When I think of John Wayne and his characters in movies, words like tough, honest, integrity, moral character and righteous come to mind.  The words describe the man, an American cowboy. According to the University of Wyoming’s new infomercial, the world needs more cowboys. Not the Dallas Cowboys (thank goodness), but people who are self-made, independent, not afraid of tough challenges and people who get things done.  Sounds good to me. But of course in our crazy politically correct culture, this is problem.

There are no Safe Spaces:  The U of W dared to want more cowboys (their mascot) and showed both men and women, and people of all colors and backgrounds in the recruiting video.  They want future students to be “outside thinkers hungry for a challenge” and asks, “should we blindly follow predetermined paths when they never take us anywhere new?”.  I thought we wanted students to gain critical thinking skills, and not run to their safe space of warm cookies and puppy videos. Life is hard. The constant whining and being offended by everything has made many of our youth soft.  I know every “older” person remembers “the good ole days” and criticizes the younger generation, but this time it is really true.

Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys:  The video and the university president who defended it were called sexist and racist and not inclusive because “cowboys are white men with a wide-brimmed hat riding the range on horseback”.  It once again proves that just about anything will raise ire with liberals looking to be offended. Surprisingly, I didn’t see much criticism of cowboys as gun owners. The university didn’t back down and apologize, but instead proudly displays their new slogan and video on its website.

Should’ve been a Cowboy:  To me, a cowboy describes a rugged and proud approach to life, its problems, and figuring things out on your own.   That’s being fiercely independent without a lot of group think. You don’t have to be a white male to have that attitude towards life.   Toby Keith sang it, I should’ve been a cowboy.