Culture Warrior (17 page)

But wait a minute. What exactly does “middle of the road” mean on America's college campuses? It is impossible to nail down completely, but let me offer this insight: In the mid-nineties, as I mentioned, I attended Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. I learned a lot there and am proud of earning a master's degree in public administration with decent grades.

Press and media studies at the Kennedy School are done in the Shorenstein Center, which is headed up by former
New York Times
reporter Alex Jones, a committed liberal. But Professor Jones does not see himself that way. He believes he's a fair and balanced guy and said so on
The O'Reilly Factor.
He also said the
New York Times
is not a liberal newspaper and the former editor of the
Los Angeles Times,
Jon Carroll, whom Jones hired to teach at the Kennedy School, is not a liberal guy either.

I thought that analysis fascinating, because while at the
L.A. Times,
Mr. Carroll hired far-left bomb-thrower Michael Kinsley to run the editorial page, which also featured radical S-P icon columnists like Robert Scheer. Under Carroll, the
Times
lurched to the left, and drastically declined in circulation. Maybe that was a coincidence, but Carroll eventually quit. Soon after his departure, Kinsley and Scheer were fired by the Tribune Company, which owns the
L.A. Times.

Now, I could be wrong (have I said that before?). I mean, maybe Jones, Carroll, Kinsley, and Scheer are all “middle of the road.” I can only go by what they've written and what they've said. I can't read their minds.

Professor Jones, I believe, sincerely thinks he's a nonpartisan educator. Again, maybe he is. The point here is that in academic circles “middle of the road” is completely different from what it would be in, say, Tupelo, Mississippi. I believe it is safe to assume that on most college campuses in the United States, S-P thought rules, at least in public.

Nowhere is that point better illustrated than at the University of Colorado. This is the home of radical professor Ward Churchill, the unhinged “ethnic studies” professor who proudly proclaimed that many of the Americans killed on 9/11 were “little Eichmanns” who deserved their fate because they were evil capitalists. You remember the outcry over that.

Well, despite all the controversy and serious questions about Churchill's background and scholarship, he emerged as a hero among many in the secular-progressive community. But he's not a hero to me.

So when I heard that Hamilton College in upstate New York had hired Churchill to speak on campus, I really let the college have it on radio and TV. Why pay this guy money to spew that kind of hate? I asked. Doesn't anyone care that his vile words bring pain to the families who lost people in the World Trade Center attack? Would Hamilton be hiring David Duke to speak anytime soon?

Hamilton folded. Churchill did not speak.

As soon as the decision to throw this loon overboard was made, the S-P media sprang into action. It was the usual bilge: O'Reilly's a fascist, a bully, a terrible human being in every way. Secular-progressive columnist Richard Cohen, who writes for the
Washington Post,
was distraught over the Churchill situation:

         

Then Bill O'Reilly struck. The Fox TV commentator went to town on the controversy, finding the usual liberal idiocy at the usual liberal college perpetuated by the usual liberal morons. Having rounded up his usual suspects, O'Reilly ended a segment about Hamilton by providing the name of the college's president, Joan Hinde Stewart, her e-mail address and the school's phone number.

Then, blood dripping from his evil heart, he asked his deranged viewers to “keep your comments respectable.” The school caved.

         

Now, Richard Cohen is one of the most fanatical S-P media people working today. He truly hates me and obviously despises the “deranged” millions all over the world who watch
The Factor.
Of course, I couldn't care less, and I don't hate him. In fact, the only thing about Cohen that even registered on my radar is that he often used personal attacks in his column to smear those with whom he disagreed.

But, I'm pleased to say, Richard Cohen no longer does that very much. After I gently advised him on the air to cease and desist from the smear tactics, he did. Good for him.

However, Cohen's decision may have had something to do with karma. In May 2006 he wrote in the
Washington Post
that television satirist Stephen Colbert had bombed while doing a monologue at the Washington White House Correspondents dinner. Immediately Cohen was barraged by hundreds of hateful e-mails. Apparently two far-left smear Web sites had urged their readers to attack Cohen. The writer called the chorus a “digital lynch mob”: “It seemed that most of my correspondents had been egged on to attack me by various blogs…. All in all, I was—I am, and I guess I remain—the worthy object of ignorant, false and downright idiotic vituperation.”

I know how you feel there, Richard. What I don't understand is why this is news to you. As the aforementioned NPR ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin wrote about the vile Web sites Media Matters and Think Progress: “[They] encourage people to express strong feelings; the level of pure acrimony seemed to me to rise to the level of hate speech.”

Even the ombudsman for NPR knows the score.

Summing up, there is no question that the S-P movement is firmly entrenched on most college campuses and is making a lot of progress in public secondary and grammar schools. That is worrisome. The educational battlefield is a key area in the culture war. Here, especially, traditional forces are on the defensive and are heavily outnumbered. Right now American voters renounce secular-progressive initiatives again and again. But will that hold twenty years from today?

That, for the traditional warrior, is the key question.

What's goin' on?

—MARVIN GAYE

A friend of mine spied an African American woman reading one of my books on an Amtrak train and, smiling, brought it to my attention. He thought it was great but was a bit surprised. He should not have been. Many African Americans are deeply traditional, though they might vote Democratic or even be liberal thinkers.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a traditionalist. In almost every public statement he made, he called upon God to inspire him and deliver justice. In his
Letter from a Birmingham Jail,
he wrote: “[Civil rights protesters stand for] the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage, thereby carrying our whole nation back to those great wells of democracy.”

Did I read that right? “Our Judeo-Christian heritage”? Of course, Dr. King understood that to mean the traditional tenets of freedom for all, justice for all, and generosity of spirit and with material things. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words are more important than ever, because the S-P movement not only scorns Judeo-Christian philosophy, some of its members even deny America has a heritage based on that philosophy.

Bill Cosby is also a traditionalist. He travels the country urging black Americans to return to the American traditions of self-discipline, self-reliance, and self-respect. Cosby understands that moral relativism is not helping black Americans overcome their historical disadvantages. The key to success, as Cosby well knows, is a strong traditional education and hard work.

And, surprise, the Reverend Jesse Jackson is a traditionalist, at least in some ways. The proof came when he sided with Terri Schiavo's family in the controversy over whether the Florida woman should be removed from life support. Jackson opined that any mistake made in the emotional case should be made on the side of life. The S-Ps must have hated that.

Once again, not all liberals are secular-progressives, and not all Democrats approve of the S-P vision. And that is certainly true with the African American community.

Although 89 percent of blacks voted Democratic in 2004, when it comes to social issues African Americans are largely in the traditional camp. A Pew Research Center poll taken in July 2005 found that 75 percent of black Americans believe secular-progressives push too far in keeping religion out of schools and government. Only 17 percent of African American voters want to legalize gay marriage—an overwhelming statement of traditionalist conviction.

Those attitudes, strongly held, are a disaster for the S-P movement, which is why you rarely see any blacks associated with it. The ACLU is almost entirely white, as is Air America, as is the George Clooney S-P crew in Hollywood.

George Soros and Peter Lewis, the big S-P moneymen, travel in almost exclusively white circles. Bill Moyers and his media followers are all a whiter shade of pale, to quote an old Procol Harum rock song.

Because the African American political establishment is largely locked into one issue—advancement of blacks through government largesse—African Americans remain largely on the sidelines in the culture war. Generally speaking, taking up the battle is simply not relevant to them, because traditionalists have not defined the culture war to coincide with their interests. I believe that is a huge mistake.

In many black communities, Christian churches are prominent centerpieces. Faith is an important tradition in black America. That's why the gay marriage issue is overwhelmingly rejected by blacks. Their religion says homosexuality is not acceptable, and many African Americans bitterly resent the argument that marriage for homosexuals is a civil right. If you want a lively discussion, walk into a black church and put that on the table.

So there is no solace or future for the S-Ps in the black precincts. Take another issue: drugs. Many African Americans have seen firsthand what narcotics can do; they don't want hard drugs legalized. Lawlessness and the breakdown of the traditional family in poor black neighborhoods (the out-of-wedlock birth rate for blacks is 70 percent) has deepened the cycle of poverty and deprivation. Any sane person can see that.

And older African Americans generally deplore the rise of gangsta rap and the disintegration of civility among some young black people. This is a big Cosby theme, and he pounds it home in his lectures again and again, despite attacks on him by the S-P community, which often views the hate-filled rap lyrics as “genuine expression.”

And Cosby is not alone. Oprah Winfrey has just about banned street rappers from her program. The despicable Ludacris complained that Oprah simply ignored him when he appeared on her program with the cast of a movie in which he appeared. Oprah clearly understands the damage “gangsta rap” has done and is not about to embrace the pushers of it.

The culture war question is: Why are so many prominent African Americans opposed to the secular-progressive viewpoint when S-P principals like Susan Sarandon and George Clooney would do just about anything in order to secure “black” approval? The answer to that question lies in the S-P mantra of “no judgments” about most personal behavior.

Two contrasting faces of African American culture: the civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr., and the ludicrous rapper Ludacris.

Writing in the
New York Times,
Harvard professor Orlando Patterson, a respected African American thinker, put forth some research:

         

So why were [young blacks] flunking out [of high school]? Their candid answer was that what sociologists call the “cool-pose culture” of young black men was simply too gratifying to give up. For these young men, it was almost like a drug, hanging out on the street after school, shopping and dressing sharply, sexual conquests, party drugs, hip-hop music and culture, the fact that almost all the superstar athletes and a great many of the nation's best entertainers were black.

Not only was living this subculture immensely fulfilling, the boys said, it also brought them a great deal of respect from white youths…. Sadly, their complete engagement in this part of the American culture mainstream, which they created and which feeds their pride and self-respect, is a major factor in their disconnection from the socioeconomic mainstream.

         

Many traditionalists, of course, deplore what is happening with some black young people. They rightfully condemn the incredibly selfish behavior that promotes the use and abuse of other people under the false banner of “oppression.” But the S-P crowd, especially the mainstream media, has glorified the gangsta world and, indeed, makes money from it. Those white, middle-aged, ponytailed music executives are no better than crack dealers. They know their product dehumanizes its constant customer and encourages awful behavior. But the bank run is all that matters. And alert African Americans understand the exploitation that is going on. Bill Cosby and Oprah speak for them.

The upshot of all this is that it's safe to say few, if any, citizens are enlisting in the S-P corps in East St. Louis or South Central Los Angeles. But, again, not many blacks are waving the traditional flag, either. It would take a strong black leader who understands that the Judeo-Christian tradition, as well as a return to discipline and personal accountability, would greatly aid the advancement of African Americans. Until such a leader arrives, most black Americans will remain disengaged from the culture war that is raging around them. And that's a shame.