What ever happened to just being nice?

....You know, polite? Kind to others and respectful that their choices might be different than your own? Apparently that's not how it is at college.

As college students hit campuses across the nation this week, a new generation of young veterans will step off the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan and onto the ideological battlefield of our university campuses. For those on the frontline in the war on terror, the antiwar hostility of liberal professors and campus activists will assuredly prove unsettling.

Just ask Marine sergeant Marco Martinez, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and a full-time psychology major at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Calif.

"A woman on campus had apparently learned I might be a Marine. When I told her I was, she said, 'You're a disgusting human being, and I hope you rot in hell!' "

[Emphasis mine.] You know, if you were to take the name of any other group whether ethnic, sexually oriented or religious and substitute it into that same sentence there would be folks at that "higher learning facility" decrying the behavior and rallying to change their polices and better police their students -- all in the name of "diversity" "sensitivity" or "multiculturalism." This guy just happened to be a Marine. And because we are talking about soldiers returning from war it's apparently okay to say whatever you want to or about them. For shame that those who would behave so badly cannot see that irony.

And what point are they making? I mean, if you disagree with the policies your government is making, fine! The way to elicit change (IMO) is via the ballot box or by protesting at (or writing to) your government representitve's offices -- no by harassing those who's job it is to carry out or act on those policies. That's like attacking the cop for enforcing the laws created by the State Legislature. It's not going to change anything or get you anywhere to get all up in the cop's face. If you want to create policy change you have to start with those making the policies you find so disagreeable.

And why do some people think that just because they have strongly held views it is okay to be mean? How does being nasty or confrontational make your point of view so much more valid? I have strongly held views and I try very hard *not* to be snide or disrespectful. I can understand that others may have different points of view and there is no reason to be mean about it even if I think they are wrong. These days I find myself only intolerant of intolerance.

So I ask, what ever happened to manners? And why don't those who protest so vociferously "get it?" It is not 1968. We are not talking about Vietnam. There is no draft. If you want to protest/disagree that is your right, but would it kill you to be polite? I'm just sayin'....