Hard to take advice from people who don’t read the newspaper

Glancing at the front page of the Daily Pilot on Friday, I had a

thought that confirmed my fears that not only am I getting older, but

I’m now beginning to think like those who feel youth have lost their

way.

Almost every generation thinks that way. They think the young

people coming up after them are more jaded or more misinformed or

more unruly than they were.

As I looked at the pictures of the young college students at

Orange Coast College protesting the war in Iraq, it struck me that my

reaction must be similar to those who were middle-aged adults in the

1960s and watched anti-Vietnam War protests.

First off, I don’t begrudge the rights of these students to

assemble and protest the war. That’s a fine American tradition that

dates back to our early history and, in fact, I think it’s healthy

for the debate.

While I have my own personal beliefs about the war and war in

general, I’m always willing to listen to other debates. Unlike some

of our readers, I always appreciate our columnist Joe Bell’s

thoughtful and thought-provoking commentary.

What I have a hard time with, however, is having young students

give me advice on United States foreign policy one way or the other.

You see, as some of you may know, I teach a journalism course at

OCC part time. Some of my students were part of the class walkout

that took place that Thursday (though they did come to my class, I

must admit). And I don’t mean to pick on them, but these same

students, or at least about 90% of them, admit to me that they don’t

read newspapers and wouldn’t read one except for the fact that I give

them news quizzes as part of their grades.

So the idea that I’m supposed to have my opinion changed by people

who know little about their own government, by people who don’t

bother to keep up on current events, is pretty silly to me.

And yes, this is a thinly veiled pitch for reading newspapers,

which I believe are cornerstones to our democracy.

But that’s really not my point. Though here is another:

One of my former students is one of the main organizers behind the

antiwar efforts.

I told him last semester that I would have more respect for the

antiwar protesters if they were consistent.

For example, can you imagine a similar protest taking place today

in Iraq? And does Iraq have a free press that would allow a

front-page photo of dissenters to publish, or is it controlled by the

government -- in particular Saddam Hussein?

Of course, the answer is the latter and, in fact, Saddam Hussein’s

son Uday runs the country’s newspaper.

To me, that’s antithetical to democracy and a free society and

worth protesting over.

But, as I told my student, I don’t remember seeing any massive

protests in the streets over the Iraqi regime and its stranglehold on

liberty and freedom. Why should Saddam Hussein get a free ride?

So to those student protesters, and to the readers who complain

that we even dare publish the photos of protesters, I say just be

thankful that you live in a place where you can see that in your

morning newspaper.