By Trey Bennett
After all, we were mere twinkles in our boomer parents’ eyes when tragedies such as the New York Mets, New Coke, Disco, and the Carter Administration were allowed to happen.
That said, we are by no means innocent. Bad haircuts, worse music, and a pretentious obsession with coffee and beer that cost $10 per drink because they were brewed in a copper bathtub at sunset under a rainbow in view of a waterfall by a “master craftsman” named Bjorn, are just a few of our well-documented vices.
In all seriousness though, one of the biggest problems that the millennial generation has is that of willful and deliberate ignorance.
In an age of mass-information readily available to nearly everyone, young Americans are choosing not to learn basic concepts that are crucial to the well-being of our civilization.
The non-profit Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation recently released their annual survey intended to gauge Americans’ knowledge of basic political ideologies such as the definitions of capitalism, communism, socialism, and fascism. The results of the survey are pretty disheartening, especially when it comes to the Millennial Generation.
The online poll conducted by the Foundation between September 28 and October 7, 2017 indicates that 44% of Millennials would prefer to live in a Socialist country over a Capitalist nation. 7% indicated that they preferred a Communist state, and 7% opted for Fascism. Only 42% of Millennials responded that they prefer Capitalism.
But wait, there’s more…
When asked how they view Communism generally, only 36% of Millennials answered that they viewed it very unfavorably, and a mere 44% answered that they would be insulted if someone described them as a Communist.
So why do Millennials have what can only be described at best as “wishy-washy” feelings about forms of government that have been tried over and over and have only ever led to war, famine, poverty, and oppression? The answer is simple: willing blindness.
When surveyed, only 19% of Millennials knew that Communism has killed more than 100 million people since its inception. (Realistic estimates place the total figure around 150 million). More disturbingly, only 31% of Millennials could accurately identify Communism when confronted with its definition, and only 34% could identify Socialism.
In this day and age, there is no excuse for such ignorance. Yes, our universities are predominately pumping socialist and communist propaganda into class-rooms. Yes, our public education system does do a poor job of accurately portraying basic historical concepts for our children. But at the end of the day, the information is out there. It’s not hiding. One basic Google search will show anyone with an honest desire to learn that Communist, Fascist, and Socialist governments ultimately humiliate, enslave, and destroy those living under their rule. One honest conversation with someone who remembers the Cold War can do the same. But apparently those searches and conversations are just not happening. And that’s not a good thing. Actually, it’s a really, really bad and dangerous thing.
History can only bear witness to the fact that if Americans choose to continue down the path of intentional ignorance, we will deserve our fate. When a generation allows itself to forget the principles of freedom and ignore those of the alternative, slavery is at the door.
