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won't be damage, but just that in the long run this won't stand; it's too
self-destructive.
Edith Kurzweil:
I think you're pointing out, also, that people in the
universities are defending their jobs as well. There, what you say may
have consequences. The discussion sorts of floats away, is part of the me–
dia, a performance.
Roger Kimball:
I want to extend what William said. My experience
debating Stanley Fish and other such radicals is that, on a public radio
station or some such forum, yes, they will present themselves as the voice
of reason and enlightenment, and question what all the fuss is about.
They say, for instance: ''I'm just trying to open up the curriculum. We
all believe in truth and justice and the American way, and so on. You
crazy right-wingers are making this all up." But, if you go to the MLA,
or to these radicals' classrooms, or their publications, they're quite
different.
So we're talking about several generations of students who are being
damaged. I too share your optimism about the long run, but that
promises to be a very long run indeed. Yes, the edifice of multicultural–
ism will fall because it's false. But it can do a lot of damage in the
meantime. I think we have to recognize that Gerry Graff and his fellow
members of Teachers for a Democratic Culture are engaged in trying to
win a public relations battle; in debates on National Public Radio they
present their best face, because they realize that much is at stake, in–
cluding money.
Ronald Radosh:
But someone like Henry Louis Gates has, in print, re–
versed himself to a considerable degree. Now he sounds like a traditional
pluralist.
Roger Kimball:
Yes, Henry Louis Gates has taken almost every possible
position on every possible subject.
Abigail Thernstrom:
I want to defend myself. I didn't say there was
no problem. I simply asked how big the problem is. I would like to ask
a question of Ron Radosh. When people who are accustomed to sepa–
rating reality from the movies go to a film like
JFK,
how important is
that? I think it's easy to get alarmed, but is this justified? What kind of
impact will it in fact have on political culture?
Ronald Radosh:
Actually, if you're ever out in front of a theater dur–
ing the day you will notice that quite a few high school classes are being
