April 16, 2014 - WND.com
© Jack Cashill

The student who wrote the letter that follows is a junior in college. Although a math major, he wrote it in longhand and with close to perfect grammar. I’ve edited it for length but made no other edits.

“Joe” wrote to discuss my book, “If I Had a Son: Race, Guns, and the Railroading of George Zimmerman.” In the process, however, he sheds a good deal of light on the everyday oppression thinking students face.

_______

“If I Had A Son” was a breath of fresh air; I knew prior to reading some of how the media skewed the event, and to read the facts delivered in a cohesive manner was enjoyable and exactly what I’ve wanted to hear all the time the liberal media giants were falsely relaying the story.

Not only has your book heightened my distrust of the media—it has made me a credible source of information among so many who have been blinded and misled by the ridiculous media reporting of the case.

Unfortunately, I am among the minority; most students my age –or at least the ones I have talked to about the case—seem unwilling to give up their stance that is aligned with what the media reported.

On Facebook, the majority of my friends posted statuses after the verdict such as “Only in America can a black boy be deemed responsible for a white man’s crime,” “George Zimmerman will always be a racist killer,” and “Someone should just kill the man so he gets what he deserves.”

At the time I knew these responses were more grounded in emotion than logic, but I lacked the depth of knowledge to disprove my misled friends.

Although I feel confident I could win any debate against one who believed the case was one of racial profiling, I am still disheartened that so many of my age will never give up their contentions that Trayvon was killed out of racial hate.

An even sadder picture begins to emerge when I think about the larger meanings behind what the case represents among America’s youth.

Indeed, I feel utterly alone. In the most basic and rough words, when I am among those my age, I feel like the fact-based Republican amidst a room filled with emotionally-charged liberals who seem so quick to deny logical thought.

I find myself having to bite my tongue in class for fear of being identified as the “racist, unfeeling, and grumpy conservative with ‘outdated’ ideologies.”

Yet despite these feelings, I know my political stances allow me to analyze both sides of an argument fairly. It is not a coincidence, however, that I almost always side with what I believe to be the logical truth, and the truth is usually supported by conservatives.

In Rush Limbaugh’s words, I consider myself a “high-information voter” whereas those who do not wish to analyze issues to find truth are “low-information.”

It is the latter group that I feel is occupied by a disturbing number of kids/ young adults who are more likely to believe emotional arguments rather than factual, logical ones.

It is this issue—emotion versus logic—that I felt was front-and-center in your book, and I think this is why I enjoyed it so much.

In my eyes, you disproved every emotionally-infused argument of liberals and the liberal media with facts and a variety of cited sources.

I’m not sure you agree that my age demographic is swayed left, but I certainly perceive it to be. However, this doesn’t surprise me. Those my age consume news via Facebook and other liberal sources.

I feel as though it is much easier to present an emotional and hooking argument to younger people because we want to consume news quickly and without much critical thought.

To consume factual information and news would take the “fun” and “quickness” out of reading the news that liberal sources put out.

At the end of the day, America’s youth needs to be enlightened by facts and taught how to separate fact from fiction in their consumption of news media.

While this may be a hard battle, I am writing to let you know that I am one person on your side.

_______

Joe has permitted me to publish his letter, but he demurred when I offered him the humble glory of having his name attached.

“As I'm sure you know,” Joe wrote with understandable reluctance, “almost every professor is a liberal and I'm afraid if on the off-chance the letter were ever seen with my name on it by a possible future professor my grades will be jeopardized.”

Such is the oppressive state of contemporary education. This is what your children and grandchildren face every day they go to class, and the indoctrination starts earlier every year.

Joe’s advice is solid: students need to be “taught how to separate fact from fiction in their consumption of news media.”

As you well know, if kids don’t learn this at home, they won’t learn it at all.

Who is Jack Cashill?