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particularly in the social sphere: growing socioeconomic inequalities, il–
literacy, crime rates, and prison populations; crises in welfare systems,
families, and ethnic relations; and so on? Have not real wages for some
economic sectors been stagnant, and for others declining, for two
decades? Are not many indicators of educational quality worsening? Is it
not possible, as some thoughtful and informed people think, that the de–
cline in quality of elite culture and popular education through political
correctness and other factors is deep and profoundly damaging?
It
is also interesting to note that an intellectual style broadly similar
to Veliz's can be, indeed has been, used to argue almost the opposite
case from his, or at least a very different one. The North American
historian Richard Morse has written a book,
EI espejo de Prospera: Un
estudio de la dialectica del Nuevo Mt/l'ldo (Prospero's Mirror: A Study in New
World Dialectics)
that, among other things, makes a case for the value,
resilience, and durability of Latin American cultural, social, and political
traditions in contrast to what he sees as the bureaucratic routinization,
invasiveness, and superficiality of their North American counterparts.
Thus Morse writes of the "avalanching intrusion" into the lives of
Anglo-Americans of "computers, parking stickers and tickets, parking
meters and meter maids, no-smoking zones and loading zones,
incompetent receptionists and competent police dogs, office hours,
coffee and sex breaks, zip and area codes ... this whole
cauchemar,
which can be synthesized as 'smile' buttons to wear and 'hold' buttons
to push (or, less hypocritically, as 'curb your dog-and yourself with it'),
is for the 'convenience' and 'protection' of the customer."
Although Morse is amusing and provocative, on balance Veliz's in–
sight about the U.S. case seems to me to be the more accurate and useful
one. Veliz's perception may be optimistic and partial, but it provides an
important angle of vision for assessing contemporary North American
culture and economy. Stop lights and stop signs are worth having and
observing; safety belts are worth using; they make us better not worse
off; they humanize more than they dehumanize.
If
Veliz is perhaps a bit too optimistic about English America he may
also be a bit too pessimistic about Hispanic America. For there really is a
revolution, with a small "r," going on in Latin America's economic
policies. Ten years ago, no one imagined or predicted what is now hap–
pening. Of course, we will have to wait and see how long it lasts and
how deep it goes.
Edith Kurzweil:
Thank you very much. We will go right on to Irving
Louis Horowitz.
