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By Kevin Reich The Daily Northwestern
Last Monday, American flags were displayed on the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade along Sheridan Road representing the 3,700 abortions a day in America. "F**k them!" said one of my annoyingly non-critical feminist friends, supposedly asking that her voice be heard with an argument that would move the masses. F**k them. Both moving and convincing rhetoric.
In Boston University's last semester, a college Republican group was widely criticized for creating a "Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship" - an all-white scholarship. BU's dean of students called the group's actions "misguided," immediately discrediting the group's motives.
A far more shocking attempt to debunk affirmative action took place almost four years ago when NU's own crafty little College Republicans sold "affirmative action" cookies prix-fixe à la racial identity (from $.75 for blacks to $1.25 for Asians).
It is this type of questioning, this type of rebellion, that used to be a virtue of the left. The right is the new vanguard. Now the liberals, through their own fault, find College Republicans offensive.
The shockingly apathetic college left obsesses over human rights and integrity without critically delving into any issue. The left is eternally anti-war, anti-intolerance, and anti-Bush. There's no need to go beyond the superficial. They know their stance before an issue comes to fruition: The college left knows they are whatever isn't "right." They criticize but aren't critical.
Some even reject what the more critical left has learned to use to its advantage: satire à la John Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
In all his (or is it her?) conformity, the collegiate liberal is a lost puppy. Always overwrought and melancholy over world crises and inequality, his anxieties take precedence to action. He self-obsesses over the injustice in Darfur or Lebanon, the integrity of the Patriot Act and the hypocrisy of Ted Haggard, but does little to actively address any issue.
Today it is the conservatives who are really challenging the status quo. Our Republican peers are succinctly and coherently questioning the collegiate majority with their shocking - and thus effective - rhetoric and imagery.
The college conservative has discovered the true nature of America: If you shock them, they will listen.
It is exactly this notion that made the Republicans the most powerful party in America. They were able to control the issues on the House floor not by creating articulate policy (with Bush as proof), but by managing an agenda that would rouse the Dems and claim the nation's attention.
Liberals, quit condemning Republican rhetoric: Adopt it! Offend! Don't defend! The college right is challenging the norms and asking the fundamentally challenging questions. Find a way to f**k them. If you shock them, they will come.
Communication junior Kevin Reich can be reached at k-reich@northwestern.edu.
