S4 / CHRONICLESnpenses borne by the public. The case,nhowever, was not a total loss for allnconcerned. Judge Neville ordered thatnthe plaintiffs lawyer was entitled to hisn$175,000 cut before the taxpayers’nrepresentatives moved in.nThe fiasco should teach some lessonsnto those willing to learn. MaybenOn ^The Color ofnCulture’nCan the sins of sexism and racism benabsolved by this minor apology from anmajor university? Hardly, but it was stillnpleasant to read Sidney Hook’s cry fromnthe wilderness {Chronicles, Mayn1988). We who bumbled around outsidenthe social experiment that educationnhas become are resigning ourselvesnto this new therapeutic agenwhich makes excellence an arguablenalternative.nHow everybody being equal gotntwisted into everything being equal isnso irrational a thrust it cannot be counterednby the old methods of argumentnthat Mr. Hook offers. Indeed, this warncould be lost by using ideas at all.nReason, in this age, must give way tonthe cozier, supportive, and more sincerenworld of feelings just as personalnexperience must prop itself baldly asnrationale.nThe 60’s notion about “feelingngood” now seems to be calcifying intonan entitlement drive for, at the least,nfeeling better. The decision to changenthe freshman course to “include writersnof color or feminist outlook” oughtnto make everyone involved in it feelnbetter. Plopping some interesting (orneven important) personal journeynbooks amidst classics is only to formalizenwhat students have been doing fornthe “compassionate” activists purportingnto represent the needs of inner-citynresidents will begin to take a hard looknat who actually benefits from the redistributionnof wealth wrought by thenMcDonald’s type of case. Maybe thenleaders of our cities will begin to perceivenwhere their interests really lie andnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESnN 4n1n%*^ncenturies on their own. The decisionnitself is not so dangerous as the premisenunder which it was lodged.nFar from stemming the tide of elitismnwhich has always existed, this decisionnwill only exacerbate the differencenbetween spouting and thinking thingsnthrough. Nobody need fret aboutnAristotle’s feelings of self-worth. Likenhis buddies he is accustomed to beingnthrown about and landing on his feet,nready for another round.nCan these new books take this kindnof heat? As most of what has beennwritten cannot, isn’t it likely that angarden club reverence will descend onnthese books giving life to one-wordnnnencourage businesses assaulted bynspurious suits to resist shakedowns fornextravagant settlements. As it stands,nthe courts are as dangerous as thensubways.nElliot C. Rothenberg is legal affairsneditor of Public Research Syndicated.nliterary analysis? Those who launchednthe epithet may find themselves yellingn”racist!” or “sexist!” only to find thenenemy calmly rendering sound judgmentsnas in “Excellent!” “Right!”n”Hey hey, ho, ho. Western culturenhas to go” seems far less a battlecry fornthe future than an intelligent suggestionnfor the alert. For indeed. Westernnculture must go. Out the door of thenclassroom and into the coffee shop,nperhaps. Down the path by the end ofnthe lane where people can speak inncomplex sentences if they like. Back tonthe family or round a dinner table ofncurious exchange. Alone. Or a fewntogether by the lamplight where generationsnwondered aloud free of contemporarynconcerns.nWestern culture, far from dying offnin a spate of epithets, may well breed annew kind of attentive audience. Peoplenare still stopping at stop signs acrossnAmerica even if Stanford has lost itsnmind. The students will just have tonearn an education amidst an old battlenall dressed up in interesting and egalitariannclothes. If they really are the bestnand the brightest they will manage.nThose of us who had the benefit of anclassical education ought to relax intonthe real benefits of such perspective.nNo battle was ever won by fighting thenwrong enemy in the wrong place ornbothering to kill those who are alreadyndead and finished. What is happeningnat Stanford is aggravation of the highestn