America’s Mirror

On October 7, the self-described “campus watchdog” Campus Reform posted a YouTube video in which they asked Harvard students which was the bigger threat to world peace: America or ISIS. All of the students responded saying that America was a bigger threat, providing a brief explanation of their reasoning. As has happened in the past, when Harvard students are asked questions that have “difficult answers,” people pay attention.

At first, the discussion was limited to YouTube comments that, in their usual flair, were on average politically charged, offensive, and unenlightening. But as the video spread over social media, more and more people started talking about it. One thing led to another, and Fox News picked up the video. That’s when things got interesting.

Before I go into Fox’s “analysis” of the video, I want to touch on the nature of the answers. Asking people a very difficult geopolitical question point blank and expecting them to represent their full views in a thoughtful yet concise manner is very difficult if not impossible. I think it is commendable that the students produced the answers that they did, providing a few seconds of nuance to back their claims even if they didn’t have all of the facts of the case available to them.

This, however, was irrelevant to Fox News. The first correspondent attempted to concede that there was some legitimacy to the points the students addressed, but then immediately disregarded the substance of their statements after mocking the word choice of some of the students in the video. Then, the panel proceeded to question the patriotism of Harvard’s student body, calling students “snot-nosed brats” who are “dangers to the gene pool.”

Perhaps this is just the kind of sensationalism that we now have to expect from the media, but even then one of the things John Rich said struck me. When he said that some Harvard students were willing to question America more because they didn’t have anyone in their family teach them about America, I felt challenged as a first-generation American. My grandfather did not teach me about the importance of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. Instead, I had the honor of learning that by attending Boys State, a program hosted by veterans from the Vietnam War for high school juniors. At the program, I learned that one of the blessings of living in this country is that we can hold our leaders accountable for the decisions they make.

Rich admits that America isn’t perfect. But how can you fix a problem without acknowledging it exists? By condemning these students for admitting that America can be dangerous, Fox is discouraging the kind of productive debate that allows for critical self-examination and improvement. At the very least, Fox continues to propel an America-centric way of considering the world (Who do other countries think is more dangerous?), which inherently limits any effort to achieve world peace. It is important to remember America’s positive contributions to history, yes, but disregarding the negative consequences of our actions will only ensure America repeats its mistakes.

ISIS is an immediate threat to the international community and we need to have a strong response to their aggressions. But America makes mistakes that we need to talk about, too, and though this question isn’t the best way to format the discussion, it’s a starting place. As a generation, we need to continue to question the decisions our leaders make in the context of a global community that is more connected than ever before. Most of all, we need to reject that our sentiments are a consequence of a sort of liberal indoctrination and instead take responsibility for what we believe, recognizing the social and cultural circumstances that help us form the opinions we do. The youth have a big part to play in this discussion as the inheritors of the world—why should we let ourselves be sidelined because people think we’re getting brainwashed?

ISIS is dangerous, but not considering America’s impact on the world is more dangerous. Taking an America-centric approach to global issues, though it seems better for us, will prove insufficient. As a part of this school and country, we must never stop striving to make the world a better place and that starts with holding a mirror up to ourselves and figuring out what’s wrong here. We all have a role to play, and saying anything otherwise would be simply outlandish.

Avinash Saraf ’17 is a Crimson editorial writer in Kirkland House.