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PARTISAN REVLEW
monological left, which insists on treating all literature and history as
part of the struggle to change the world. This dichotomy has been
thoughtfully and fully analyzed by Carol Iannone
(Commentary,
June
1993), and she is careful to observe that the dichotomy drawn is a false
one. These scholars, as Iannone writes, "concede some of the excesses of
the radicals, but in doing so they yield not an inch of PC territory,"
choosing instead to present "a new and improved version of the PC
project, a kind of PC with a human face." Seeming to reject PC, in re–
ality these individuals, who have defined the issue as one of a left-right
split, cannot help but put themselves, when push comes to shove, on the
left. This is accomplished by thc clever technique of taking swipes at the
right and the neoconservatives, while proceeding
to
make precisely the
same points these so-called neocons have been making for some years.
They have adopted their argument while condemning the prior messen–
ger at the same time.
Recently, I have had the opportunity to engage in a series of debates
with Paul Lauter, one of the leaders of the newly formed Teachers for a
Democratic Culture, and one of those whose efforts are engaged in try–
ing to put a human face on the PC monster. Lauter claims to be above
the debate and portrays himself as a scholar involved in broadening the
curriculum to include the previously nonexistent voices of women,
blacks, and so on. But when challenged, Lauter refused to even criticize,
not to speak of condemn, Afrocentrism, which, he has argued, is a com–
plex and compelling response to racism, made up of some thoughtful
scholarship and some bad scholarship, just as in any other scholarly field.
Moreover, when asked what kind of exercise could be engaged in to
produce a favorable multicultural effort among faculty, he responded
that one idea would be to do as he and his colleagucs had done: form
study groups to ponder the new "queer theory," which he sees as the
cutting edge of scholarship. One wonders precisely what "queer theory"
might be. Whatever it is, it is definitely Pc. And, again, Teachers for a
Democratic Society and Lauter stand on the right side of the left's cul–
tural battle.
For many members of the former Marxist left, the death of
Communism has been replaced equally fervidly with advocacy of the new
Pc. One has only to read the scary reports appearing in each issue of
Heterodoxy
to realize the extent of the madness. What can one make of
the professor at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, who has
written in one of her books that "pederasty is undoubtedly a useful
paradigm for classic European pedagogy," since a "greater man pene–
trates a lesser man with his knowledge," while the empty student is a
"receptacle for the phallus." This same good professor, at a conference,
