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whats Cool is never popular, thats why its Cool.

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LOL, “Organizers did everything they could to make it not political,” he said. “It’s too bad because it’s just the flag—it’s not about politics.” - let's see, the fund itself was started by a Republican lobbyist and operative, contributed towards in big sums from a few large donors like Bill Ackman (who has "come out" as a Trump supporter, shocker!) which is how it raised a crazy sum of a Half Million dollars for... a party... promoted by Donald Trump, the current Republican 2024 nominee, and apparently featuring VIP attendees like Texas Republican Representative Dan Crenshaw... could this be any more "political", let alone "Republican"?

The fact that out of 7000 invites distributed less than 1000 showed up *is* the story, and having read the NY Times piece that Olivia snarks at that actually covered some of the other various reasons for not attending from those who even participated in the original counter-protest, it was a combination of reasons: yes the obvious partisan political nature of it discussed here - that by attending one is endorsing Trump and the Republican Party, and by extension, their organizations if they were members of that probably wanted to avoid exactly that kind of politicking, that the organizers were very much making "the flag" a Republican enterprise... but there were also objections from some of the actual participants in the original counter-protest and member organizations that felt the party and its promoters were missing some of the larger points of the counter-protest and sidelined the Jewish aspect of it in favor of a "rah rah USA" take, or a "Left Versus Right" take, and others thought the notion of a party that cost, again, Half A Million Dollars was funds that could have been much better spent on various charities, some even suggested on a Gaza relief fund (which may conflict with the views assumed by those involved in the counter-protest about the conflict itself, versus the protests)... and maybe some of this was just a "miss" with youth culture, a party featuring Lee Greenwood (who is a Trump rally mainstay with mostly Boomer aged crowds and is probably not on the top list of a Gen Z crowd draw), along with what sounds like an exclusively country lineup otherwise may not have attracted a bigger crowd of "The Yoots", even with free beer, was there sort of an assumption that "frat bros", including Jewish ones, are heavily into country music and culture? And then Hooters waitresses... yeah, no offense, but this did seem to be a party put on by, and primarily for, former now middle aged frat "bros" wanting to re-live their "keg rager" days under the guise of a "patriotic" cause, in which the kids were mostly supposed to be the scenery for, and probably gave off a pretty ripe vibe of "Hey Fellow Kids!" meme-ishness.

I'm sure it was still a good time for those who attended, but yeah, the real story is why a "free rager" that cast a 7000 invite wide net wound up with less than 1000, and didn't even capture all of those who participated in the original protest, and how this might be sort of a window on the Republican/conservative "project" with Gen Z/youth might actually be going, outside of the window dressing of Trump doing podcasts with gamers and TikToks etc. From my experience, Gen Z is even when they can take some "left wing" and "right wing" viewpoints on various issues, or "code" left or right, their allegiance and support of both political parties is still pretty weak, so trying to turn a singular counter-protest move into a heavily coded partisan political event probably turned out exactly like anyone could have told the big check writers that it would have turned out like, a kind of embarrassing dud.

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You’re reading too much into something that has simple, obvious answers. The bands aren’t popular and it was on Labor Day. People usually have other plans with friends or family. Not being political simply meant no speeches about…politics.

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Three years ago, a party with a hint of a right-leaning theme in Chapel Hill would have probably attracted more counter-protesters than attendees and any student associated with it would've been committing social suicide. The fact that nearly a thousand people, many of them UNC students, would be willing to humanize Republicans portends an extraordinary shift in the balance of power on campus. The fact that free thinking kids can step out of the echo chamber means the house of cards is collapsing. The progressive psychosis in academia is loosing its grip.

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Agreed

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yeah i don't know about that, despite all the attention given to protesting against right leaning/conservative events on campuses, they have occurred and had support on campus from groups that have more conservative/right leaning student members, I mean College Republicans have had a campus presence for a while now? Frat parties have been throwing in your face "non-PC" themed parties for decades, with the "outrage" almost planned as part of the event. I think there's probably a lot of over-estimation of the social power and numbers of hyper-progressive students on campus and their sphere of influence. Of course that varies per campus but I think Chapel Hill is probably a large enough campus that there's quite bit of student viewpoint diversity represented, including political and culture wars apathy.

I agree it will be healthier to have more tolerance for viewpoint diversity on campuses broadly speaking, but I'm not sure I agree that hasn't been happening either, and I'm not sure this "party" was a symptom of a "broadening" of campus viewpoint tolerance - free beer is free beer after all. And given that organizers select invited students from groups that would be more likely to have conservative students and got about a ~10% response speaks to perhaps other issues students may have had regarding the event - which has been at least partially explained here, it's not so much "eww Republicans" but wariness of a "party" that seemed political in its setup.

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That's a lot of contortions, smarti, to convince yourself that there's been viewpoint diversity on campus all along. Those violent protests that occurred nearly every time a speaker who was slightly right of extreme left attempted to speak on campus are just false memories, I suppose. As for UNC campus, we were there for a campus visit two years ago and it was bubbling with wokeness. Not as bad as NC State which was a monument to trendy Leftism. As Trump has become more popular among Gen Z boys, progressive hegemony on campus has begun to show cracks and the concert in Chapel Hill is a meaningful fissure.

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Not really, I'm just debating the degree and prevalance of such things, or that right wing/conservative thought has been completely displaced and suppressed on most campuses. I think the picture is much more nuanced than we get from various media sources, many of which have a certain agenda themselves when it comes to presenting these issues on campus. That said, I definitely don't disagree that there are more recent problems with ideological/epistemic closure happening on many campuses, particularly around the Israel/Gaza issue, I think it's actually probably more of an issue now than it was a few years ago, actually - while still not representing the majority of what happens on campus, or representative of the majority of students on those campuses where these well publicized events are occurring. "Bubbling with wokeness" - again, these are large campuses with lots going on, not sure how you can make such a broad assessment based on a single visit, but OK I'm sure campuses, as they've always more or less have been, are more "left" than the parents of college students would prefer them to be!

I think Trump's popularity with Gen Z men and boys is largely happening with non-college educated men, although I'm sure there's a contingent of support within higher education with males, as there have always been College Republicans, as I've stated.

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"Hi, I'm Caitlyn, I'll be your tour guide today. My pronouns are..." Listen to the bubbles. NC State in particular made sure that everyone who checked in for the campus tour checked in with an obese, trans African-American. Is THAT enough bubbles for you?

Nobody said that "right wing/conservative thought has been completely displaced" on college campus but there is abundant evidence that it's not welcome and is often the object of violent protests when it tries to be heard. Do I really have to assemble a list of cancelled conservative events for you? How about a list of events that were shut down by a mob after they began? How about a list of speakers who had to be escorted off campus for their own safety after trying to give a speech and being overwhelmed? Goodness gracious, buddy. Why would you cling to a notion so easily disproved?

Anyway, I should have conceded earlier that the event organizers did indeed miscalculate. Had they not turned it into a Republican campaign event, they would undoubtedly have had a lot fewer leftover hot wings. The fact that they DID turn it into a Republican campaign event and still got 1000 people through the gate represents to me a seismic shift in the amount of conservatism that is tolerated on college campuses. In spite of these encouraging developments, I wouldn't book Douglas Murray for a Q&A on campus just yet.

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'After their image went viral, John Noonan, a former adviser to then–presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, established a GoFundMe in their honor. The purpose? “Throw these frats the party they deserve.” '

I imagine there could have been much better ways to honor them that would have been more successful.

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Classic Reingold, predictably unpredictable in what she covers. The only question is…

What’s next?

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The country has gone mad if it needs to find courageous youth to defend its flag in response to the bacchanalia of militant thugs and ignorant morons demanding justice for their so-called brothers or people they don't even know, who committed barbaric crimes in another country, on another continent.

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I can't believe that Crenshaw thinks the flag's not political. It's totally political, with the worst of social consequences. Young people appreciate climbing the ladder of success in America but are turned off at the thought of loving America, and, at the thought of proclaiming their love for anything but the world.

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They will be spending their middle age under the thumb of their Chinese masters. There will be no flags to burn, and no ladders to climb. They should take a moment to appreciate their freedom to dig their own graves.

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There's hope for us yet.

Long live the republic!

Don't vote for Cacklepuss.

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Good for them! They demonstrated some courage on that day. We need more of that in this country. If the turnout wasn’t huge, then that’s those that didn’t show up’s loss. Parties are an important part of the college experience! There are so many serious issues swirling around these young people today. It’s important to let loose and have fun sometimes!

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"Looking around, it was easy to forget that these were some of the smartest kids in America. The vibe was somewhere between a Trump rally and county fair. Among a sea of girls in push-up bras and guys in MAGA hats",.. what a bigoted statement.

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Smart journalists - and I gather Olivia is pretty smart - are quite often dazzlingly unaware of how smart they're not.

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I thought that too. Initially I thought it was a backhanded compliment but I agree with you. It was meant to demean. It's such a pervasive attitude among so called journalists.

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you can bet those anti Israeli idiots are NOT getting drunk. they are planning planning planning with their Soros based masters

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UNC Class of 1982: Those boys made me proud.

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Ketchup packets? They're not putting ketchup on wings are they?

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Had the same thought, chicken wings are ranch delivery devices :D

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only progressives would do that. on tofu wings

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😂😂

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Also has to be non-GMO.

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What those kids did protecting the flag was sooo admirable. But I thought the response they had at the first suggestion of a party was that they didn't want one or need one was the way to go. This event simply got caught up in the politics of the day and became tagged as a Republican or conservative event. IMO it cheapened the very noble actions on the part of those kids.

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You right they should have used the $$$ to go to a Trump Rally near them, that would have been more productive.

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OTOH

The Difficult Work of Academic Reform

New College of Florida enters its second year under new leadership.

Christopher F. Rufo

Sep 03, 2024

(From The Comments

Someone

21 hrs ago

I am a philosophy professor. I am retiring this year after teaching philosophy for 45 years. (I started when I was 25.) I studied Existentialism and Freud; then I went through the deconstruction years which soured me on relativism and gibberish jargon. I ended up a conservative and studied and taught mostly the history of Western philosophy and ethics. This year I am teaching Robot Ethics and AI and our world. The point is, today I was getting out of my car, a bit maudlin as my career ends and I thought. I just do not fit in this academic world anymore. A student asked at the end of class today, do I think that there is good and bad, he whispered it looking to see if anyone heard him. He was genuinely scared to ask! I said yes the Good really is Beautiful and the Beautiful really is Good. It was if I had told him a dangerous secret and he was so so pleased. You are doing a Good thing with this school and it will be Beautiful if it is indeed Good. Final Cause First!!

________________________________________

That is Really Scary! Scary that he didn't want anyone to see him ask, That he Had to ask. Not sure which one is scarier.

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Both are scary!

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I am not really sure how this comment addresses my comment. Can you clarify?

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They (the Progressives) are Still In very much in Charge.

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Yet, how does that fact respond to Diana’s point?

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Ha! I was just about to write this

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When I watch the footage of those frat guys holding up the flag, what was so clear was the way they responded to their fellow coeds: they just smiled, laughed, and kept holding it up. In massive contrast to the hatred and self-righteous screaming, they all thought it was a blast.

I think that’s a huge difference that I’m seeing in our country now. Half a younger generation who is masking, fretting over climate change & feeling incalculably offended when their opinions are countered… Versus what you see on a houseboat on Lake Havasu.

It’s life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, you dolts. As PJ O’Rourke once said:

“America wasn’t founded so that we could all be better. America was founded so we could all be anything we damned well pleased.”

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When P.J. said“Whatever you damn well please,” I'm sure he meant whatever you please that doesn't harm others. This article was TFP at its best: on the ground reporting on something the MSM ignored or ridiculed. Patriotism is alive and thriving on some campuses despite the faculty's best efforts.

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Great post!

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Yes! Put another way - leave us the fuck alone. To work. Support our families. Think and say what we believe. Have fun. Love our country and flag. And live life to the fullest in what once was - and will be again - the greatest country on the planet. Democrats delenda est!

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Yes -- but I STILL feel bad for the Carthaginians...

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Why? Didn't they practice human sacrifice?

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"Anything we damned well please" is very telling.

It leads directly to our current narcissistic condition: devoid of standards, repudiating all value and especially communal values, and utterly alien to virtue.

Clearly any project organized on such principles is doomed to failure. Its internal contradictions damn it. The polity that calls itself "The United States of America" (a fraud; it is the successor state to the original) is untenable and will not last this century. That is certain. The only question is: what will replace it?

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It's a PJ O'Rourke quote, not an excerpt from the constitution. It points to nothing more than one man's irreverent wit.

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when did the whale let you out

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lol...this made me smile! thanks!

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Hey Jonah, some random thoughts on the way to work…

I largely agree with you, sir. But a counterpoint for your consideration—

It was pursuit of happiness that invented fracking, the microchip, and the MRI machine—the latter of which, “selfish” biotech funds aside, has helped save my son in his illness. It was an ethos of bringing to as many people as possible what one loved to make, from the smallest entrepreneur to the so-called robber barons like Carnegie who underwrote thriving art scenes in New York.

So “Whatever you damn well please” may sound to you like an ethos of selfishness, but the founders called it something else: “interest” as in what they had an interest in, skin in the game if you will. But for them it had to be done with community in mind otherwise, beware; unfettered capitalism dumped chemicals into the Ohio river and gave rise to evil bureaucracies such as the EPA.

But you’re right in that the enlightenment project making its measurement science and of humanism was doomed to failure. Had the French listened to Pascal instead of Decartes, they might not have slaughtered so many a century later.

In contrast, what made the American experiment unique was that it welded that enlightenment with individuals and communities who were free to sell or organize or be charitable — many times with a foundation of religion or at least an inspired secularism such as one sees in the rotary clubs and the Boy Scouts.

Yes, we face huge problems and many of those are due to the moral cul de sac of selfishness. But not all of them.

One way out of the wilderness is to pose an ethos of “interest” married to responsibility and the rule of law and I daresay a return to a healthy form of public shame.

And I guess that brings me back to what I agree with about your point. Our nation can’t survive on the enlightenment alone. It’s too narrow in its understanding of man. Unfortunately, in a pluralistic community like ours one can’t enforce such things.

Thanks for the dialogue!

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He’s a transparent troll on collectivism.

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I think its sad so many students stayed away from a great party! Only 1,000 out of 7,000? That wouldn't have happened in my day (70's). You can put aside differences for a kegger.

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Good point! Liberal college kids are so full of virtue they lack humor and any ability to play. They're a bunch of prissy uptight Puritans.

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So true. In my day, a few thousand in excess of the 7k tickets would have shown up and mostly found their way inside. And the party probably wouldn't have lasted nearly as late because they would have run out of beer and wings.

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They had music and people would have brought weed.

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True

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During my radical ‘60’s days, I actually had friends who were ‘business’ majors. Whether or not we supported Vietnam or black militants, we could have fun together.

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yes. and many differences can be discussed “over a drink” and that is where many great learning experiences happen

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These aren't your father's "differences."

In his time, America was probably 90% white, and the economy had doubled in size in 25 years.

Bid "America" good-bye. It has been gone for a while. What you see today is "the sun upon a hill, after the sun has set."

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jonah. Comprof in another suit

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Could be

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Yup. The Ship of State's bad luck boy...

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Substack REALLY needs an Unlike button. It's the late 60's-early 70's and I recall people saying The Same Damn Thing.

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I agree,"it's not over until we say it's over" Let's crash the parade!

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We (non-Progressives) are now The Counter Culture (Like Man! :-)). So Let You Freak Flag Fly!

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