College Protests and Virtue

Benedict Beckeld discusses the current anti-Semitic and anti-American campus protests from a philosophical perspective, especially as they pertain to the idea of virtue.
This mini-lecture is a lightly altered version of: Benedict Beckeld, "College Protests and the Limits of Virtue", Merion West, May 7, 2024, merionwest.com/2024/05/07/col...
My previous videos on the Middle East conflict:
• Philosophical Ramifica... (Philosophical Ramifications of the Israel War);
• War and Multiculturali... (War and Multiculturalism, in Israel).
Virtue in Late Civilization: • Virtue in Late Civiliz...
Reading from: Benedict Beckeld, "Western Self-Contempt: Oikophobia in the Decline of Civilizations" (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2022), p. 10.
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My website: www.benedictbeckeld.com
Image credits:
Columbia Encampment:
Spencer Platt / Getty
(Screenshot from: merionwest.com/2024/05/07/col...)
Thucydides:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
user:shakko, CC BY-SA 3.0, creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
Thomas Hobbes:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
William Faithorne, CC BY 4.0, creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
All remaining images are my own.

[@baltvdb]

The widespread support of the masses doesn't make you more correct, just more dangerous.

[@BenedictBeckeld]

Well put!

[@Proud_Troll]

Very well said

[@BenedictBeckeld]

Thanks!

[@johnl5316]

good

[@sterlingveil]

I don't have a stake in Israel one way or another, but I bristle at the idea that all criticism of Israel is *ipso facto* anti-semitic. And I bristle even more at the implication that such criticism is automatically "anti-American". Israel is not the 51st state. Israel wants to enjoy the fruits of America's military without ceding a modicum of Israeli sovereignty. To be fair, I don't blame Israel for refusing to submit to an authority across the Atlantic ocean, but the fact remains that the current deal is bad for America (that is, for everyone except weapons manufacturers, of course). The whole situations stinks of financial corruption to me, and I don't think it's anti-American to say so. After all, George Washington warned us in his farewell address of the temptations brought by foreign entanglements and/or standing armies. Or is Washington "anti-American" now, too?

[@BenedictBeckeld]

At no point in the video do I suggest that all criticism of Israel is ipso facto anti-Semitic. In fact, the video isn't about Israel at all. But chanting "From the river to the sea..." and similar such tropes is certainly anti-Semitic, yes. When it comes to American and Israeli cooperation, although Israel is the bigger beneficiary in that relationship, in spite of what Israel also does for America, it should still not be ignored that a stable Middle East (which includes a strong Israel) is also in America's direct interest, so we're not talking about purely altruistic handouts.