The travails of indoctrination

How one writer has learned to cope

By Dwight Asuncion
From the September 2005 Print Edition

Welcome to Berkeley, where the professors are uber-liberal and the American Dream is proclaimed dead and buried! Be forewarned, for the road ahead is harrowing and fraught with danger. Always take care to guard yourself, steeling your mind against the attacks that would infiltrate it and disavow you of the principles that have made you and this country great.

I think it is time once again to reaffirm our principles to strengthen us from the indoctrination (Sociology 3AC *cough cough*) lying ahead. Everywhere you go, you will be challenged in different ways. Be prepared.

For example, one day you might be innocently minding your own business in the Free Speech Movement Cafe when your turn to order comes. On the cashier’s T-shirt, you immediately notice a rendition of George W. Bush’s face, making him look like a country bumpkin, inside a circle with a slash superimposed over the president’s image. You order your coffee, and, slipping into a moment of reverie, you hardly register the cashier glaring at the Bush-Cheney ’04 sticker sitting pretty on the left breast of your jacket. Yet you become painfully aware of it once the cashier hands you your coffee and sneers, “I guess you’re glad Bush won ’cause you’re rich,” which is immediately joined in kind by the person behind you who says, “I hate Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy!”

Stunned and befuddled, you wonder, “Did that just happen? Was I just accosted by a cashier?! Is there any safe haven on this campus?!” You might even contemplate ripping the cursed sticker off in the hope of never being bothered again. And all you wanted was a nice little cup of coffee!

Please do not tear it off. Instead, retort, “Maybe Bush’s tax cuts are for small businesses, which, by sheer number, are the driving force of our economy. Maybe they create incentive and engender innovation, the all-important ingredients for economic growth. And maybe people like my parents deserve the tax breaks for working their fingers to the bone!”

You can then leave, your principles defended.

Yet this is simply the beginning. The attempt at brainwashing is constant.

In lecture, your professor might try to tell you that it is your initial position at birth that will determine your final standing in life; your professor might try to tell you that it is your family’s background and past level of attainment that will determine the level of your accomplishment today and in the future; your professor might try to tell you that it is your parents’ economic status that will determine your rung on the economic ladder, more than your hard work. Your professor might even try to tell you that it is your race or ethnicity that will determine the path you travel in life.

I want to tell you that it is all a crock.

I am not saying that it is not extremely difficult to rise out of dire economic straits, for it is difficult. It takes hard work, determination, and a deep, residing belief that one will overcome all obstacles, all odds, and all naysayers.

As for your discussion section, you will be surrounded by liberals. Your GSI will, in all likelihood, offer no reprieve, and, at best, remain neutral. Except for the off-chance of having one other Republican in the room, you will be alone. Look at this as an opportunity to hone your debating skills and reaffirm your beliefs. Through it all, another element remains, though it is almost laughable in some degree. You will see the hippies who ply their trade on Telegraph, selling their anti-Bush and anti-war-in-Iraq wares. You will see Happy Happy Happy standing on his stool, holding his sign and preaching to the choir that “Bush is 666. … Happy, happy, happy.”

Indeed, Bush is the devil, the evil harbinger of the Apocalypse depicted in the Bible, the worst four-letter word you can utter. Every problem in the world is undeniably attributable to him … in Berkeley at least. Berkeley is its own world, ideologically separate from reality and how the world actually works.

Maybe it would be best if you join the Berkeley College Republicans or become a writer for the California Patriot. Fight the ideological battle, help campaign for current political candidates, gain valuable leadership skills, stay up-to-date with the latest political happenings, take advantage of political opportunities, and meet like-minded folk, forming great friendships along the way. Keep alive the American Dream.

This dream is simply stated: With hard work, one can accomplish anything one puts one’s mind to. It is an ideal everyone should revere and hold dear.

Allow me to revise my opening statement: Welcome to Berkeley, where the professors are uber-liberal and the American Dream is proclaimed alive and kicking!

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