Fish in a barrel: Crowder visits Berkeley
posted at 6:56 pm on September 21, 2009 by Allahpundit
Hit and miss, although the hits start piling up towards the end when he dons the Bush “War Criminal” t-shirt. How could they not? Even so, a bit of a letdown in an environment this target-rich. No “Death to Israel” chants? Only one hammer-and-sickle? If I’m going to invest 10 minutes, I want my most grotesque caricaturish stereotypes confirmed, damn it!
The “Mary Jo Kopechne” exchange at the public-option table makes it all worthwhile. No doubt Teddy himself would have found it hysterical.
Blowback
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These students should be the first guests on JOy Behar’s new show… Perfect match…
Khun Joe on September 21, 2009 at 6:57 PM
I see a few future Wolf Blitzers.
jhffmn on September 21, 2009 at 7:01 PM
Many Berkeley folks nowadays satisfy their history requirement with an AP test, so complaining that Berkeley doesn’t teach them history is beside the point; most folks aren’t at Berkeley for the history (or for that matter for the politics). For the record, the one course that contributed most towards my critical thinking was a Freshman seminar at Berkeley which taught me to be leery of “facts” put forth by biased sources (like those promulgated by Obama’s proponents). I’m with AP; this had a lot of potential, but turned out to just be a glorified “Jay-walking” with two or three in-class moments. Also, although Bernanke may say that the Fed caused the depression, other opinions on cause vary widely, from over-leveraged speculation to Smoot-Hawley to acceding to union pressure to fix wages. It’s not quite so simple as one cause, thus all the hemming and hawing.
calbear on September 21, 2009 at 7:04 PM
I believe the children are our future……
D0WNT0WN on September 21, 2009 at 7:05 PM
Nice Palestine t-shirt.
BadgerHawk on September 21, 2009 at 7:05 PM
“those revolutionary people”
Diane on September 21, 2009 at 7:06 PM
The song in the beginning (“Let’s go!”) is Blessed By A Broken eart’s “Move Your Body”.
The guitarist is a friend of mine and danced with my new wife at my wedding to Sinatra’s “New York, New York” in a red slip.
True things.
foucaultsvac on September 21, 2009 at 7:08 PM
eart = Heart
PIMF
foucaultsvac on September 21, 2009 at 7:08 PM
Browder and Griff Jenkins need to start a conservative comedy show on some channel. I’d love to see cameo’s by Dana Perino, Alexis Glick, occasionally Major Garrett and others. It’d be a huge hit, I think. Maybe the NEA could give us a grant for it…er, wait..?!
ted c on September 21, 2009 at 7:09 PM
da,da Benjamin Franklin, da, da because he created that really cool day planner.
Caper29 on September 21, 2009 at 7:09 PM
Those liberal professors are so smart! Look at the fruits of their labor.
Parents, make sure you educate your children.
cubachi on September 21, 2009 at 7:09 PM
The saddest thing about all of this is….these MORONS are going to be running this country in the future.
Cheese and Rice.
milwife88 on September 21, 2009 at 7:10 PM
Bwahahahaha!!!!
I thought the whole thing was a riot!
You have to laugh, or you’ll cry.
John the Libertarian on September 21, 2009 at 7:10 PM
indeed. i choose to laugh.
homesickamerican on September 21, 2009 at 7:13 PM
By the way, a better premise would be to ask these folks contradictory questions about conservative ideals, liberal ideals, and various falsehoods and watch them agree to all of them. Anything related to money would be a goldmine: The progressive tax system, the top marginal rate, tuition, financial aid, health care, corporations, etc.
calbear on September 21, 2009 at 7:13 PM
I spent time on the Berkeley campus. Met lots of great folks but I had to keep my conservatism under wraps.
txag92 on September 21, 2009 at 7:14 PM
The saddest thing about all of this is….these MORONS are going to be
runningruining this country in the future.Cheese and Rice.
milwife88 on September 21, 2009 at 7:10 PM
amerpundit on September 21, 2009 at 7:14 PM
You should try living out here sometime.
I mean jeesh I live in California and there are times I find myself wishing it would fall off into the sea. Of course all our representatives would have to be home first…..
StockOption on September 21, 2009 at 7:14 PM
It was sloppy , he can do better.
the_nile on September 21, 2009 at 7:15 PM
In defense of … well, UC Berkeley students, it’s easy to be a liberal on a university campus if you don’t want to think. As Crowder points out, you can just follow the groupthink, no one will question you, and you can just repeat the talking points with no internalization or processing at all—that is, if you cared about politics in the first place.
It’s not to say that the state of affairs as it stands isn’t despicable. Second amendment no longer applies because it was written in a different time? Then why are we not repealing it? That’s the whole point of amendments! The Constitution isn’t a freaking Bible.
novakyu on September 21, 2009 at 7:16 PM
All I can say is that if Crowder had talked to my friend Andrew while on campus he would have come away with a totally different view of Cal students.
/waves to Andrew if he’s reading this, and I know he does. :)
Bob's Kid on September 21, 2009 at 7:17 PM
Is it too late to give California back to Mexico?
Browncoatone on September 21, 2009 at 7:17 PM
I wonder if the kid would argue that the First Amendment no longer applies because it was written a long time ago, too.
amerpundit on September 21, 2009 at 7:18 PM
This isn’t a surprise given the stupidity we constantly see from the Ivy League Students.
Jeff from WI on September 21, 2009 at 7:19 PM
Makes you sick. All that money spent to get stupid.
JellyToast on September 21, 2009 at 7:19 PM
Hard to get behind the global war on terror if you think the revolution was unjust.
Spirit of 1776 on September 21, 2009 at 7:19 PM
I bet everyone of them would swear to global warming, the overpopulation, and sins of capitalism.
fourdeucer on September 21, 2009 at 7:19 PM
My daughter is a high school junior and Cal is her first choice. Yikes.
LASue on September 21, 2009 at 7:20 PM
Berkeley sets its own requirements. Nothing stops them from requiring that history requirement be fulfilled by a course. In fact, that’s the exact case with American Cultures requirement, which has to be satisfied with a course at Berkeley, if you are not a transfer student. They could have required that all AC-satisfying courses teach a minimum amount of history that will keep students from sounding like idiots, instead of wasting time on multicultural, white-bashing bullshit.
novakyu on September 21, 2009 at 7:20 PM
how could they not know that Bush caused the great depression?
ndanielson on September 21, 2009 at 7:20 PM
Ya’ know what the REALLY scary part is?
My collie says:
Yeah. I guess unemployment has an upside after all.
CyberCipher on September 21, 2009 at 7:21 PM
These students are unfortunately a product of their environment, nuff said………*sigh*
clinker46 on September 21, 2009 at 7:22 PM
Dude, the Mary Jo part didn’t disappoint, but I like the Che part. Money.
Spirit of 1776 on September 21, 2009 at 7:22 PM
Easy to see why OBama got elected.
ihasurnominashun on September 21, 2009 at 7:22 PM
amerpundit on September 21, 2009 at 7:14 PM
Much better….:)
milwife88 on September 21, 2009 at 7:23 PM
I give the one gal credit for at least knowing Lincoln was a Whig. He was elected in 1860 as a Republican, but didn’t he run under the “Union” party in 1864, which was a party of pro-war republicans and pro-war, northern democrats?
bopbottle on September 21, 2009 at 7:23 PM
I live like 10 minutes form there.
It is way worse than y’all think.
I get dumber just driving past that cesspool.
bbz123 on September 21, 2009 at 7:23 PM
Hah! Yeah my machinegun sits nice and safe in my gun safe.
tx2654 on September 21, 2009 at 7:23 PM
Indeed.
BadgerHawk on September 21, 2009 at 7:25 PM
*facepalm*
I now have the extreme desire to go read a history book. Even though I could have answered pretty much every single question he asked.
as for the president question, I’ve always been a fan of George Washington.
Ingenue on September 21, 2009 at 7:25 PM
They were talking about him in the context of being president. Reagan was a Democrat at one point too, but in the context of the presidency he was a Republican.
amerpundit on September 21, 2009 at 7:25 PM
The Mary Jo K. bit was brilliant. I’d have liked to see him carry it further.
UCal Bear: Isn’t it horrible how the right wing wackos are saying that Ted Kennedy killed a woman in her car. They’ll lie about anything just smear him now that he’s dead. It’s a good thing we know the truth.
Mallard T. Drake on September 21, 2009 at 7:29 PM
For every Upstater85, there’s five of these idiots.
I fear for my country.
Lanceman on September 21, 2009 at 7:30 PM
How many of the politicians who have been running California into the ground are Bezerkly grads? 14 percent unemployment.
Mallard T. Drake on September 21, 2009 at 7:32 PM
For me, this was one of the better ones he’s done.
This documentary style vid is proof that being Liberal is a trendy thing to do, but there’s no real facts or brain power behind the trendiness.
jediwebdude on September 21, 2009 at 7:32 PM
Meh, not so surprising. But that Che’ part was pretty funny.
Scrappy on September 21, 2009 at 7:32 PM
Golden, especially when talking to the tool who talked about 1700s England being “unjust”.
Folks…these people are the future.
Suicide method of choice: cyanide.
MadisonConservative on September 21, 2009 at 7:32 PM
I still think he helped form the “Union” party and ran under that party in 1864. I guess I will have to do some research.
bopbottle on September 21, 2009 at 7:33 PM
Years ago when I lived in San Francisco, I dated a woman who had graduated from Cal-Berkeley. She was liberal, of course, but had common sense and was quite smart and funny and well-dressed AND she shaved.
One day, after continuous disparaging remarks regarding her alma mater, she said she’d take me on a tour and prove me wrong. We walked through the gate into Sproul Plaza, home of 1960s-era Vietnam protests, and the FIRST thing we see is a man in a duck suit twirling around making some sort of statement. About what, we never found out. My friend was red-faced as we walked by, and avoided looking at him, as he loudly said “Fine for YOU, Miss Palm Springs!”.
Later I ran across the perfect Berkeley souvenir: a poster on a student bulletin board announcing a “Massage-a-thon For Nicaragua”. I took it as a souvenir. For some reason, we never talked about Berkeley again. LOL
Berkeley-home of fruits and nuts.
bradley11 on September 21, 2009 at 7:35 PM
bopbottle
a little something from the Whitehouse site
CWforFreedom on September 21, 2009 at 7:35 PM
I’d bet that not one of them knows about FDR’s TV announcement about the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor.
Oldnuke on September 21, 2009 at 7:36 PM
As for the students at Berkeley satisfying their history with AP classes, my son has taken those AP classes and those AP tests, and unless CA is doing them a lot differently, their isn’t a kid on that video that could have passed the class let alone the test. Maybe CA has a lower standard as to not hurt the self-esteem of their uneducated youth.
conservativemama on September 21, 2009 at 7:37 PM
I am glad she shaved that stache for ya.
CWforFreedom on September 21, 2009 at 7:37 PM
Try Hillsdale or St Johns (New Mexico or Maryland)
chemman on September 21, 2009 at 7:43 PM
Even I know Benjamin Franklin wasn’t the President, and I’m frigging Canadian!
That Mary Jo stuff at the end was awesome. As was the part about the Assault Weapons Ban.
mjk on September 21, 2009 at 7:45 PM
Berkley is nothing more than one big CIA mind control experiment that’s been ongoing since the sixties. Don’t drink the special shipped in bottled water.
BDU-33 on September 21, 2009 at 7:46 PM
Not one single hot person in the bunch.
SouthernGent on September 21, 2009 at 7:46 PM
Ten minutes is a long time to devote to a web video; but I wonder what Mary Jo would think? Who knows — maybe she’d feel it was worth it.**!
** worth 10 minutes to slap a little ridicule on the fat slob who killed her, that is; not worth dying at the hands of that egomaniacal, misogynistic tub of socialist lard.
RegularJoe on September 21, 2009 at 7:47 PM
ooooh, I feel safe!
yoda on September 21, 2009 at 7:48 PM
And of course, the people not knowing what caused the Great Depression or what cured it. Am I shocked that a Berkley student didn’t think that WAR solved the Great Depression? not really.
mjk on September 21, 2009 at 7:50 PM
Mmm. Obama has a book. Two actually. He must be twice the president Ben Franklin was.
JKahn913 on September 21, 2009 at 7:56 PM
In all fairness I never took a single class in American history when I was in college. Sad, I know. I did that a bunch of Chemistry courses, so I could tell you all about enols, ethers, and aromatic rings!:-)… Maybe not.
At any rate, University of Illinois wasn’t much better. I loved the socialists students passing out literature, particularly the guy who would hand out fliers saying: “Help stop violence.”
Rightwingguy on September 21, 2009 at 7:57 PM
He should have asked them their opinions on barrel shrouds.
“It’s like a thing that goes up….”
Rightwingguy on September 21, 2009 at 7:58 PM
Sorry “Like a shoulder thing that goes up”.
Rightwingguy on September 21, 2009 at 8:00 PM
All these kids parents spending huge amounts of dough just so their kids can graduate and work at the local BK lounge.
Or, perhaps they can graduate and be a professor at one of these institutes of ‘higher learning’.
RedbonePro on September 21, 2009 at 8:02 PM
From liberal to slacker, from slacker to statist! Berkeley fevuh… catch it!
ya2daup on September 21, 2009 at 8:06 PM
If Steve really wants to have some fun he could play “Are you smarter than a homeschooled 5th grader?” I’d help but mine is now in 6th. Another will be ready to play in three years.
shick on September 21, 2009 at 8:08 PM
Can ACORN get me into UCB? I’m like all over that.
wccawa on September 21, 2009 at 8:08 PM
This could be repeated at countless universities across the country.
WisCon on September 21, 2009 at 8:11 PM
WHAT’S SCARIER THAN WHAT THEY DON’T KNOW IS WHAT THEY THINK THEY KNOW.
reliapundit on September 21, 2009 at 8:16 PM
Quite the video. California dreaming.
Mojave Mark on September 21, 2009 at 8:17 PM
Crowder should have asked;
Seven Percent Solution on September 21, 2009 at 8:21 PM
Exactly. And being a public Ivy, Berkeley is actually quite reasonable as far as tuition goes–the same as any other UC, even the not-so-famous ones. It just costs heaven and Earth to live there.
3 of my 4 kids went to Cal, as did I. They all got first-rate educations and have used those educations to support themselves. It’s your responsibility to make the most of your education, whether you go to Sacramento State or UC Berkeley, and if you wallow in ignorance of some basic facts of history, well…it serves you right.
I had some stupid things said to me when I was an undergrad there, and part of my education was making SURE I knew a) that they were wrong, and b) WHY they were wrong. That’s just as true for the students in my classroom, who seldom argue with me about anything academic, even when it goes against orthodoxy (like when I say global warming is a fraud and we need more nuclear power). No reason to expect they’d be any less credulous going into college, I guess.
Bob's Kid on September 21, 2009 at 8:21 PM
Darling, I don’t believe this is the reason for all the hemming and hawing.
DrMagnolias on September 21, 2009 at 8:26 PM
Love Crowder but this isn’t very funny or interesting frankly.
AYNBLAND on September 21, 2009 at 8:28 PM
After having a bad homeschooling day, I feel better now. My 7th grader is doing just fine!!!
PrincipledPilgrim on September 21, 2009 at 8:29 PM
these libs think they’re the smartest people around…and they’re dumb as dirt.
right4life on September 21, 2009 at 8:29 PM
History is so 20th Century to today’s stujints! To wit, the best episode of Derek Waters Presents Drunk History series: the Aaron Burr – Alexander Hamilton Duel.
(Watch how the actors not only act out exactly what the narrator says but also speak exactly as the narrator does — especially in other episodes.)
ya2daup on September 21, 2009 at 8:38 PM
Really these kids don’t seem stupid. A couple of them had heard of Black Monday. One said Lincoln was a Whig, another that he was Republican. The “nominal” part bugs me because Linocln helped found the Republican Party and ran against Douglass as the first Republican candidate for Senate from Illinois. If you asked me what caused the Great Depression I’d say I’m not sure and mention Black Monday and maybe Smoot-Hawley. I don’t think the Federal Reserve is the only right answer.
Ted Torgerson on September 21, 2009 at 8:41 PM
Okay, except for the whole:
1. What stopped the Great Depression.
2. Who Mary Jo Kopechne was.
3. Automatic vs. Semi Automatic weapons
4. Assault Weapons Ban
5. Benjamin Franklin was who now?
6. What Che did
7. “Palestine” shirt….
These kids were frigging geniuses….
Reminds me of my cousin who is sooo much more brilliant about the Middle East than me, but couldn’t tell me who Menachem Begin was.
mjk on September 21, 2009 at 9:04 PM
I couldn’t watch it all the way through and had to stop.
Mangy Scot on September 21, 2009 at 9:12 PM
They are running/ruining it NOW.
J.J. Sefton on September 21, 2009 at 9:16 PM
Step across the street (though technically off campus) onto Telegraph Avenue and it would’ve been fish in a barrel.
The Ugly American on September 21, 2009 at 9:41 PM
Remember, they’re “progressives” till they start paying bills.
Little Boomer on September 21, 2009 at 9:53 PM
Yes, thanks President Franklin!
unwashed minion on September 21, 2009 at 10:18 PM
My nephew – a solid conservative – is a freshman at Berserkely this year. With rocket scientists like those in the video surrounding him, I suspect he’ll be valedictorian of his class… though I am worried that the mass stupidity might be contagious.
I keep telling the kid he ought to keep a diary and write a book after he graduates.
Russ on September 21, 2009 at 10:21 PM
The only way I’d feel more sorry for your nephew was if he was conservative AND in ROTC AND at Berkeley. That aside, he must be a very strong and principled individual to deal with their collective psychosis day in and day out.
BTW, no offense to ROTC. Those guys and gals rock.
Rightwingguy on September 21, 2009 at 11:01 PM
I’m confused. This story didn’t have anything negative about Glenn Beck.
trapeze on September 21, 2009 at 11:59 PM
Umm, if they took AP history, then they should know the answers to the questions. If Berkeley accepts people through AP with such dismal knowledge, it leads one to question what standards Berkeley holds.
AZfederalist on September 22, 2009 at 12:02 AM
It doesn’t use the AP scores to determine acceptance (to my knowledge), just to determine whether or not they have to take a class. Most universities do the same. The AP test was just one test taken by these students. Since most people don’t use the knowledge soon after taking the test, it fades. And no high school is going to spend a day going through the various theories behind the cause of the Great Depression. They’re just going to lay out the major events and their consequences.
Anyway, by the logic of the anti-Berkeley crowd, you should be glad they got the knowledge in a high school rather than from a leftist Berkeley professor.
It’s also curious that Crowder chose to do this at the start of the school year. If he were really interested in seeing the school’s influence on the mind, he should do this in May, when everyone’s thoroughly indoctrinated, rather than in September, when everyone’s the most free from the influence of professors (and scholastic knowledge in general).
Crowder’s better at rants.
calbear on September 22, 2009 at 2:10 AM
Cuz it wasn’t on MTV! Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
DSchoen on September 22, 2009 at 2:54 AM
Ben Franklin wasn’t a President. He started those dime stores.
oakpack on September 22, 2009 at 3:53 AM
Loved it. Crowder is great at these.
Renwaa on September 22, 2009 at 4:06 AM
Damn,as an Aussie, even I knew who Mary Jo Kopechne was & i’ve never left Australia…
DJcool on September 22, 2009 at 5:56 AM
“nobody answered correctly that the fed caused the great depression”
does crowder turn people into idiots?
sesquipedalian on September 22, 2009 at 7:36 AM
I’m sure Mary Jo Kopochne would be proud that her name was being used to draw laughs by some pud. This really isn’t very good. The MJK thing comes off as kind of creepy.
Anyone could walk on to any campus with a video camera and find a few less-than-bright sound bytes. I’m guessing the general weakness of these means that this guy probably got pretty well-read answers on the whole and/or he’s just not very good at this sort of thing.
Tom_Shipley on September 22, 2009 at 8:14 AM
These people will be the economic geniuses of the future. Here you see your future doctors and accountants. This is the future of The United States because you let this happen. If nothing else, they might be able to use influence and get jobs as teachers (they won’t through knowledge) or commuity organizers.
The only hope for us is that the hard sciences are fairly immune to this, because you have to think to get through them. However, you reap what you sow. When aircraft start falling out of the air, you know the infection has reached the technical trades. By the way, I know many of the technical trades. They are generally personable and nice people, but few of them know the “why” of what they are doing, and I am sure they often “drift”. We are getting engineers of similar ilk. In another 5 – 10 years, we will have lost our institutional knowledge and lessons learned.
I expect to have very little use of technical and mechanical contrivances by then, out of self preservation. Good luck, y’all.
Old Country Boy on September 22, 2009 at 8:51 AM
Had me in stitches the whole time.
It’s still quite sobering. *These people are being prepared for real life?* Some life.
Aronne on September 22, 2009 at 10:17 AM
Great expose’. Having been a part of the 60′s on the Left Coast, Berserkley is aptly named and it is obvious that not much has changed, despite all of the talk of and attempts to change that Berkley stands for.
MSGTAS on September 22, 2009 at 10:47 AM
Can I homeschool for college? My kids would at least get an education & for a lot less money.
thinkingmom on September 22, 2009 at 12:11 PM
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