20 November 2024 | And a Frat Boy Shall Lead Them...

You mad, bro?

We'll start by going there right away: when the Nazis assumed power in Germany and began passing race laws, you who know started putting them into practice almost immediately? Universities.

Yes, those bastions of higher education, those vaunted ivory towers, they were the ones who began pushing out their Jewish professionals without any prodding. It was at universities that students held great bonfires of books. It was the youth that took pride in the new regime and began sweeping out enemies.

And it will be the same this time.

We have no doubt that it will be young white males, especially those at university campuses, who will imbibe the poison handed out by the Republican Party to begin harassing non-whites. It will begin as uncomfortable jokes before it develops into uglier things, as talk of rounding up immigrants and mass deportations starts to sound like a good idea. Young men, the ones most susceptible to such things, will particularly taunt Latinos into proving they are here legally, or prove that they are American citizens, no doubt with heavy sneers of being “anchor babies” who will not be spared.

The lure is power: nothing drives men like the pursuit of power and the prospect of making others fearful. Just the threats alone will provide the rush for white university students to flex their pent up prejudices and assert their dominance. It won't be limited to Latinos, of course, as women will also be under increased pressure to accept some version of “your body, my choice” that has already been cropping up. But for young white men, nothing is more thrilling than debasing and threatening *other* men who do not look like them. Anti-woman sentiment is one thing: control over other men is far more thrilling and delectable.

Do not think for a moment that someone attending university makes that person enlightened or beyond the nefarious reach of racist propaganda. Young white men will see the current climate and revel in being able to terrorize other men by questioning citizenship status or making the simple act of walking to work or class an ordeal with taunts about being here illegally. It has happened in the past and it will happen again.

Just wait for it.