From “Peace and Love” to Phoenix of Hate

By Henry Schulte

One of the highlights of my life and the profession I enjoyed the most, was owning and operating the Goleta Valley Athletic Club.

I never went to college and my father loaned me the seed money to purchase the club as an alternative to higher indoctrination. I had no business experience, but I had 100% confidence in myself that I could pull it off. Where that came from, I don’t know, but I never had a smidgeon of doubt.

I took the club from 700 members to over 3,000 in six months. GVAC became the happening spot in Goleta. I redesigned it by removing some racquetball courts and increasing the weight area and Aerobic studio, which was booming at the time. Even John Travolta honed his dancing skills in that studio.

The reason I’m writing about this?

First, I could never have done it without the help and support of the young university students I employed.

They were eighteen-, nineteen-year-old babies when I look back, same age as my granddaughter today. They differed in many ways from today’s eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds. They worked. They took responsibility. They took pride in their job. They were wonderful employees.

There was a UCSB professor who was a member of the club. An old boy even back then. He was very liberal and made no bones about it. I would give him some good ribbing because of it, you could do that in those days. We didn’t agree on anything, but we could sit down and have a beer together.

My young staff never spoke of politics. George W. Bush was president at one point during my ownership and the professor wore buttons with Bush’s face and a line drawn through it. Bush was the Trump of that era. He too was called every name in the book. Yet there was never any discourse among my staff. I can’t recall a single political debate. Yes, there used to be things called debates, discussions, differences of opinion.

There were also no such thing as safe spaces, getting triggered, or gender issues. It was clearly understood that men didn’t go into women’s bathrooms and long-haired males didn’t beat women up in sports. The only thing different that I can recall was on occasion European female students would shower topless in the outdoor shower. They didn’t think anything of it. It was natural and normal to them. I had to explain it wasn’t an American custom.

Somebody had to do it.

One of my employees began working in childcare at the club. He was six-foot-three: a big guy. He loved the kids and the kids loved him. Over time he proved he was quite the entrepreneur, and he ended up helping me with marketing the club. Today he is worth multi millions of dollars. I met him at 18 and he’s now 57 and worth a fortune. We stay in touch all the time and he’s become our adopted son. He achieved everything on his own.

He is but one example of many who went on to be great contributors to society.

There were some riots and rallies in those days, including the famous Isla Vista riots where the burning of a bank made the biggest splash. I snuck out to IV during those “riots.” I saw some trash cans burning and National Guard personnel but not much else was going on.

Those “riots” were nothing compared to what has been labeled, sarcastically, the “summer of love” riots where billions of dollars of property were burned, people died, and out of the ashes rose the Phoenix of Hate.

The “Protected Class” of 2025

Columbia University, as well as others, have spawned another batch of haters. Back in the day, there were sit-ins but not takeovers, and destruction. Even the liberal universities those decades ago would not have tolerated that kind of behavior. There were the war protests and those did get out of hand when the military pushed a bit too hard. The students who worked for me would never burn the American flag or tear down a statue. That kind of off-the-charts behavior was considered illegal and would have resulted in jail time.

Wait a minute, it was and still is.

The insurgents of today know they’re a protected class. They welcome an arrest, aware – like illegal gang members (which under Trump is coming to an end) – they’ll be out before the sun sets. They’ll proudly wear that badge. And the parents who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for their kids to support terrorists are asking themselves why they tossed all that money away.

My employees did their fair share of partying like most college kids, but they studied and graduated on time and moved on in life.

As a side bar, being gay back then wasn’t quite as accepted as it has become today, and I think that’s a good thing. But, dedicating 1% of the population, who decided they’re transgender, 90% of the attention, has pushed the common-sense barrier a bit too far.

In fairness, it’s a small percentage of kids who participate in loving terrorists and hating America. In most cases they’re not even kids or students. They’re the puppets of a much larger dark group using them to get their message across. Still, it’s important to separate the few from ruining it for the many. And the media must stop glorifying these activists and racists as if they’re fighting for a good cause.

Fortunately, the younger kids are getting it. Nearly all the friends of my grandkids supported Trump. And I’m proud both my grandkids voted for him as well. Despite nearly 100% negative news being slathered on Trump, the younger generation didn’t and don’t pay attention to any of it. They reached their own common-sense logical conclusion all on their own. The left and the media still don’t quite get it.

Lucky for us, no one listens to them anymore.

Take a look at COLAB’s latest video, “The Great Fee Heist”