One of the most damaging ideas my generation has been taught is that the world can be reduced to a struggle between the oppressed and the oppressors. This binary framework has been drilled into classrooms, textbooks, and social media campaigns. It tells young people that every political issue has a villain and a victim, and that morality lies only in siding with the supposed victim.
This narrative has reshaped how my peers interpret history, economics, and foreign policy. It is also why candidates like Zohran Mamdani have found such a receptive audience among younger voters in New York. Mamdani’s message fits neatly into the worldview many students have absorbed without serious debate or context.
In schools, controversial issues are often avoided altogether. A 2022 RAND study found that two-thirds of teachers admitted to self-censoring their lessons out of fear of backlash. When subjects like immigration, tariffs, or abortion are dismissed as “too divisive,” the void is filled by the simplified story of oppressed versus oppressor. Social media platforms and activist groups step in as de facto teachers, presenting one-sided narratives that leave no room for nuance.
The same pattern applies to Israel. Students rarely learn about the long history of Jewish self-determination, the 1948 war in which five Arab armies invaded the new state, or the terrorism Israel continues to face from Hamas and Hezbollah. Instead, they are told that Palestinians are oppressed and Israel is the oppressor.
By the time they arrive at college, this framing has already hardened into conviction. A 2024 poll found that 51% of Americans under 25 believe Israel is committing genocide, despite decades of evidence that Israel has accepted peace offers repeatedly rejected by Palestinian leaders.
Mamdani’s rhetoric thrives in this environment. He presents Israel as a colonial power and Palestinians as an occupied people, ignoring the complexities of history. For students conditioned to see every conflict through the same binary lens, this argument requires no scrutiny. In their eyes, Mamdani is not extreme—he is simply affirming what they were taught to think.
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The same lens has shaped how young people interpret events domestically. During the George Floyd protests in 2020—the largest demonstrations in U.S. history, with estimates of 15 to 26 million participants—many of my peers quickly embraced the idea that America itself is irredeemably racist and that law enforcement is inherently oppressive.
Nuance gave way to absolutes. The fact that violent riots caused over $1 billion in insured property damage, the costliest in American history, was largely brushed aside.
Economic debates follow the same pattern. Free markets are often painted as systems of exploitation rather than engines of opportunity. Lost in the discussion is that capitalism has lifted over a billion people worldwide out of extreme poverty since 1990, according to World Bank data. Instead of studying these facts, students are conditioned to ask only one question: who is the oppressor?
In New York’s 2021 mayoral election, only about 1.1 million people voted in a city of over 8.4 million residents. That low turnout gives mobilized youth voters disproportionate influence. Candidates like Mamdani do not need broad majorities; they only need to capture the imagination of younger voters who have been taught that justice belongs exclusively to those fighting “oppressors.”
Israel is condemned not for policies but for existing as a successful Jewish state in the Middle East. America is condemned not for individual failures but for being built on supposed structures of oppression. Free markets are condemned not for flaws but for being based on profit itself.
Mamdani’s popularity cannot be separated from how students are taught. A generation raised without exposure to rigorous debate will inevitably fall for simplistic slogans. When schools avoid teaching about tariffs, crime, or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in depth, students fill in the blanks with narratives that reward victimhood and demonize power.
If we want to understand Mamdani’s rise, we cannot look only at his campaign strategy. We have to look at the classrooms that shaped his supporters. The obsession with the oppressed versus the oppressor has conditioned students to embrace candidates who reduce complex realities to simple moral binaries. Until that changes, my generation will continue to reward politicians who exploit these narratives—even when they target Israel and spread rhetoric that divides rather than unites.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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