I wrote this story after receiving multiple requests from readers who read Part 1. In keeping with the theme of the first story, some controversial bits have been included here. If you cannot handle such topics, this story may not be suitable for you.
*****
Ronnie Really Gets His!
It was not a pleasant day on campus. The day before, little protests had been springing up all morning, all over the place. Some of the gripes were legitimate, while others had no foundation holding them up whatsoever. The dumbest example, in Ronnie Brown's opinion, was when the Politically Correct crowd had declared that white shirts were racist, and that nobody could wear white shirts anymore. That was the day before. On this day, things were even worse.
Because he was a closet revolutionary, Professor Rudy decided to take his class into the thick of it. His fifty-something students followed him out to the campus lawn, where they all sat down to watch various factions being formed, the protesting, the shouting, a few shoving matches that threatened to turn into brawls and coverage from local media outlets.
Frequently, Rudy would point out some thing or other, and ask one of his students to elaborate on it. Sometimes, the Prof called out a student at random, to get his or her opinion. Ronnie hoped the professor would not call on him, as he was still squeamish over what he and the professor had done together just the previous week. He'd been extra quiet so far, enough that some of the students around him were wondering when he was going to start up on his usual banter and wisecracks.
"And so you see, this whole farce of a protest is based on Divide and Conquer tactics that were first implemented by ancient Rome." The professor was finishing up an explanation. "The media stirs up public emotion by reporting the news in a biased way, and the people all go out marching to clamor about this injustice as if it were the major crisis of the day. Would anyone care to explain the Hegelian Dialect to the class?"
Several hands went up in the air.
Before the Prof could point anyone out, Ronnie jumped to his feet. "I'll answer that."
"Go ahead, Ronnie." The professor nodded at him.
Everybody was probably expecting Ronnie to say something stupid, but he wasn't going to do that this time. He'd read ahead in the professor's study materials, so he knew the question was going to come up sooner or later. He cleared his throat. "In simple terms, Hegelian Dialect can be summed up as Problem, Reaction, Solution. The state creates a problem, the masses react and the state implements the solution they had in mind in the first place."
"Well done, Ronnie." The Prof said, clapping his hands in a mock salute. "I think that's the first time you've given an acceptable answer this entire semester. Class, will you join me in giving Mr. Brown a hand?"
The entire class started clapping. Ronnie felt they were making fun of him, so he flipped off the professor first, and the rest of the students second. He didn't make a scene though, not like he usually did. Instead, he sat back down on the grass.
By having answered the question on his own, and smartly, maybe the professor wouldn't pick on him later. Also, maybe it would keep the professor from bringing up what they'd done together that day in the classroom. The last thing he wanted was for the entire class to know he'd participated in extracurricular activities with the older man.
Ronnie was more than a little bit relieved when the Prof moved on to another subject.
"There are those who will bow to public pressure, and those who will not." Rudy said. "I'd like to try an exercise today, for those of you who are bold enough to stand up to the crowd. Gretchen, will you bring up the materials I asked for?"
As the class watched, the pretty student aide walked up with a number of blank protest signs and a small bucket full of black markers.
"Raise your hands if you'd like to stir up some controversy, and if you feel prepared and brave enough to defend your positions." Rudy said. Only about half a dozen hands went up this time. The Prof asked his aide to pass out the materials to only those students, before he went on. "The purpose of this exercise is to invite debate, and to develop arguments and counter-arguments to the position you have chosen. On your signs, I'd like each of you to write down, in large, clear lettering, an event or idea that you know is correct, but which the mass media is deliberately presenting as incorrect. When you finish writing, hold up your signs so that the rest of class can see them. Any who have chosen not to participate can help me to defend the First Amendment Right to Free Speech that these students are exercising."
Ronnie looked back as the protest signs were raised, reading their messages. One said 'All Visitors Must Check In,' which was seen on an electric road sign on the day of the Sandy Hook shootings. Another sign read 'Weapons Of Mass Distraction Destroyed Iraq.' Ronnie couldn't figure out the next sign that went up. That one read 'Tim Osman Runs The World.'
Ronnie turned to the student beside him. "Hey, Brett, who the hell is Tim Osman?"
"That was Bin Laden's CIA codename." Brett replied.
Now that the rest of the class started seeing what their fellow students were doing, more of them started asking for their own signs. Soon enough, about fifteen signs were ready to go.
"Let's go out and show off our free speech, shall we?" The professor requested.
The entire class walked over to where the protests were at their thickest. Apparently, some of the students were complaining about a statue of George Washington that had stood on the campus grounds for nearly two hundred years. Some scoundrel had even tainted the national emblem with red graffiti. The protest was between those arguing against White Privilege, and those who kept saying such a thing did not exist. Professor Rudy and his class walked right through the middle of this fray. Neither side of protesters knew what to make of them of their provocative signs.
"Rudy, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Another faculty member caught up to the professor. This was the ultra-liberal Mrs. Cameron Harper.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" The Prof asked. "We're conducting a peaceful protest, unlike your vandals that are defacing public property and tarnishing the memory of one of our Founding Fathers."
"Get your people out of here!" Harper shrieked. She looked back to the news crews, seeing that some of them were recording Rudy's students and the controversial signs they were carrying about. "Somebody help me! We have to get these people out of here!"
"We have Free Speech!" One of Rudy's female students refused to budge.
"No, you don't!" Harper refuted.
Abruptly, the woman and the student began wrestling for control of the student's sign. Because tensions were already high, people from all sides swarmed over to either cause more trouble, or to break the fight up.
Ronnie, troublemaker Ronnie, saw that a bunch of his fellow students had their phones out to record the disturbance. He was about to pull out his own phone, when campus security moved in, along with a number of cops that had been standing around keeping the peace. Ronnie saw Harper rip the sign away from another student, before she threw it to the ground and started stomping on it. Then he saw the cops grabbing the guy who'd been holding the sign. When the professor went to the student's aid, the cops grabbed him, too.
"Our signs did nothing!" A student next to Ronnie shouted, as more people crowded around and the cops started grabbing at them.
"A troublemaker starts trouble." Ronnie said to himself.
He saw the trampled sign on the ground. After picking it up, he had half a mind to whack Mrs. Harper on the head with it. The old bag deserved it for starting the whole brawl in the first place. Ronnie held the sign up high, making sure it was in full view of the news cameras. He was still holding it when campus security grabbed him and the people next to him, and started dragging them away. In the melee, somebody yanked the sign out of Ronnie's hands. That's when he finally got to read the message that was written on it.
Man-Spreading Is A Way Of Life.
