Blue Collar Muse

I’m not sure where I was but I must have been doing something VERY important. Otherwise I’m pretty sure I would remember where I was when higher education became synonymous with ignorance. Kind of like remembering where you were when we landed on the moon; when Challenger blew up and when Kennedy, Kennedy, King, Lennon, Reagan and the Pope were shot.

You may be tempted to disagree with me and contend that higher education is not, in fact, an exercise in ignorance. So let me state, for the record, that I wish it were not so. Unfortunately, I have proof that it is. Well, proof that in the minds of some folks in Maine it is. I suppose I could back off a bit since not everyone in the story agrees with what was done. That’s likely the question you’re asking yourself, at the moment, isn’t it? What in the world set Ken off this time?

Here’s the skinny. The University of Maine at Farmington approved a recent ‘art’ project for one of their students. This particular project involved laying American flags, large and small, on the floor of a high traffic hall in the University’s Student Center. The idea was that the flags were there for people to walk on if they so chose. Thankfully, this ‘art’ didn’t insist that people do so and the flags were arranged in such a way that foot traffic could snake around the flags and traverse the hall without stepping on Old Glory.

Most of the young people who walked the hall that day had the good sense, morals and respect for the flag to take the difficult, meandering route. Unfortunately not everyone has a pedigree that includes respect and decency. There were students that walked across the flags and an ignorant few who actually took up positions intentionally standing on the flag. This included one empty headed, ignoramus dressed for the ‘hood (in Maine??) and proudly wearing a sign on his back proclaiming him to be a “Future Teacher”. Yet another reason The Much Younger Trophy Wife and I homeschool our children.

But even these naifs were not the most memorable members from the cast of characters parading across a six and a half minute video of the “art” show. The most memorable were a group of four, two good and two bad. The two bad, unsurprisingly, are University employees. And not just any two employees, oh no! They were the University’s President, Theodora Kalikow and the University’s Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Allen Berger. For the record, both of these individuals have completed a PhD program and appear on the University’s website with the honorific Dr. before their names. I will not so honor them here. I trust they will approve of my exercise of my Freedom of Speech.

The two University employees explain to one of the good guys, a veteran upset about the “art”, that the student’s project was approved by the University (so much for the “We didn’t know” defense later), was covered under the student’s right to free speech and that he can’t remove the flags from the floor. A third woman actually has the hubris to tell him they are protecting his Freedom of Speech by permitting the “art”. The veteran is further advised that his standing in front of the “art” with a home made sign reading “DISGRACEFUL” will not be permitted and that if he persists in doing so he will be escorted off the grounds, although they later agree to let him stay. There is, however, a police officer right next to the vet who enthusiastically agrees to remove him if necessary should the vet seek to defend his beloved flag from desecration. One of the employees further engages the veteran in a debate in which he tells him the flag is just “a piece of cloth” and implies his fight under the flag as a symbol of freedom was ignorant since Viet Nam was about far more than symbols. Truly these two employees are classic examples of those whose mind is so open their brains have leaked out.

The good guys in the video are a vet and another student at the University. Of all the folks in the video, I was most impressed with the veteran. Perhaps it was his time in the service that allowed him to cut through all of the verbal and intellectual posturing and misdirection and keep his eye on the enemy. He was at all times respectful and never once raised his voice but he knew what his mission was and he would not be dissuaded. Some of my favorite moments were when the employees began spouting some gobbledy-gook and the vet’s eyes would glaze over a bit and he simply and obviously tuned them out. He held his sign and stood in front of the flag to prevent anyone from walking on it without first knocking him down and simply stared straight ahead, calm and impassive. What a beautiful testament to patriotism in the face of cultural lunacy.

The second good guy was another student who walked up to the vet as he stood his post, shook the vet’s hand, crossed his arms in front of him and then stood alongside him as he kept up his vigil. Both of the good guys are unnamed in the video, but if I get to Maine, I have two folks on my “I believe I owe you a beer!” list. Thank you, gentlemen, for your service to our country!

Thanks, too, to the folks behind the camera! It’s my understanding that the College Republican group for UMF provided the video. It is difficult to imagine what it must be like to be an American and a Republican in such an environment. Those who openly proclaim themselves to be both get a shout out from Tennessee! And thanks to the nameless students as well who kept the faith by keeping their feet where they belong in a situation like this; on the straight and narrow and not on the Stars and Stripes! It’s these students we should consider as the norm as opposed to ignorant and disrespectful children and the educators who enable them. I suspect there are far more of the good kids than there are the bad ones. Even at the University of Maine …

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