ROBERT BRUSTEIN
527
that impeccably liberal author for opposing abortion; to Robert
Hughes's
Culture oj Complaint,
describing the fraying of American culture
under assaults from right and left; and to Jonathan Rauch's
Kindly
Inquisitors,
cataloguing restraints on free thought through academic
monitoring, "political correctness" has been subject to remorseless
scrutiny in a variety of books and articles, with little intelligible response
other than to deny the nomenclature. But how can anyone defend an
expression that sounds so prim, narrow, and inquisitorial?
These broadsides may have succeeded in destroying political correct–
ness as a phrase, but not as a sentiment. It has resurfaced, more powerful
than ever, under the rubrics of "cultural diversity" and "multiculturalism"
or,
to
use the prevailing White House slogan, "representing the true face
of America." Whatever you call it, PC has crypto-Maoist roots, and, in
extreme form, is dedicated to a program not unlike that of the unla–
mented cultural revolution by the People's Republic of China - replac–
ing an "elite" system with a "populist" agenda through egalitarian level–
ing. Chairman Mao's little red books now take the form of little black
books by a variety of authors - including dictionaries of euphemisms ad–
vising us how to identify various members of minority groups without
hurting their feelings (pale penis people, namely white males living or
dead, are not assumed to have feelings). Such glossaries may seem ludi–
crous, but their impact on uninhibited expression can be menacing. Even
more threatening is the related effort to proscribe offensive ideas, censor
improper books and syllabi, and cleanse the culture of independent
thought. In the movie
Invasion oj the Body Snatchers,
people possessed by
alien forces identify all those still left human by bugging their eyes,
pointing their fingers, and issuing horrible guttural sounds from their
throats. This strikes me as a good description of the way those dissenting
from political correctness are now being treated in the arts and humani–
ties.
This crypto-Maoist process is a heritage of the 1960s. Many, if not
most, of today's PC leaders were active members of the New Left
twenty- five years ago. The radical students who once occupied university
buildings over the Vietnam War and the "harassment" of the Black
Panthers are now officially occupying university offices as professors, ad–
ministrators, deans, and even presidents. Having helped to promote in–
creased enrollment by minority students, a desirable goal, they are now
responding to the inevitable consequence: increased demands for new de–
partments, beginning with black and women's studies, and now extend–
ing to virtually every "oppressed" minority in the land. Meanwhile, to–
day's students assume the old roles of the newly tenured radicals, using
sixties methods to achieve their ends - protests, sit-ins, occupations,
