by a would-be who succeeded in becoming a might-have-been. Dramatically, they would assign an element of guilt to others over war, trees, whales, rutting goats, and would impose on anyone in hearing, sight or sense, their sense of superiority as being the only people eligible of making judgements. Some will have made that achievement of higher education. (A fewer number of observers might ask; "Higher than what?")
They'll be found following the lemmings who want to pay slavery reparations or buy $500 tickets for a 'Stonewall Minute' gay rights dinner. They believe in no-score sports, competition is seen a form of atavistic dysfunction, and they believe every issue can be solved by becoming add-water'n-stir victims or plaintiffs in discrimination suits. This specie is sterilized from perspective and can be programmed to vote. They don't formulate opinions based upon facts, but upon opinions of others they would emulate in style, dress, linguistics, glossies or the canned humor of late-nite TV - depending on how the late nite host is styled, dressed, speaks, etc.).They'll slip that magazine into their dried wear, never referring to again; that thunderclap of revelation no longer even an echo. To even remember to review it again it would exceed the capability of their attention span. Their sense of poignancy oxidizes with each breath. That magazine will balance an uneven table. These are the people, who, when led to the font of knowledge, will only gargle.