The Pendragon's Hall

A friend devoted to the music of the band "Rage Against the Machine" told an amused Pendragon this past week that any machine will do. I do not doubt my friend's sincerity, but I do not believe for a minute that "the machine" represents every established order. After all, when conservative college students stand up to better than 90% of their peers and professors, nobody remarks admiringly that they are fighting for freedom against the machine. The machine has been pre-set--it represents only the pro-America, right-wing establishment. In places where left-wing establishments hold sway, students are expected to respectfully submit. It may come as a shock to people, but the true heirs to the students fighting for civil rights or to end the Vietnam War in the 1960s when a conservative establishment was indeed in place are the students who today fight for an end to abortion, to stop same-sex marriage and to continue the war on terrorism till victory is achieved. They are the minority, committed to what they believe in, and willing to take a few blows to get the message out there. Those who parrot the left-wing concerns of their professors and the academic establishment are not today's rebels. They are today's sycophants--dedicated only to sucking up to the big man on campus.