We are now living in a world where flying the American flag on a campus in the United States is seen as a divisive and horrifying act. Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts has proclaimed that the campus will not fly the American flag because some students find it to be upsetting. Is this real life?
Hampshire College has taken down the American flag after it was burned the night before Veterans Day and two days following Donald J. Trump winning the presidential election.
Jonathan Lash, president of the private liberal arts college, said administrators initially replaced the flag with the intention of recognizing “the strong feelings of those who see the flag as a statement of the best of the country.” However, the college board announced that it would be flown at half-staff to “acknowledge the grief and pain experienced by so many and to enable the full complexity of voices and experiences to be heard.”
This falls in line with a policy that the college had put in place earlier in the year.
“Some months ago, the Hampshire College Board of Trustees adopted a policy of periodically flying the flag at half-staff to mourn deaths from violence around the world. Earlier this week, in the current environment of escalating hate-based violence, we made the decision to fly Hampshire’s U.S. flag at half-staff for a time while the community delved deeper into the meaning of the flag and its presence on our campus.”
This decision offended veterans and some community members, which is certainly a valid sentiment since flying the flag at half-mast is generally reserved for soldiers and civil servants who have died during their service to the country. So while this hate-based violence is disgusting, you are equating it to the same as a soldier dying in the line of duty.
However, participation trophy-gifted SJW babies still felt hurt because they don’t like the incoming President and are still whining about election results weeks later. They demanded that the American flag be removed from the college because they view it as a symbol of racism and misogyny.
So of course the college president told the students that it’s the country’s flag and to get over themselves. Right? RIGHT?!?!
*trigger warning*
[protected-iframe id=”8ed529a516e97d0fa6a8bcd548980b6d-97886205-93291949″ info=”//giphy.com/embed/3oz8xLd9DJq2l2VFtu” width=”480″ height=”287″ frameborder=”0″ class=”giphy-embed” allowfullscreen=””]
Hampshire College’s president Johnathan Lash announced that no American flag will fly over the campus. The leader of the Amherst campus called the American flag “a disruptive symbol.”
Lash sent a campus-wide e-mail stating that the flagpole would remain bare until next semester at the earliest. He added that by removing the flag, the college will seek to “focus our efforts on addressing racist, misogynistic, Islamophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and behaviors.”
Daniel Vogul, one of the Hampshire College students who called for the removal of Old Glory appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and received a lesson on the harsh reality when the host destroyed his incubated thinking.
You can now put the American flag and democratic elections on the list of the quadrillion harmless things that trigger college students.
So these students and their parents are paying $62,015 in tuition per year to learn that if they kick and scream loud enough that they will get there way, which is completely the opposite in the real world. Hampshire College, way to prepare your students for the real world.
[protected-iframe id=”e67f8b3a9b204997643a0d294e242d70-97886205-93291949″ info=”//giphy.com/embed/2Qs2hKWMvEzdu” width=”480″ height=”265″ frameborder=”0″ class=”giphy-embed” allowfullscreen=””]