Curtis Dahlgren
Commencement addresses – the good, the bad, and the Lefty
By Curtis Dahlgren
"Common sense is a flower that doesn't grow in every garden." – UPmag.net
GRADUATES, OUTWARD BOUND, AND SNOWFLAKES: I come not to praise you. I come to remind you of people who went before you, people your professors have been slandering and smearing for the last four to six years. I come with the realities of current events. For example, right here, thank God for those caps and gowns; without them we wouldn't have much pomp and circumstance today. I know what some of you are wearing under those gowns and it "ain't pretty"!
Now I know that you have been told since three-year-old nursery school and four-year-old kindergarten that you are the smartest, the most highly educated, the most highly evolved, generation that has ever lived on earth. And that modern mores and modern fashions are part of that "evolution." You figure that we old fogies will soon die off, leaving a more "tolerant" and cool culture. What a crock!
As for the people who went before you, and before me, America was settled by people who weren't "cool." The pilgrims and Puritans didn't "fit in" in Europe, the Old World. They risked their lives and left behind their loved ones to try to start a New World right. They weren't just snowflakes "blowin' in the wind." They got to their destination (that word has something to do with destiny).
After the pilgrims and puritans came the pioneers. They crossed the Appalachian Trail to the west. The sons of the pioneers climbed the Rockies and the Sierras. Some of them didn't make it, and they didn't die of "natural causes." But some of them made it all the way to Alaska. Their conscience was their compass. They weren't twiddling their thumbs on a smart phone or watching Dancing With the Stars. Their reality show really was "survival." They didn't have psychiatrists or "safe spaces." But this country they founded and built with blood, sweat, and tears has lost its moral compass.
Some of you don't even know what the word "morality" means. It's that thing your professors have been ridiculing. It's that thing that's not HIP. It's not politically correct, which is itself a verboten term on this campus. This institution used to brag about its "winnowing and sifting." No longer. Most of you don't even know what "sifting" is because you've never watched a threshing machine or combine work. Not only do you not appreciate the engineering that went into those machines, but you might be "offended" by what they do; they separate the wheat from the chaff. There was nothing "subjective" about winnowing, unlike today's "soft sciences" and junk science. And the heaviest heads were the ones that bowed their heads. Yes, I'm referring to religion there. Today the wheel that squeaks the loudest and proudest gets all the grease, gets the media attention. The lowest common denominator wins. The COOL rules. That's the very definition of political correctness, which is the quickest way to the decline and fall of a nation. One final question: Did you come to this institution to get a worthwhile degree or just a pedigree for your resume?
By the way, George Patton stated correctly that "if everybody is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking." These days, if people just disagree with you, you may have been told that that's harassment! If someone says something "annoying" to you, do you have to run off to a "safe place" at your Alma-Mater for counseling? YOU CALL THAT THE SURVIVAL OF THE "FITTEST"? You call that evolution? What a CROCK.
In conclusion, the only thing "higher" about Higher Education today is the COST. Marquette Warriors coach Al McGuire said he thought everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a cab driver and six months as a bartender to really get educated! It was a brilliant prediction:
Some of you kids could end up tending bar or driving for Uber this year, even after spending a hundred thousand dollars or more of other people's money on your "sheepskin." You may have that sheepskin, but you're going to go naked and hungry unless you get a job. Congratulations, lotsa luck, and get a job!
P.S. This is an adaptation of my commencement address column from last May 18th and the third one in this series. The first two involved Yale, and I didn't even know that Mrs. Clinton gave the address for Yale's commencement this year. WELL EXCUSE ME.
PPS: The Harvard Crimson student newspaper actually called out their institution for its leftward tilt. Harvard isn't just "leaning" left; it's over the edge of the cliff in Wylie Coyote mode, waiting for gravity to do its thing. I actually saw a coyote this morning, but anyway, it's heartening to see signs of an awakening – even in academia land, even at Stanford of all places! Susan Rice's son is the leader of the college Republicans there, not afraid to make a few waves. The GOP party has been shackled by that fear for way too many decades! An update is in order here [quote]:
A conservative college student leader determined to "Make Stanford Great Again" is the son of Obama administration official Susan Rice – and says his parents might have put him on a right- leaning path by listening to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin.
According to the College Fix, which first reported on John David Rice-Cameron's divergent political path from his mom, the controversial former national security adviser to President Barack Obama, and dad, Ian Cameron, a former ABC News producer and executive, the split is amicable.
"They believe extensively in debate and engaging the other side and exposing people to different viewpoints," he told the outlet. Both parents are Stanford grads.
"Sometimes my dad would listen to Rush Limbaugh, and he would kind of argue with him," the 20-year-old Stanford University sophomore added. "I just found myself agreeing with basically everything Rush Limbaugh was saying." [unquote]
Remember, it was the younger children of Israel who were admitted into the Promised Land, not their elders. If kids raised liberal – and even rappers – are waking up, maybe there's some hope for everybody. Mrs. Clinton said at Yale, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
Y'all think she's thinking about joining the Tea Party?
© Curtis Dahlgren
June 6, 2018
"Common sense is a flower that doesn't grow in every garden." – UPmag.net
GRADUATES, OUTWARD BOUND, AND SNOWFLAKES: I come not to praise you. I come to remind you of people who went before you, people your professors have been slandering and smearing for the last four to six years. I come with the realities of current events. For example, right here, thank God for those caps and gowns; without them we wouldn't have much pomp and circumstance today. I know what some of you are wearing under those gowns and it "ain't pretty"!
Now I know that you have been told since three-year-old nursery school and four-year-old kindergarten that you are the smartest, the most highly educated, the most highly evolved, generation that has ever lived on earth. And that modern mores and modern fashions are part of that "evolution." You figure that we old fogies will soon die off, leaving a more "tolerant" and cool culture. What a crock!
As for the people who went before you, and before me, America was settled by people who weren't "cool." The pilgrims and Puritans didn't "fit in" in Europe, the Old World. They risked their lives and left behind their loved ones to try to start a New World right. They weren't just snowflakes "blowin' in the wind." They got to their destination (that word has something to do with destiny).
After the pilgrims and puritans came the pioneers. They crossed the Appalachian Trail to the west. The sons of the pioneers climbed the Rockies and the Sierras. Some of them didn't make it, and they didn't die of "natural causes." But some of them made it all the way to Alaska. Their conscience was their compass. They weren't twiddling their thumbs on a smart phone or watching Dancing With the Stars. Their reality show really was "survival." They didn't have psychiatrists or "safe spaces." But this country they founded and built with blood, sweat, and tears has lost its moral compass.
Some of you don't even know what the word "morality" means. It's that thing your professors have been ridiculing. It's that thing that's not HIP. It's not politically correct, which is itself a verboten term on this campus. This institution used to brag about its "winnowing and sifting." No longer. Most of you don't even know what "sifting" is because you've never watched a threshing machine or combine work. Not only do you not appreciate the engineering that went into those machines, but you might be "offended" by what they do; they separate the wheat from the chaff. There was nothing "subjective" about winnowing, unlike today's "soft sciences" and junk science. And the heaviest heads were the ones that bowed their heads. Yes, I'm referring to religion there. Today the wheel that squeaks the loudest and proudest gets all the grease, gets the media attention. The lowest common denominator wins. The COOL rules. That's the very definition of political correctness, which is the quickest way to the decline and fall of a nation. One final question: Did you come to this institution to get a worthwhile degree or just a pedigree for your resume?
By the way, George Patton stated correctly that "if everybody is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking." These days, if people just disagree with you, you may have been told that that's harassment! If someone says something "annoying" to you, do you have to run off to a "safe place" at your Alma-Mater for counseling? YOU CALL THAT THE SURVIVAL OF THE "FITTEST"? You call that evolution? What a CROCK.
In conclusion, the only thing "higher" about Higher Education today is the COST. Marquette Warriors coach Al McGuire said he thought everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a cab driver and six months as a bartender to really get educated! It was a brilliant prediction:
Some of you kids could end up tending bar or driving for Uber this year, even after spending a hundred thousand dollars or more of other people's money on your "sheepskin." You may have that sheepskin, but you're going to go naked and hungry unless you get a job. Congratulations, lotsa luck, and get a job!
P.S. This is an adaptation of my commencement address column from last May 18th and the third one in this series. The first two involved Yale, and I didn't even know that Mrs. Clinton gave the address for Yale's commencement this year. WELL EXCUSE ME.
PPS: The Harvard Crimson student newspaper actually called out their institution for its leftward tilt. Harvard isn't just "leaning" left; it's over the edge of the cliff in Wylie Coyote mode, waiting for gravity to do its thing. I actually saw a coyote this morning, but anyway, it's heartening to see signs of an awakening – even in academia land, even at Stanford of all places! Susan Rice's son is the leader of the college Republicans there, not afraid to make a few waves. The GOP party has been shackled by that fear for way too many decades! An update is in order here [quote]:
A conservative college student leader determined to "Make Stanford Great Again" is the son of Obama administration official Susan Rice – and says his parents might have put him on a right- leaning path by listening to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin.
According to the College Fix, which first reported on John David Rice-Cameron's divergent political path from his mom, the controversial former national security adviser to President Barack Obama, and dad, Ian Cameron, a former ABC News producer and executive, the split is amicable.
"They believe extensively in debate and engaging the other side and exposing people to different viewpoints," he told the outlet. Both parents are Stanford grads.
"Sometimes my dad would listen to Rush Limbaugh, and he would kind of argue with him," the 20-year-old Stanford University sophomore added. "I just found myself agreeing with basically everything Rush Limbaugh was saying." [unquote]
Remember, it was the younger children of Israel who were admitted into the Promised Land, not their elders. If kids raised liberal – and even rappers – are waking up, maybe there's some hope for everybody. Mrs. Clinton said at Yale, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
Y'all think she's thinking about joining the Tea Party?
© Curtis Dahlgren
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