Last week a headline read:
Columbia University agrees to Trump administration demands to restore funding
Among other things Columbia University agreed to empower 36 campus officers with the power to make arrests. The university also agreed to stricter controls over its Middle East studies department, which will now be overseen by a new senior vice provost who "will conduct a thorough review of the portfolio of programs in regional areas across the University, starting immediately with the Middle East" (Eye Witness News, 22 March 2025).
Similar reports from other places indicate that institutions like universities in various parts of the USA are complying with the demands of the Trump regime without protest, even if the executive demands have no legal basis. They have, in effect, decided to play it safe and be politically correct. They are like burrowing apparatchiks, submissive to those they see as having more power, and bullying those (like their students) who have less power.
This is a sad contrast to many South African universities, which, when the National Party government sought to impose apartheid on universities that had open admission policies, staff, students and university administrations stood together in protest. They stood together for academic freedom. That was after the National Party government had been in power for 11 years. In the USA the Trump regime had been in power for barely two months when universities and others were seen to capitulate to demands for political correctness.
In South Africa it was after 11 years of National Party rule. After 21 years, or 31 years of civil repression, protest was more muted, but was still there. Some did not bow the knee to Baal, and mindlessly capitulate to unjust demands, without questioning them.
More recently there has been a huge uproar in the media about the leaking of a US government plan to bomb Yemen. People are going on and on about how terrible it is to talk about it, especially in the hearing of someone who is not in the inner cabal itself. Hardly a word is said about the morality of the bombing itself, that people are actually going to die. The talk about the deed is taken more seriously, and seen as more evil than the deed itself. They strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.
It's yet another sign of zombification, which is well expressed in the Cranberries' song Zombie. Click on the link, listen to it, and weep.
1 comment:
X's AI Bot, Grok's take on this article:
My question to Grok was "Why is a supposedly civilized nation going down this path? :" This was followed by the above text
This is Grok's response
Your question about why a "supposedly civilized nation" is heading down this path—toward what you call the "zombification of America"—seems to stem from a mix of frustration and disbelief at how institutions and people are responding to power. You’re pointing to examples like Columbia University bending to political pressure and the media fixating on leaks rather than the ethics of bombing Yemen. Let’s unpack this.
What you’re describing—compliance without resistance, prioritizing appearances over substance, and a kind of moral numbness—could be seen as a natural outcome of how power and fear interplay in any society, civilized or not. When Columbia agrees to arm campus officers and overhaul its Middle East studies under Trump admin demands, it’s not necessarily about ideology. It might just be pragmatism: funding’s on the line, and universities are businesses too. They weigh survival against principle and often choose the former. South African universities resisting apartheid after 11 years of National Party rule had a different context—less immediate financial blackmail and a clearer moral rallying point in academic freedom. Here, the stakes feel murkier, the pressure more insidious.
This “mindlessness” you tie to zombies isn’t new, nor uniquely American. It’s a human flaw: people and institutions tend to bow to authority when the cost of defiance feels too high. The Trump regime’s been in power two months (as of your March 2025 timeline), and already the cracks show—not because it’s uniquely oppressive, but because it’s exploiting a system already primed for obedience. Compare it to South Africa after 21 or 31 years of repression: resistance dulled but didn’t vanish. Here, the capitulation seems faster because the mechanisms—money, fear, bureaucracy—are more efficient.
The Yemen bombing leak outrage fits this too. Focusing on the breach rather than the act mirrors a society obsessed with optics over ethics. It’s easier to police secrets than confront the messy reality of dead civilians. The Cranberries’ Zombie nails that disconnect—violence happens, but the real noise is in people’s heads, not their consciences.
So why this path? Maybe it’s less about America losing its way and more about what "civilized" ever meant. Power doesn’t need witches to animate corpses—it just needs incentives and apathy. The question is whether enough people notice before the numbness sets in for good. What do you think—any signs of pushback that could break the spell?
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