Imagine the aftermath of another devastating terrorist attack in New York City.
The thought is chilling.
Will we respond with sorrow, heartbreak, and determination, as we did after the horrors of 9/11? The unity we experienced then, both within our country and with international support, was a crucial part of the healing process.
Or will we witness a spectacle similar to the aftermath of the October 7 attacks in Israel?
Will there be a club in Brooklyn hosting a macabre “Intifada fundraver,” using images of militants to promote a night of dancing on the graves of over 1,400 innocent victims?
These are questions I never thought to ask until The End, a nightclub in Williamsburg, actually did exactly that. They hosted a Sunday dance party to raise funds for Palestine, aligning themselves with Hamas by using the name “intifada”.
A recent You.gov poll paints a disheartening picture.
The poll, conducted after the Hamas attacks in Israel, reveals that only 32% of Americans aged 18-29 believe that Hamas deliberately targeted civilian areas in Israel. (Interestingly, 76% of Americans aged 65 and older, including Holocaust survivors and veterans, hold this belief.)
In essence, a significant portion of Generation Z fails to see the October 7 attacks for what they were: a brutal terrorist ambush on innocent civilians. They view Hamas through rose-tinted glasses.
Numerous university student associations have released statements blaming Israel for the attacks. On elite campuses, many of these associations organized marches, avidly supporting the “resistance” and leaving a stain of hatred in their wake.
At Columbia, some individuals carrying Palestinian flags concealed their faces with masks or scarves. At UPenn, radicals chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – a thinly veiled call for the elimination of Israel. The Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Virginia celebrated the “events of yesterday” as a step towards a “free Palestine.”
Student groups at California State University in Long Beach organized a “Day of Resistance” rally, promoting it with a poster featuring a paraglider – the same method used by Hamas when they ambushed a music festival, resulting in the deaths of over 200 attendees. A professor at Columbia described the attack as “awesome,” while one at Cornell found it “exhilarating.”
In just one generation, we have witnessed a transformation from American pride to self-flagellation. Our youth has been awakened to guilt and self-loathing, values that dominate their worldview.
It is important to acknowledge the challenges faced by Generation Z. They have been bombarded with climate change catastrophes, their mental health has been affected by social media, and they have grown up in an era of frequent mass shootings, all while feeling that the American Dream is beyond their reach.
However, they are being manipulated by the education system, from kindergarten through college, which has rebranded the United States from Ronald Reagan’s “shining city on a hill” to a failed experiment in need of demolition.
Schools, both public and private, have infused their curriculum with critical race theory and anti-racist principles that label concepts like math and punctuality as forms of white supremacy. A person’s worth is now determined by their position on the intersectionality scale, with identity taking precedence over merit. The pursuit of equity overshadows the pursuit of equality.
As David Bernstein eloquently writes in his book “Woke Antisemitism: How Progressive Ideology Harms Jews” (2022), the woke left always sees the world through the lens of oppressor versus oppressed. Their ideologies equate power with evil and powerlessness with virtue.
It is no wonder that the pursuit of progressive virtues has become a symbol of status for young people, surpassing even luxury handbags.
Even corporations have joined in the empty crusade of preaching progressive values. In 2019, Nike withdrew a pair of sneakers featuring a Betsy Ross flag after Colin Kaepernick deemed them offensive due to perceived associations with slavery.
Columbus Day has been rebranded as Indigenous People’s Day to atone for the sins of an Italian explorer from the 15th century.
Meanwhile, colleges are discontinuing liberal arts programs en masse, eradicating the foundational principles taught through history, literature, and philosophy.
So what is left? A narrow focus on buzzwords like “colonialism” and “occupiers,” devoid of critical thinking or an understanding that throughout human history, irrespective of race, religion, or region, violence has been a recurring theme along with the rise and fall of empires.
Given these circumstances, it is not surprising that a June Gallup poll revealed that a mere 18% of 18 to 34-year-olds identify as “extremely proud” to be American.
While the United States is far from perfect and has its own history of sins, it unquestionably remains the greatest nation on earth.
How else can we explain the vast numbers of people risking their lives to cross the southern border and come to live here? There is no exodus from this land of supposed oppression.
As for the initial question posed in this column, one can only hope we never have to see its answer.
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