by Armando Simón (June 2026)
The plain fact is that education is itself a form of propaganda—a deliberate scheme to outfit the pupil, not with the capacity to weigh ideas, but with a simple appetite for gulping ideas ready-made. The aim is to make ‘good’ citizens, which is to say, docile and uninquisitive citizens. —H. L. Mencken
For many, many decades, it has been customary to shower college students with praise and admiration simply for being college students. I suspect that part of this tendency is that they are in their peak physical attractiveness and psychological studies have shown that attractiveness automatically elicits imagined positive traits. Then, too, they represent the potential that we all have for our children.
But there is a dark side to college students which has societal repercussions and it is that many have a tendency for fanaticism. We should be conscious of this. And concerned.
It has become one of those tenets with Marxists that the more education one has the more anti-Nazi he becomes. Conversely, only dumb brutes are Nazis. This is one of the countless idiotic caricatures that have been passed down from that period. In reality, many intellectuals were strong supporters of Germany’s National Socialism and Italian Fascism, including several Nobel Prize winners. But, more to the point, the most ardent National Socialists were college students. The infamous book burnings that took place, contrary to what we have been told, were not organized and carried out by the government, but were spontaneous acts by “idealistic students.”
The Sixties saw a wave of totalitarian fanaticism sweep through the West. Initially fueled by a pacifist movement borne from a justified terror of a possible nuclear war, it metamorphosized into one branch, which were the infantile peace-loving hippies (the best film ever made of that mindset was I Love You, Alice B. Toklas). The other one were Communist revolutionaries wannabes (the latter branch has been whitewashed by Marxist historians to the point that they have been written out of existence, that the times were was solely that of Peace, Make Love not War. Nonetheless, a handful of books were written which should be reprinted to avoid their being relegated to oblivion: Diana: The Making of a Terrorist and Communism and the New Left).
At that time, the media gushed in praise of young people, how dedicated they were, how idealistic, how pure, how innocent, how wonderful. Older people—that is, persons older than thirty—were described as cynical, materialistic, hypocritical. “Don’t trust anyone over 30!” was an actual slogan. Their idols were guerrilla fighters like the overrated, overglorified, psychotics Che Guevara, Mousey Tongue and Fidel Castro. They engaged in urban terrorism, causing property damage and many deaths. In America, these terrorist groups became known primarily as the SDS, Yippies and the Weathermen. In Italy, it was the Red Brigade, in Germany, the Baader-Meinhof group (aka, Red Army faction), the Shining Path in Perú, the Tupamaros in Uruguay, the Montoneros and ERP in Argentina. Their hands were soaked in blood. They were all “idealistic college students.”
Although their numbers were microscopic (from six active members in one group to a hundred in another) in contrast to the rest of the population of America, Italy, Argentina, or Germany, as a result of their activities and above all the constant torrent of propaganda from the media sanitizing the terrorists, citizens in those countries felt like they were under siege. There was a tension in the air that you could cut with a knife.
Incidentally, this was when the feminists came into being. Many originally branched off from Communist groups. To this day, they are still spouting Marxism and the destruction of the family in their writings.
1n 1979, the Shah of Iran was overthrown and a theocratic regime was imposed. The overthrow was carried out by “idealistic students,” the same individuals who, in their “idealism” swarmed over the US Embassy and held the staff hostage. The pusillanimous Jimmy Carter did nothing, but the hostages were released the day Ronald Reagan became president.
And now, we have another totalitarian movement where a significant portion is made up of “idealistic students,” which began as a hysterical reaction to the election of President Donald Trump. As it has progressed, it has become a Communist movement in all but name, though occasionally flying the hammer and sickle (Communism is like herpes; once you think it’s gone for good, it resurfaces). And although it is parroting slogans about “the workers,” one sees a preponderance of college students. The adherents are truly fanatical with the NPC mindset that is often found in cults and in the throes of sophomania. Antifa, whose uniform is identical to Mussolini’s Blackshirts, is the paramilitary branch of the movement and the Democrat-Communist party and it is entirely composed of college students. You will not find old geezers in there. The stated aim of the movement is the destruction of America and the murder of Donald Trump. They have become increasingly violent while conservatives just whine.
Incidentally, in this present totalitarian movement, one sees a curious repetition of the dichotomy present in the Sixties. In demonstrations, one sees on the one hand the vicious, hate-filled, violent individuals and on the other one sees people who act in a decidedly idiotic manner, dressing in ridiculous costumes and acting infantile.
The pattern is self-evident. We shall see how this state of affairs plays out. Don’t be too optimistic.
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Armando Simón is a retired psychologist, author of The Transgender Cult: Psychology, Politics, Religion and the Media.
Follow NER on Twitter @NERIconoclast
2 Responses
The grandmother attacking the Trump effigy is also disturbing. She is wearing a shirt that says, “Make America Kind Again,” while beating that effigy viciously. How can she not see that the t-shirt she is wearing advocates for one thing and the effigy beating she is engaging in advocates for its opposite? Very crazy.
I wonder sometimes whether our child-centric culture hasn’t pushed these elderly people into absorbing the young totalitarian’s mindset uncritically in an effort to appear still young and hip.
Or, perhaps it’s merely the usual LIS, Liberal Insanity Syndrome, a condition, once contracted, previous few ever outgrow.