It’s not precisely an example of Poe’s Law, but it is close enough to be ominous. American society and culture seems to be finally ripping the metaphorical blinders off and recognizing how thoroughly our colleges and universities have abandoned their core mission of education, or at least seem incapable of pursuing it. The schools are indefensibly expensive. They may graduate students without essential skills and knowledge. They seem to place political and ideological indoctrination above intellectual curiosity and critical thinking as their emphasis. Many of them tolerate campus cultures that are hostile to men, Jews, and conservatives. Some of them now pay their student athletes, and demonstrate more passion over sports than academics.
So the University of Maryland decides that this is an ideal time to name Kermit the Frog as its commencement speaker.
The university announced the big news yesterday.“I am thrilled that our graduates and their families will experience the optimism and insight of the world-renowned Kermit the Frog at such a meaningful time in their lives,” said Darryll J. Pines, president of the University of Maryland.
What is such a selection supposed to mean? If I were a 2025 graduate, I would regard it as an insult, or, perhaps, a confession. Kermit is, to state the obvious, not real: he’s a piece of cloth. The current Kermit is so anonymous that the Times article (gift link, though it’s not much of a gift) doesn’t even bother to reveal who is currently his (its?) voice, or who will be writing his remarks. The original Kermit, long-dead Jim Henson, was a creative genius and entrepreneur. If he chose to appear at a podium in his Muppet persona it wouldn’t diminish the wisdom he was fully capable of conveying to graduates. In fact, 2025 Kermit is a has-been. What has he done lately? “The Muppet Show” is no more. There hasn’t been a new Muppet movie in many years. At yesterday’s hearing regarding the federal funding of public broadcasting, some of the members of Congress seemed to think Sesame Street was still showing on PBS. Kermit is about as timely a commencement speaker today as Howdy Doody would be, or Charlie McCarthy, or Kukla, Fran or Ollie.
If the University of Maryland wanted a puppet, the least it could have done was invite Joe Biden.
So what is the University of Maryland trying to convey with this selection? Is it an existential commentary that humanity doesn’t matter? Defiance, with the school declaring, “Sure, we know we’re a profitable con, but we don’t care: people still think a diploma proves something other than that you wasted four years and a lot of money”? Or are the decision-makers at the university just morons who think this is a reasonable selection?
I have no idea, and that’s a damning commentary on the choice as well. And I thought my college class commencement speaker was a poor choice—the Shah of Iran,Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. He was still a more responsible choice than Kermit. Even today he would be a better choice, and he died in 1980.
Ethics Alarms 
From the picture, I immediately assumed this was going to be a post about Nazi salute-ism.
If you are going to make a joke out of graduation, I think Fozzie Bear should be the commencement speaker. Waka Waka.
Will Statler and Waldorf be there to throw comments from the peanut gallery?
I agree with you but with one caveat: Kermit’s relevance is irrelevant. Even if Kermit were the undisputed star of the airwaves right now, having him as a commencement speaker is irresponsible. Kermit is, as you’ve pointed out, a fictional character. They won’t be getting Kermit’s wisdom; they’ll be getting a speech put together by Kermit’s handlers – his puppeteer, his voice actor, some bigwig at Disney.
It’s no different than bring Superman as a commencement speaker. The guy who plays him can come up on stage in a costume and give a speech that Superman would give, but he’s still not real. Graduating students either get a scripted speech written in committee for a fictional character or they get a speech written by the voice behind the character…a real person who was not invited.
Having grown up with Kukla Fran and Ollie, Howdy Doody, the Merry Postman and Captain Kangaroo, I can attest they exhibited a great deal of right moral teaching.
Sesame Street, along with Kermit at first did the same, but as my children grew I noticed it devolving into a social engineering project as many other of our institutions.
I certainly would be dissatisfied to have a cartoonish figure attempt to provide wisdom, which I always thought was the purpose of the speech.
However, since universities are out the business of providing a proper formation of a proper citizen I am not surprised at their choice.
If any university desires to correct their course I have a well read copy of John Henry Newman’s ” Idea of a University” they can borrow.
After further contemplation, universities are still graduating children, so maybe Kermit is appropriate, maybe even Blue from “Blue’s Clues”.
Of all of my and my family’s commencements, the only speaker I remember is Truett Cathy, who spoke at our son’s high school graduation. If he were alive today, he would probably not be welcome at many leftist-infested schools. At least I would have remembered if Kermit had been one of the others.