"Provoking Thought" at Kansas State University

Kansas State University works hard to ensure that undergrads (and "the community") have the opportunity to continue their "education" outside the classroom. One such initiative is called "Movies on the Grass." Its homepage on the web describes the program:

This is a FREE outdoor film and discussion series now in its fourth year. It offers students and community members an opportunity to engage in contemporary issues, while socializing on the attractive Coffman Commons, south of Hale Library.

Today the K-State Collegian published a standard puff-piece on its front page on this years "Movies on the Grass" schedule. This article does provide more details on this program and some quotes by its principles:

Thought-provoking issues like peacemaking, exploitation of resources and global trade will be shown in the Movies on the Grass series near Hale Library on Sunday evenings this fall.

Donna Schenck-Hamlin, a librarian at Hale Library and contact for Movies on the Grass, said a committee of sponsors and campus and community groups selects the movies. She said they work hard to keep the movies current and thought-provoking .... These films can all be categorized as explorations to deeper thought, Schenck-Hamlin said.

At the bottom of the "Movies" website is a link to the Dow Chemical Multicultural Resource Center. The Center's Mission Statement, in part, reads:

To explore the reality of human diversity both domestically and abroad, as well as staying abreast of the changing landscape of American demographics in order to understand its impact on society as a whole. To act as a primary support to the American Ethnic Studies program [the people who brought you Ward Churchill] and to serve as an interdisciplinary resource to patrons .... The Dow Chemical Multicultural Resource Center (DowMRC) is an outgrowth of the 1960’s Civil Rights movement [The Civil Rights movement began in the 1950s and was originally about individualism and inclusion] and other social movements of the time [the people who brought you William Ayers and Dave Foreman]. Kansas State University desired to establish a center committed to the study of culture and identity.

That sounds fair and balanced. At the "Movies" web-page there is also a link to the K-State "Notice of Nondiscrimination." If you read the list of no-noes "race, color, ethnic or national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, ancestry, disability, military status, veteran status" you will note the absence of a nondiscrimination policy based on the content of one's mind. I wonder what chance someone who doesn't toe the "diversity-multicultural" Party Line would have in getting hired and then tenure in any Ethnic Studies department.

Taking a quick look at the lawn movies demonstrates the university's commitment to intellectual diversity.

The first documentary, shown August 24, was something called Hacking Democracy. In this film the Great Satan is Diebold vote counting machines, "which count approximately 80% of America's votes in county, state and federal elections - suggesting that if our votes aren't safe, then our democracy isn't safe either." The United States is not a democracy. Reasons for this include vote stealing and the natural corruption of most politicians. How about a film on the death of the principles that give the Constitution life and actually secure our liberties? Don't hold you breath on that.

The next film to be shown I know I'm Not Alone, on September 7, is a pure appeal to emotion, "Michael Franti, world-renowned musician and human rights worker, travels to Iraq, Palestine and Israel to explore the human cost of war with a group of friends, some video cameras and his guitar." The film maker manages to have two "I's" in the title. This is the mentality that presumes it is possible to find solutions to problems without inquiring into their causes. I don't suppose the concepts of "Jihad" and "tribalism" often came up for discussion in this video.

On September 14 King Corn will be shown. It does address the real issue of the U.S. government's farm policies and subsidies. One doubts, however, that this corrupt boondoggle will be used as a jumping off point for a discussion on the evil of the Welfare State in general.

The last movie of the week is Darwin's Nightmare for September 21. This movie deals with the introduction of the Nile Perch into Lake Victoria: " Having extinguished almost the entire stock of the native fish species, it is now exported around the world. This film examines the international trade in fish and weapons that has transformed the lives of many people living on Lake Victoria in Tanzania." Needless to say, if the people of Tanzania (or anywhere else in the Third World) are to have the opportunities and prosperity most Americans take for granted, then what they need most desperately is freedom. This includes the freedom to become a part of the international marketplace. I wonder if Ricardo's Law of Comparative Advantage entered into the discussion after the film?

Not very likely by looking at this picture from 2006:


The caption reads: "Rylan Ortiz performs One Sweet World by Dave Matthews Band as pre-show entertainment before the film End of Suburbia."

The full title of this film shown in 2006 is End of Suburbia:Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream. This drivel is about "peak oil." It demonstrates a gross ignorance on what the American dream is and what makes it possible. Hint: it is liberty, and not the use or availability of one particular commodity. There is one thing these films have in common, the mentality of the "activist" who cannot think in principles or essentials. And that is the main lesson being taught here.

Update: The effect of the above can be found in an Investor's Business Daily editorial on academia's favorite fascist's plans for the brainwashed youth of America "Michelle's Boot Camps for Radicals:

"Barack Obama was a founding member of the board of Public Allies in 1992, resigning before his wife became executive director of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies in 1993. Obama plans to use the nonprofit group, which he features on his campaign Web site, as the model for a national service corps. He calls his Orwellian program, "Universal Voluntary Public Service."

Big Brother had nothing on the Obamas. They plan to herd American youth into government-funded reeducation camps where they'll be brainwashed into thinking America is a racist, oppressive place in need of "social change."

The pitch Public Allies makes on its Web site doesn't seem all that radical. It promises to place young adults (18-30) in paid one-year "community leadership" positions with nonprofit or government agencies. They'll also be required to attend weekly training workshops and three retreats.

But its real mission is to radicalize American youth and use them to bring about "social change" through threats, pressure, tension and confrontation — the tactics used by the father of community organizing, Saul "The Red" Alinsky.

"Our alumni are more than twice as likely as 18-34 year olds to . . . engage in protest activities," Public Allies boasts in a document found with its tax filings.

"If you commit to serving your community," he pledged in his Denver acceptance speech, "we will make sure you can afford a college education." So, go through government to go to college, and then go back into government.

Many of today's youth find the pitch attractive. "I may spend the rest of my life trying to create social movement," said Brian Coovert of the Cincinnati chapter. "There is always going to be work to do. Until we have a perfect country, I'll have a job.""

I wonder if a guitar (acoustic, of course) is included.

Crossposted at The Dougout