George F. Will: Thanks, or something
ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY, NOV. 21--A quartet of wild turkeys walk abreast down the entrance road to Starved Rock State Park near Utica, Ill., Jan. 15, 1999. The wild birds, the centerpiece of many an early Thanksgiving feast, have made a remarkable comeback from the edge of extinction. (AP Photo/The Daily Times, Steve Ingram) Original Filename: RETURN TO GOBBLER.jpg ORG XMIT: NY326 (Steve Ingram/The Daily Times via AP)
Before the tryptophan in the turkey induces somnolence, give thanks for living in such an entertaining country. This year, for example, we learned that California’s Legislature includes 93 people who seem never to have had sex. They enacted the “affirmative consent” law, directing college administrators to tell students that sexual consent cannot be silence but must be “affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement” and “ongoing throughout a sexual activity.” Claremont McKenna College requires “all” — not “both,” which would discriminate against groups — participants in a sexual engagement to understand that withdrawal of consent can be any behavior conveying “that an individual is hesitant, confused, uncertain.”
A severely moral California high school principal prohibited the football booster club from raising money by selling donated Chick-fil-A meals because this company opposed same-sex marriage. The school superintendent approved the ban because “we value inclusivity and diversity.” Up to a point. At a Washington state community college, invitations to a “happy hour” celebrating diversity and combating racism said white people were not invited.