OTTO WARMBIER: A TEACHABLE MOMENT FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS

Otto Warmbier, as you may be aware, is the University of Virginia student who was part of a group touring North Korea (why would anyone want to do that), and who thought it would be a really great idea to steal one of its propaganda banners and try to get it through North Korea customs.

Now, after being caught, and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for what a North Korean court described as “subversive activity”, I doubt he thinks it was a really great idea anymore.

It turns out that Warmbier is a native Ohioan, which has prompted Governor, and presidential aspirant, John Kasich to put out the following statement:

“North Korea should immediately release Otto Warmbier and let him return to his family here in Ohio.  His detention was completely unjustified and the sentence North Korea imposed on him is an affront to concepts of justice.  Continuing to hold him only further alienates North Korea from the international community.  I urge the Obama Administration to redouble its efforts to secure his release and ask all Ohioans to continue to lift up Otto and his family in prayer in support of his swift, safe return.”

That is very well said, very reasonable…and utterly meaningless, since North Korea couldn’t care less about Otto Warmbier’s family in Ohio or what the international community thinks of it.

North Korea will be happy to release Otto Warmbier, if it gets major concessions of some kind from the US government.  If not, it will be every bit as happy if Warmbier serves the full 15 years’ hard labor.  It might even tack on some more, just for fun.

There are lessons to be learned here.  A lot of them.

But the one I want to feature in this blog is the lesson it should teach every student in a college/university…

-Which imposes speech guidelines.

-And where “safety zones” set up by race.

-And where speakers invited to campus who don’t spout the prevailing political views are disrupted and shouted off of podiums so only the politically correct message is heard.

-And where a constant vigil for “microaggressions” is taking place.

-And where, other than students/faculty who don’t spout the perfect politically correct message and act in a perfect politically correct way, virtually no one is held to account for anything.

You are living in an artificial environment.  A delusional bubble, completely divorced from reality.

There is a real world out there.  A world where PC is not something you march for between classes and before rave parties, but something that results in people being incarcerated for, often killed for.  ‘

This is not a game.  Let me say that again louder:  THIS IS NOT A GAME.

Did Otto Warmbier think that, if he was caught, all that would happen is that the North Koreans would wink, laugh, and send him on his way?  Did he think that the North Korean government would operate like a College administration, and be tolerant and understanding of his attempt at theft, as long as Mommy and Daddy kept the tuition payments coming?

Now, sad to say, he knows better.

So you can putz around with “micro-aggressions” and “ooohhh, he said I look hot, he must be punished” or “this area is for us only, so we can feel safe, you can’t be here” all you want.  But do not for one single second think this prepares you for the real world.  It does not, and does not come even remotely close.

The real world is far more what Otto Warmbier is currently living than your sheltered, cloistered, insular, privileged environment.

I hope, to quote our current President, the Otto Warmbier incident is a teachable moment for you.

Unfortunately, I doubt it.