Being Chairman of Support Our Troops®Â I am compelled to write regarding the mistreatment of former Army staff sergeant Anthony Maschek Sunday February 20, 2011 at a Columbia University forum.
"I went to Columbia" just doesn't have the ring to it than it used to. In fact I don't know if I would hiring anybody from the place since so many of the people attending it, and so many of the people running it, seem to have parted paths with normalcy years ago.
Gone are the days where students of character practiced well-mannered debate of issues.  Now, many higher universities appear to breed thugs of limited thinking and analytical ability, rotten little imps of a five year old mentality lacking civility or realistic reference points from which to proceed in conducting themselves on any subject.
I am 55. I was privileged to go to four universities, among them Oxford and Vanderbilt. Anthony Maschek is 28, and a freshman economics major at Columbia. He was privileged to get shot 11 times for you and me doing his duty for you and me in Iraq. He was in the Army 10th Mountain Division, to which SupportOurTroops.Org has over the years shipped tons of morale and well-being support. What went wrong happened Sunday during a college forum simply discussing the ROTC on the Columbia University campus. As reported by the New York Post, Anthony, who is disabled and in a wheelchair, attempted to discuss the military and his experience in it for the benefit of those in attendance who were opposed to the ROTC.  I mean, it is sometimes nice to receive some actual first-hand facts during a discussion instead of just theory. Here, Columbia's little leftists called Anthony a racist. They hissed him. They booed him. Now, I must admit I'm a little confused how a white man who went halfway around the world to get himself shot up defending brown skinned Arabs, working to create a better future for their brown skinned Arab kids, is a racist.   But I'm just trying to think clearly here. Anthony also spent two years in Walter Reed recovering from his wounds, while these little idiots ran around in la-la land enjoying the benefits of a vast social support system paid for by others, and while others like them sent anonymous hate mail to his fellow wounded soldiers at Walter Reed. For its part, SupportOurTroops.Org chose to ship tons of peaches, popcorn and other treats to Walter Reed. These crazy students don't get into this condition by themselves.  The point of sports camp, and school classes is to train people. And that takes a trainer, and Columbia apparently has been stocking up on a lot of crazy trainers and tolerators. As for booing and hissing Anthony, well, these little leftists-in-training by Columbia are pathetic.  Having done nothing of substance themselves in the real world, they set about trying to demean a man in a wheelchair. Apparently no matter how much facts one dumps into this group of people, they suffer from something causing an arrested emotional development, similar to bipolar disorder, wherein they are stalled at a certain age level in processing information and controlling their behavior. There has to be a psychological or DNA component at play here, because these students are at one of the supposedly best colleges, where they are surely being challenged in accurate thinking by their professors and taught formal logic, informal logic, gentlemanly conduct, and debate. There is no rational explanation for their behavior, or line of argument if one could call emotionalism and ad hominem attack a line of argument.  And yet the ivy league is presumed to teach rationality. And any good university course on logic will teach you about the logical fallacy of the ad hominem argument, in which one personally attacks the messenger, rather than debating analytically the message. Perhaps Columbia should start screening for mental illness during the admission and tenure process I can say that in the normal world, I have found that it usually takes a long time for a rational discussion in any setting to reach the pitched level where one side begins spitting venom at the other. What is interesting is how quickly these little leftists reached that level. But then when one is arrested at the emotional age level of say a five-year-old, I guess all one can do when uncomfortable information confronts them is to rebuff it by screaming at the other fellow. So they laughed at their opponent. And they jeered him.  This apparently is what Columbia has largely been producing for some time, and will likely produce well into the future.  Not much good stock to hire from it seems  Perhaps what's left of the reputation is an illusion from a former better history. Anthony is a man. They are ugly little children who will be no better after their education than before. They fall into the increasing group of citizens who seem genetically predisposed to process matters emotionally instead of analytically or logically.  Perhaps it's the result of chemicals in the environment, or defective DNA.  But the poorest dumbest persons I have known in this country have much better manners and practical judgment than this bunch of spoiled, idiotic brats. They really need to leave their ivory tower and spend a few years digging ditches, pouring concrete, and stacking block with the rest of us; maybe then they'll have a better idea of how the world really works and how people properly treat each other. Fortunately for him, being a real man who is done real things Anthony's feelings will not be hurt by this incident. I know his type.  He will look politely with pity and hope for betterment upon these little vacuous underlings who have yet to contribute anything practical to the betterment of mankind.  While they wish him ill, he will wish them well and self-improvement. This is because he belongs to the class of citizens who have good character. Rare and precious is the man and woman who steps up for another at risk to themselves. Many pictures show just how precious they are to the overseas children flocked around them in happiness grateful for the opportunities they bring. And then there are the note with those photos expressing "this is why we're here." So for my part, I ask that God bless and watch over Anthony.  And that God find some way to teach the others how to drag themselves up out of the gutter so that they might be worth something in heaven when this is all over with down here. This writing is just my opinion, and you of course are free to form your own. Though I'm not sure that little animals like these would let you if they were in charge If you want to read the original news report on this, you can do so at the following New York Post link: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/hero_unwelcome_Zi3u1fwtRpo87vXAiAQfSN Listen to the audio Martin C. Boire, Chairman Support Our Troops® February 21, 2011 They Support Us Let's Support Them!