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values dear to the democra ti c Left , but if tha t policy succeeds in
restra ining the Russ ia ns, the d emoc ra tic Left , too, will be in its
debt. The res ponse of the R eagan admini stra tion to the Polish coup
was indeed cha rac teri zed , as So ntag said , by "utter hypoc ri sy" - not
because the Pres ident fa iled to li ve up to hi s rhetoric in El Sa lvador,
as she went on to say, but becau se he fa iled to live up to hi s rhetoric
in Pola nd . H e promi sed to be the sort of ma n who would punish the
Ru ss ia ns for thi s so rt of push , a nd he did no t. H e may be criticized
from the left for not ac ting from the ri ght ; tha t is, he may be
crit ic ized by a nti communists fo r no t acting like a n a nticommunist.
The difference between "our" style of a nti communi m and "their"
style of a nticommunism is trivia l for the purpose of weakening the
J aru ze lski regime . Sontag came out aga inst the ex te nsion of credit to
Pola nd . So did Caspa r Weinberge r. Sontag, howeve r , is uneasy.
She needn't be, because Weinberge r was ri ght. And he spoke for
her. Politics is not pretty. T a king pos itions is.
Sontag's utte ra nce perfo rmed a se rvice, howeve r ; it smoked out
a n impress ive number of intell ectua ls for whom communism is not
quite a mora l a nd political po int of reference. Edward Sa id , for
example. H e recall ed tha t "there a re numerous pro-US regimes
whose prac ti ces a re a t leas t as violent" as the pro-USSR regime in
Pola nd . Said then proposed a ra ther novel procedure for intellec–
tuals to foll ow in politics: "Either intellec tu als describe as well as
criticize wha t is closest to them , wha t is in fac t within their ra nge of
direc t, res ponsible competence, howeve r pa inful it mi ght be to do so,
or they become willing agents of the state, legitimi zers of its
poli cies." The mind's limit , in othe r wo rds, may be measured in
m il es; it is futil e to focus a criti cal intelli gence upon things tha t are so
fa r away. And Sa id went on : "Those of us who do not ha ppen to be
European as k ourselves tod ay why organi zed intell ectual
di sapproval of General J a ruzels ki , or the Sa lvado ra n junta, is
routinely, one might even say calcula tedl y, no t turned on the Begin–
Sha ron poli cy fo r the Wes t Ba nk a nd G aza?" But he has a nswered
hi s own ques tion . The Wes t Ba nk a nd Gaza a re so fa r away . They
a re eve n fa rther away from the "ra nge of direc t, res ponsible
compe tence" of Ameri can intell ec tua ls tha n Pola nd . Fo r the Pales–
tini a ns, howeve r , Ameri can intellec tu a ls a re expec ted to stretch
themselves . Is this a doubl e sta nda rd , or a single m ind? Let us say it
is a sin gle mind . And how single ! Sa id ma kes it tempting to point
