CNN’s Jake Tapper called out Harvard and other elite universities for embracing a toxic “oppressor vs. oppressed” ideology that has warped college campuses. Speaking Friday on HBO’s “Real Time,” Tapper argued this academic framework forces students to see the world through a narrow, divisive lens that distorts complex issues.
Tapper said, “One of the things, this is far beyond Harvard, it has to do with an academic theology of oppressor and oppressed. If you only look at the world as oppressor versus oppressed, you then have to choose in a conflict, this group is the oppressor, this group is the oppressed.”
He pointed to how this thinking leads to absurd contradictions—such as gay students protesting human rights abuses in Muslim countries being labeled as “oppressors” simply because they are white. The same logic, Tapper explained, drives the distorted narrative around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where Israel is painted as the permanent oppressor regardless of context.
Tapper’s comments came as he discussed the surge of antisemitism on college campuses, particularly at Harvard. He argued that the ideology of framing all issues through oppressor-oppressed dynamics feeds into the hatred and polarization seen at many universities.
Host Bill Maher agreed, saying there is a pervasive belief on campuses that “all of Western Civilization is suspect.” Tapper concurred: “Exactly.”
Tapper’s warning highlights how elite academic institutions are pushing a worldview that undermines rational discourse, fosters division, and distorts complex realities into simplistic moral binaries.
Tapper’s remarks come amid growing backlash against elite universities for fostering antisemitism, radical activism, and anti-Western sentiment. Critics argue that campuses like Harvard have become breeding grounds for extreme ideologies that view America and its allies as inherently evil, while casting authoritarian regimes and terrorist groups as victims. This mindset, they say, undermines critical thinking, stokes hatred, and erodes the foundations of Western values.
The pushback against these ideas is gaining momentum, with prominent voices like Tapper sounding the alarm. Many believe universities must urgently rethink their ideological frameworks and return to promoting genuine intellectual diversity and open debate, rather than pushing a rigid, divisive worldview that pits groups against each other based on race, religion, and nationality.
