America's "best and brightest"??-----𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐕𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐀: 𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀 𝐈𝐒 “𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐒𝐓,” 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐋

A street-interview crew posted up outside 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 and asked students a simple question: what do you think of your country? - M.A. Rothman

 The answers, captured on camera, read like a permission slip for the sentiment running through elite academia.

• “𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺.” one student said flatly. 
• Another leaned further: “𝘐𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴.”

The anxiety wasn’t limited to abstractions. 

• “𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦’𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱’𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺, 𝘮𝘢𝘯.” one student said, while another claimed...

When the crew offered a 𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 out of the country to students who said they hated it, the reaction wasn’t relief. 

It was 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, then an expletive.

• 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲, 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞.