The Danger of Tranquilized & Docile Youth

Sibel Edmond's Boiling Frog

What Is Wrong with This Picture?

In February S.E.'s Boiling Frog provided you with coverage of the brutalization and arrest of Veteran Ray McGovern during Hillary Clinton’s speech at George Washington University. McGovern had dared to stand up during the speech, peacefully and silently, in a Gandhi-endorsed way, expressing his stand. That was his crime deemed by our government deserving of being beaten up, brutalized, and arrested. As part of our coverage we also provided you with brief video footage of Mr. McGovern’s assault. Now, I want to ask you to watch this video clip one more time to observe a far more troubling trend captured by that same brief footage. A trend that did not receive any coverage; at least not that I know of. A trend that should alarm anyone with the tiniest shred of common sense,” an alarm that hopefully will translate into seeking an explanation and possible remedies. Here is the video again:



I hope you observed more than Hillary Clinton, McGovern’s peaceful protest, and his beating and dragging. If you didn’t, please click the ‘play’ button and watch it again. Do you see what I see? A room filled with supposedly bright and educated university students, and supposedly intellectual elite. A room full of our young on its way to becoming the educated new workforce – filling up positions; from government bureaucrats’ and diplomats’ desks to the pacers of our congressional halls; from the corporate ladder climbers to the NGO drivers…That’s right. The Jack Morton Auditorium at George Washington University was filled with over 200 such people.

What was the reaction of these more than 200 people, mostly senior students and professors, to the dragging, beating, and brutalization of a veteran who dared to silently stand up? Please tell me, what did they do? Maybe you have to watch it for the third time with this question, this context in mind. Please do it; it’s only 1 minute long. Do you see what I see?

That’s right. This audience simply glanced over their shoulders, registered the brutalization of a peaceful senior veteran with pure disassociation, no rage and zero sympathy, and then quickly turned their faces towards a woman engaged in hypocritical talk; as if ‘nothing’ had happened. Not a single student objected vocally to this police state practice before their very own eyes. Not a single academic stood up and left in protest. Not a single reporter commented or whispered a word. Not a single person reacted; period.

Who are these people? What type of youth are we seeing here? What kind of education system and university are we talking about? Forget political apathy. We are talking about alarming social apathy. And how did they get here? Institutionalized docility? Indoctrination towards a numb and dumb generation to be ruled and policed easily? A tranquilized youth and a robotic citizenry?

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Spaul note: To truly understand the deeper implications of this incident, please watch the following from Democracy Now


As U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was giving a major address calling for internet freedom around the world and condemning the Egyptian and Iranian governments for arresting and beating protesters, former U.S. Army and CIA officer Ray McGovern was violently ejected from the audience and arrested after he stood up and turned his back in a silent protest of America’s foreign policy.

Ray McGovern joined Democracy Now from Washington, D.C. in the following video: