I was at my daughter's college graduation this weekend. She graduated with a degree in a new major, Electronic Media Arts & Communication (EMAC), which she has described as "art for geeks". A number of highly-motivated and talented kids graduated with her.

The commencement speaker started out by saying that he was not going to make political remarks, after which he proceeded to praise the President, trash the NY Times, and deride journalism and communications people in general.

Needless to say, as communications majors, they did not respond well to the speaker. They were politely silent, and at the reception afterward engaged in a savage deconstruction of the commencement speech.

Let me add that the speaker was a tech guy, and so was probably at a disadvantage when it comes to nuance. He also, mercifully, only had 10 minutes.

If people who think the President and his policies are wonderful want the sympathy of communications majors, they can start by not pretending to be apolitical when they intend to manipulate an occasion for political reasons. Comm majors are not stupid, and can understand the message at several levels, as their education has trained them to do. The pro-Bush people can also stop calling the various professions pursued by comm majors purveyors of lies.

It takes a lot to overcome hostility planted for no particular purpose except to gratify one's self in front of a few thousand people. In the case of these kids, nothing was done to persuade them that the President's cause was just or unjust. They all have their own opinions on that issue, opinions as varied as any expressed on this board. They were, however, given notice that the people who think the President is correct are liable to think that comm majors are, judging from their academic choice, prone to lie with words and pictures, unless they agree with the viewpoint of the people who have just insulted them.

This is not to say that comm majors will respond with lies. They are more likely to respond, as they did on Saturday, with polite silence or savage deconstruction.