EDITH KURZWEIL
225
EK:
Yes, it also has its listeners. So it can get much further than its
numbers would warrant.
JK:
But don't people change when they get to be twenty-five, get in–
volved in other business?
EK:
It depends. Many do. But you now have also the third or fourth
generation of the very wealthy, who , for reasons of social conscience,
do not think politically but feel that it is politically correct to oppose
whatever the government says and not to think about it. Many of the
affluent middle-class "kids," the so-called '68 generation , have the
same reactions.
JK:
Yes, this is very strange . Just yesterday, I talked with a friend of
mine about a person, and I said that I was told that this man was too
radical. But my friend wondered how anybody could be too radical.
For him, I realized, it is natural to be radical, that is, to criticize
every time whatever is proposed. I tried to explain that when I say
that "somebody is too radical," I mean that this man doesn't approach
problems by thinking autonomously, but with prepared reactions–
which means that for him everything must be opposed . This really is
an avoidance of thinking.
EK:
Absolutely.
JK:
But he said, "Oh, I've never thought about that." He assumed
that to be honest means to be radical. He did not realize that to be
radical may not always be the only honest attitude, that it may sim–
ply be more facile .
EK:
Of course, it's so much easier to go along with your friends than
to examine every issue , to decide to go with one thing but not with
another, and take responsibility for the consequences .
JK:
It is very difficult not to go to extremes, either to opt for the new
conservatism or the new leftism. These may be two poles, and you
cannot talk about them globally. To have a more moderate position,
one must try to weigh every case in a specific way . And this is less ac–
ceptable . That is what is expected from the intellectuals .
EK:
Yes , that's right.
JK:
It's supposed to be adult.
EK:
But it's difficult to be an adult. Actually I was going to ask you
about the American Strategic Defense Initiative , the so-called Star
Wars , and about the French attitude of going it alone, or
not
going it
alone.
JK:
Well , the French attitude has to be understood in relation to the
French tradition. At present, the French are afraid of losing their
identity - because of the influx of immigrants and of the weakened
