Probably the best way to begin a discussion about self-esteem is to issue a trigger warning for our snowflake community. That is, it seems only fair to warn our campus’s gravitas-challenged evanescences that the following words might propel a hasty scrambling toward the fainting couch. Likely few have subjected their delicate eardrums to the gravelly tones of George C. Scott’s rendition of General Patton’s famous presentation, given many times, and simply referred to as “the speech.” Here is a sampling: “We don’t want yellow cowards in the army. They should be killed off like flies. If not, they will go back home after the war, [expletive] cowards, and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed more brave men. Kill off the [expletive] cowards and we’ll have a nation of brave men.” Which is not perhaps the gentlest manner to talk about genetic inheritance, but still effective in its own way.

Patton’s spiritual offspring currently are defending our country, snowflakes and all, in a world replete with evil and aggressive people who wish to destroy us, and it is always an honor to meet America’s guardians in person. Closer to home we find the inspiring life and recent act of Pittsburgh Steelers’ fearsome linebacker, James Harrison, who refused to permit his sons to receive “two trophies for nothing.” He just couldn’t stomach his young men getting “2015 Best of the Batch Next Level Athletics Student-Athlete Awards” — a title so vacuous it makes even a snowflake sound heavy. Then there’s that superb Kia commercial, now gone viral, about another father who can’t believe his victorious son received a “participation trophy” after his team won every game. He peels off the namby-pamby plate, writes in bold letters “Champs,” and hands it back to his son, proclaiming, “Here you go, champ!”

Here you go, indeed. Both events are Pattonesque and, like the general himself, recognize achievement and refuse to take seriously hurt feelings or damaged self-esteem attendant to the many tribulations and defeats one encounters throughout life. In fact, so much of America today reeks with such nauseating attention to self-esteem, it’s enough to make General Patton, if he were still around, want to slap your face. Actually, many thousands of faces, including those of students, administrators, and college presidents throughout the land. But we might ask, why all of them — why not just the sneering faces of our prolific protesters — why include their ostensible leaders, as well? The answer is that they’re all engaged in the same activity, which is to enhance their self-esteem, to project their claims of moral superiority over others and thereby make themselves feel better about themselves. What better way to do this than by assuming the aura of noble victims seeking justice from overseers who are ever so ready to put their virtuous souls on bold display by internalizing grievances and granting rowdy petitioners everything they want?

Thus, at Virginia Commonwealth University, 30 black students invaded the quarters of President Michael Rao, demanding that the institution hire more black professors and that a cultural competency course be required of all students, emphasizing the unique perspective of minority members. The president went out to meet them with the greeting, “I’m really glad you’re here,” which probably “defused” what could have been a dangerous situation, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. This is one way of characterizing the event. Another, less flattering perspective entails students crusading for self-recognition to make themselves feel good, while the president and faculty wallow in self-congratulation for displaying tolerance, openness, and sensitivity to others’ feelings. So it’s a win-win proposition for everyone’s self-esteem, especially since the higher purposes of the university don’t even lurk in the background. In fact, there is no higher purpose, only self-esteem, only how good everyone can feel about the wonderful things they are doing — presidents, administrators, faculty, and students alike.

Examples of this abound. As though the well-known events at Mizzou and Yale were not enough, the President of Claremont McKenna College responded to a bevy of microaggressions by doing what normally falls into the you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up category. As Professor Charles Kessler reported in the Wall Street Journal: “Remarkably, he called for a “sit-in in my office” to discuss things — perhaps the first time, as noted by historian Steven Hayward, that an administration ever called a sit-in to denounce itself.” Then again, what better way to help minority students “fully express their racial, ethnic, sexual, gender, and religious identity?” Probably self-abnegation is good for the soul. Pretty good for self-esteem, too. And certainly the protesting students felt better about themselves, with all their identity stuff being validated.

This is especially the case, since protesters have had President Obama on their side, spouting encouragements that compare their actions favorably to those of the civil rights leaders during the 1960s. With all due respect to our history-challenged president, this comparison is obscene. The reason for this is that during the turbulent ’60s, many of those demonstrating for civil rights put their lives or well-being on the line, with Martin Luther King Jr. eventually getting assassinated in the process. Nothing like that at all is going on today. Indeed, current protests rather more resemble a serial ruckus in the romper rooms that pass for educational institutions across the land, than actions that risk lives to promote universal ideals that apply to all people, regardless of race, gender, or class.

In short, too many on our campuses today want to feed their self esteem by demanding recognition for accomplishing nothing, with the confidence that nothing adverse will happen to them. Quite the contrary, protesters will be praised for their efforts by pundits and college presidents across the country, for pushing the frontiers of racial compensation to the next level. And in spite of a few college administrators being forced out of their jobs (they’ll get other positions, don’t worry), most of them understand their sinecures are safe, particularly if they can satisfy their self-esteem needs by hopping on the social justice bandwagon. So everyone in the end feels good about themselves. Which was the object of the whole stage crafted business to begin with.

Fortunately, there has been some pushback to these orgies of selfishness, although precious little in higher education, with the President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University being the bracing exception: “The university needs to recognize that our obligation is to challenge bad thinking and bad ideas and not coddle individuals in their self-absorption and narcissism,” he told Todd Starnes. So he got it right, in a bold and refreshing way. So did James Harrison. So did that dad in the Kia commercial. And of course, so did George Patton, with whom we began our discussion, and now will end with him as well. “Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser,” he said in “the speech.” Spoken in a different era, under vastly different circumstances, to many thousands of brave men and women. It seems now, however, that too many Americans not only tolerate losers, but celebrate them. All while the cowards he despised propagated more of their kind, while the brave souls he cherished lay moldering in their graves.