Banned in California

It’s no secret that I love the literary works of who many consider the father of modern day science fiction, Ray Bradbury.

One of his most pivotal stories, Fahrenheit 451, focuses on a government out of control with power – telling American citizens what they can and can’t do, say, watch, listen to or look at. If you’ve never read it, I suggest you do – the way it parallels with our world today is scary.

But I’m not here to talk about Guy Montag and robot dogs – but I am touching on a power-drunk government of sorts…

The student government of The University of California, Los Angeles, more commonly known as UCLA.

Now before we get into the meat of the story, I must ask…

Have you ever seen The Breakfast Club?

If you missed this 80’s gem, it follows the lives of 5 high schoolers during a day of detention – exploring their differences and similarities – while finding that they do share common ground.

In the movie, the teacher assigned to watch over these kids, Mr. Dick Vernon, is having a conversation with the school janitor. He’s talking about how much kids have changed, saying…

“When you get old, these kids, when I get old – they’re going to be running the country. Now, this is the thought that wakes me up in the middle of the night. That when I get older, these kids are going to take care of me.”

Carl slyly remarks, “I wouldn’t count on it.”

25 years ago, I was a teenager. I remember watching this and thinking, “No way, man. We’re going to fix things. You’ll see. Your generation made mistakes that we’re going to have to clean up.”

I thought my generation was going to usher in an age of prosperity and peace…

Ah, the follies of youth.

But now that I’m Vernon’s age, I get it. I understand this fear…

And earlier this week, my fear was compounded by what occurred on the UCLA campus.

The student government, obviously elected by their peers, has banned the use of the term, “illegal immigrant” on campus – siting the fact that they didn’t want any students feeling uncomfortable.

Wait. Stop.

What exactly is wrong with these terms?

If you’re living in the United States of America and do not have documentation that you’re an actual citizen – you are here unlawfully – if something is against the law it’s illegal.

Illegal isn’t a term that should EVER be banned, regardless of any other word it’s used in conjunction with.

Now for the second half of the banned phrase – immigrant.

What is an immigrant?

It’s somebody that’s settling from one country to another.

Seems pretty straight forward to me…

How can this phrasing be banned?

Now, I understand that these students are following the AP’s banning of the same phraseology, but where are those critical thinking skills that our institutions of higher education are supposed to be instilling in the leaders of tomorrow?

Is there any world where banning this term makes sense?

Obviously, there is…

Liberal worlds have no problems banning terms that are nothing more than what they actually are.

I understand that a lot of terms have fallen under the “Not PC” umbrella – and for many of these terms – it makes sense.

I can see how the word “retard” is a negative term…

I can see why calling a woman a “broad” is derogatory and wrong…

But calling a group of people what they are, when talking about immigration, is ridiculous to me.

And like Mr. Vernon, I’m afraid for our future.

When these young minds are running out country, what else are they going to ban? What’s the next words that are going become politically incorrect?

What else will they ban?

The list of things that liberals find offensive is very, very long – and I’m sure over the next 50 to 60 years – we will find out what exactly is on this list.

However, as of right now, they’re college kids that basically know nothing about how the real world works…

Who are they to censor anybody?

I guess they’re just following President Obama’s lead and are ignoring the U.S. Constitution. Welcome to our future, folks…