Slate's Bizbox
the breakfast table: An e-mail conversation about the news of the day.

Jonathan Lear and Andrew Sullivan

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516
from: Andrew Sullivan

"A Cost-Free Way To Acquire the Ultimate PC Prestige"

Posted Thursday, Aug. 23, 2001, at 2:31 PM ET

Jonathan,

Oscar Wilde was more compassionate than thou. Lady Bracknell remarked that to lose one parent might be deemed a misfortune, but to lose two seems like carelessness. When another young lover of Gary Condit's goes missing, I'll agree he has some 'splaining to do, as they used to say on the Lucy show. Until then, he's the object of a misfortune. Not a cold-blooded murderer.

Speaking of Kathy Boudin, I agree with you about the late 1960s and early 1970s. The loss of any moral compass at the center of a country's elite--during the late Vietnam/Watergate years--inevitably led to delusions and false gods. Should one feel pity or contempt for those who found themselves perpetrating evil as a result? Both, I think.

As to your Afghan story, how reporters deal with the strange psyches of human beings is always problematic. Hacks are not supposed to inquire too deeply into the unconscious motives of human beings, and that's probably a good thing. But at times, when you're dealing with the obviously disturbed, like our former presidents Nixon and Clinton, that means a constant repetition of facts that defy rational explanation. How does a journalist describe what can only be explained as pathological behavior in a person's public duties? I think they have to do exactly what your Afghan reporter did, which is to let the real story speak between the lines. I loved that quote. The condescension toward Christianity was lovely. Can you imagine if they'd asked him about Judaism? Can we say "blocked"?

My own psychoanalytic eye this morning couldn't help notice a story from College of New Jersey, where a student was recently subjected to death threats because he was gay. The campus did what it normally does these days, which is to hold candlelight vigils, demos, hug-ins, and what-not to demonstrate their own solidarity with the victims of oppression and generally show what a bunch of superior moral beings they are. Now it turns out that the kid sent these letters to himself; and the whole thing was a hoax. Everyone is stunned--and you can see why. Most of today's academics subscribe to the idea that members of oppressed groups are saints, holy, perfect incarnations of the pure state of victimhood. So how could a victim make stuff like that up? In the PC mind, this simply won't compute--so it'll be ignored. But these hoaxes will only surely increase in number. After all, according to the doctrine of today's campuses, there is no higher state of being than victimhood. That's why Matthew Shepard has been turned into a virtual saint by gay groups, honored as an emblem to which we all aspire. Why wouldn't a young gay kid want to share some of that glory? Teen-agers are invariably drawn to the drama of persecution. It's a way of deferring the responsibilities of being a grown-up for a while. So why not concoct a hate crime for yourself--a cost-free way to acquire the ultimate PC prestige?

My favorite detail is what the young hoaxster was majoring in. Yep, psychology!

Andrew

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516
from: Andrew Sullivan

"A Cost-Free Way To Acquire the Ultimate PC Prestige"

Posted Thursday, Aug. 23, 2001, at 2:31 PM ET
Print This ArticlePRINTDiscuss this in The FrayDISCUSSEmail to a FriendE-MAIL
Share on FacebookPost to MySpace!Share with MixxDigg ThisShare with RedditShare with del.icio.usShare with FurlShare with Ma.gnolia.comShare with SphereShare with Stumble Upon
Jonathan Lear is a member of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. His most recent book is Happiness, Death, and the Remainder of Life. Andrew Sullivan writes daily for andrewsullivan.com, writes the "TRB" column for the New Republic, and is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine.
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES
Washington Post