On Thursday, Graham Parsons, an associate professor in the English and philosophy department at the United States Military Academy, published a guest essay in the New York Times called "West Point Is Supposed to Educate, Not Indoctrinate." Public schools are supposed to educate and not indoctrinate, too, but we haven't seen the Times post that guest essay yet.
In any case, the DOD Rapid Response account responded rapidly:
This article was written by a woke professor who will be RESIGNING in the coming months because he “cannot tolerate these changes.”
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) May 8, 2025
AKA, he's so upset that @SecDef is REMOVING DEI from West Point that he is RESIGNING… GOOD pic.twitter.com/xJO2pCFxSh
DEI IS DEAD and we are NOT going back.
— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) May 8, 2025
That's our Defense Secretary.
I voted for this
— Kyle Gay (@noogadad) May 8, 2025
The irony of his headline
— Jordan Karr (@JordanLkarr) May 8, 2025
More of this please.
— Distant (@Distant_Warrior) May 8, 2025
Get them all out.
— Earl of the South (@Corgi_actual) May 8, 2025
Parsons writes:
In a matter of days, the United States Military Academy at West Point abandoned its core principles. Once a school that strove to give cadets the broad-based, critical-minded, nonpartisan education they need for careers as Army officers, it was suddenly eliminating courses, modifying syllabuses and censoring arguments to comport with the ideological tastes of the Trump administration.
I will be resigning after this semester from my tenured position at West Point after 13 years on the faculty. I cannot tolerate these changes, which prevent me from doing my job responsibly. I am ashamed to be associated with the academy in its current form.
Some of Parson's other broad-based, critical-minded, nonpartisan greatest hits:
Unsurprising.
— Undercover Brother (@RealUCBfosho) May 8, 2025
His article on masculinity and war and how boys are raised needs to be “assessed” is just as you would expecthttps://t.co/PjAfuygHd0 pic.twitter.com/H3pV8ThK35
Here is the way back link to the profile of Parsons from @WestPoint_USMA (it was just scrubbed) showing his academic contributions and papers including work on “Patriarchal War,” "Gender and the Rights of Combatants", and "How the Pentagon Made Transgender Rights Disappear."…
— Soapy (@OrkSoapy) May 8, 2025
Here is the subtle point that seems to be getting missed here.
— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) May 8, 2025
This is a school to train US Army officers.
YOU ARE DAMNED RIGHT IT’S “INDOCTRINATION.”
This is a school that indoctrinates young Americans into the traditions, practices and doctrines of a military formation that… https://t.co/3pxZ5wnNwy
The post continues:
… is in the business of killing.
I want lieutenants who are indoctrinated in the ways of “This we’ll defend,” selfless service, and closing with and destroying the enemy, all in defense of the Constitution.
If this “professor” never got this, he had no business teaching at West Point.
Good riddance.
It sounds like he wanted the cadets indoctrinated, just not in that way.
Should be zero civilian professors at West Point.
— Maudinas (@maudinas_) May 8, 2025
Let’s be honest: Mr Guest Opinion Writer is perfectly fine with indoctrination, as long as it aligns with his ethos. However, alternate world views, including the classical ones previously promulgated at West Point cannot be tolerated.
— Nathan Eric Norman (@nathanenorman) May 8, 2025
100%. Every army indoctrinates its military officers.
— Colin Glassey - Author (@cglassey_author) May 8, 2025
In the past this took the form of oaths of personal loyalty, often based on blood.
A fatal flaw in our modern academies is the need to reflect other public institutions—the same institutions that hate America. Huntington understood this: you can't socially reflect society and have an effective military.
— Kurt VanderSteen (@kurtpv) May 8, 2025
All educational institutions are indoctrination camps.
— PhoenixPhyre™ (@PhoenixPhyre1) May 8, 2025
Why do you think the trans community has exploded in the last decade?
We just need this course correction of what indoctrination is used.
Good point.
This is why we fight. This is how we fight.
— Ed Williams (@HewhooW) May 8, 2025
This professor is at the wrong school.
This is the root cause of the rot that has infested the military. Woke professors shaping the hearts and minds of our warfighters into sensitive doves. Start here to fix the military.
— HGR GHOST (@HIREDGUNRACING) May 8, 2025
The poor fellow just can't work under these conditions, so it's great news that he's quitting. It's best for everybody.
We will NEVER go back to this…
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) May 8, 2025
Our nation’s finest should be learning about WINNING WARS, not “queer theory.”
DEI IS DEAD AT DOD… pic.twitter.com/vY30yR08eb
We're sure he did his fair bit of indoctrination while at West Point.
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