Patriotic respect and celebration of the unique rights and privileges enjoyed by citizens of our noble nation are a bridge too far at an increasing number of American colleges and universities. At Hampshire College in Massachusetts, students who were furious over the outcome of the presidential election stole the U.S. flag flown on the campus and then burned it before dawn on Veterans Day. The school raised a replacement U.S. flag to half-staff, but that flag was eventually removed altogether after military veterans and their families angrily contacted the school.

Officials at the college explained their decision via a Facebook post claiming that the flying of the flag at half-staff was an attempt “to create the space for meaningful and respectful dialogue” in regards to the “current environment of escalating hate-based violence.” The college officials then lamented that the attempt had failed and so the decision was made to remove the flag altogether.

Insulting the honorable in the name of “creating space” for “respectful dialogue” creates neither space for dialogue nor respect, it simply needlessly angers and divides. How many people initiate a respectful conversation by slapping the other person across the face?

It is indeed a shame to see a generation of young Americans so proudly ignorant and self-righteously disdainful of a nation unparalleled in world history for protecting the rights of the individual and offering the broadest opportunities for success and happiness. Instead, these young are a coddled generation of self-identified “victims” who loudly and incessantly demand respect for their own senseless sensitivities all the while lacking any concept of affording similar respect and honor to those who have, motivated by love of neighbor and country, sacrificially fought and died to preserve our nation and its freedoms.