Whether it’s Towson University’s recently shut-down “white pride” group, Youth for Western Civilization, and its “straight pride day” (by the way, the Ancient Greeks and Romans — the founders of “Western Civilization?” Not super straight) or all the racist tweets about the film adaptation of The Hunger Games — mostly from young people — I can’t help but wonder if we are in the middle of an upsurge in prejudice among the youth.
And now two, likely unrelated, “incidents of bias and hate” have occurred at the University of Marlyand: “anti-semitic messages” were scrawled in an elevator in an academic building, and a noose was left inside a construction area. Campus police are investigating, and the University’s president sent out a campus-wide email condemning the incidents.
I remember college being all about Bob Marley posters, drum circles, naked marches, and drag parties. What’s going on in Towson and College Park? Of course, to be fair, you can’t blame an entire college community for one dufus with a magic marker, and hate incidents at UM are down 85 percent since 2003.
But take the story of the recent shut down of YWC at Towson. It’s a case of an older man — an older, conservative man — chastising kids for being too narrow-minded and hateful. Doesn’t that strike you as a little bizarre?
What do you think? Am I way off here? Any personal experiences to support or dispute my nagging fear?
