UMich student calls out 'privilege' of fellow 'smug liberals'

A University of Michigan student is rebuking his progressive peers, calling them “smug liberals” who “hijack the political discussion” with their privilege.

Michael Mordaski begins a recent op-ed for The Michigan Daily by referring to the campus as “the fortified liberal bastion that is Ann Arbor,” acknowledging that the school is an “echo chamber” for “the most liberal of beliefs” that often seems like a “socialist paradise.”

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“Yet within this demographic of openly progressive students there exists a large majority of financially well-off, primarily white students who live within a reality in which economic, racial and social strife are never truly experienced,” he writes. “There exists a large segment of smug liberals who bathe in their proclaimed self-righteousness, dedicating the bare minimum of activism toward the political values they will so readily scream about through Twitter on a brand-new iPhone 7.”

Mordaski readily admits that he is “part of this pathetic subgroup of pseudo-intellectuals who scream about raising taxes and the minimum wage, yet are completely financially dependent on their parents,” and urges his classmates to recognize their shared “lack of self awareness” and infuse their “smug liberalism” with “actual activism and empathy.”

Pointing out that “many students rail against Betsy DeVos and her policies advocating for school choice, yet hail from expensive private or well-funded public schools,” he accuses his fellow liberals of failing to recognize their own privilege even as they point it out in others.

“This current reality in which well-educated, financially sound, predominantly white liberal students so enthusiastically hijack the political discussion concerning race, economics, foreign policy, and social issues is just another example of the privilege bestowed and granted upon them for the simple reason that they were born to a certain family at the right time,” he declares.

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Arguing that it has become more “essential” than ever to promote liberal values in light of the 2016 election results, he asserts that “it is not nearly enough to complain and inform ourselves over the issues we so emotionally care about” without translating those sentiments into tangible actions.

“These smug emotions that are common with white wealthy liberals need to be shed,” he concludes. “There is no way to build a resistance or a future country for that matter around an expensive education and a subscription to The New York Times.”

Mordaski did not respond to Campus Reform’s request for comment.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @JacksonRichman