Author: The Archive (The Archive)

rejuvenating month in the forest.” Were Mrs. Clinton less intentrnon name-dropping {Look Grandma—global splendorsl)rnand more concerned with communicating, she might realizernthat the image of Helmut Kohl rejuvenating in the forest is onernthat many of us would just as soon skip.rnHillary Clinton followed her vacation memories withrncolumns devoted to her conviction that American womenrnshould exercise their...

as they wish to be seen.” I’m not sure whether Mrs. Clintonrnwas saing that we should perceive others in the way we ourselvesrnwish to be perceived, or that we should perceive others inrnthe way they themselves wish to be perceived; but either wav, itrnis a perversion of the Golden Rule into nothing less thanrnthought control.rnThis...

Luddites. Scientific numbers defeat informed acrimoniousrnpublic debate and activity.rnThe consequences of this shift are profound. Simply put, nornpublic opinion exists without it being collected and displayed.rnThe poll, not what people say among themselves, is publicrnopinion; it is manufactured, not spontaneously revealed. Thernpriestly Oracle attendants look suspiciously like ventriloquists.rnCitizens could be thinking about mass insurrection, but...

pacted into “yes” and “no” boxes. As in the selection of jurors,rnthe process is biased towards the unsophisticated at leisure. Arnrepublic of not-too-busy T^ watchers.rnCleariy, even the most ardent defenders of polling acknowledgerna degree of untruth in their product. Surely peoplernlie, especially on sensitive matters, and surely surveys occasionallrnv employ ill-defined terms that elicit nonsense....

times.” Another article asserts: “This time, a horrified worldrncommunity responded. Led by the United States, Western nationsrnissued a stark warning to the Serbs.” While there are referencesrnto all sides committing atrocities, over and over againrnthere are assertions that the Serbs were the main culprits.rnThere are repetitions of the charge that 200,000 persons hadrnbeen killed and...

goslavia, which they succeeded in doing.rnThe abandonment of Mihailovic was a hard blow to Americansrnof Serbian descent, one which they could not understand,rnespecially given the known antidemocratic position of internationalrncommunism. In fact, they were not told until the 1960’srnthat in March 1948 President Truman had posthumouslyrnawarded Mihailovic the Legion of Merit, but at the insistencernof...

bian population of Yugoslavia, had lived together in one staternsince 1918 and believed that they had a right to remain a partrnof Yugoslavia. Or, if not, they believed that they had a right tornereate their own mini-states on territories that they have inhabitedrnfor centuries. After all, they thought, if self-determinationrnwas right for the secessionists, why...

for the El Paso Herald-Post, has traveled to Bosnia and surroundingrnareas and written a number of informative, objectivernreports. He has also written two lengthy articles for magazinesrnspecializing in foreign affairs, detailing the anti-Serb bias of thernmedia, and he is currently writing a book on the civil war.rnMoreover, David Binder of the New York Times has...

Government and the Pressrnby Jeremy Blackrn. – • • . • • • • • = « « . ,rnS^^”h ^’^^fefei;- • rrn? • • • • • • % ••••• •’••• f I ip^w**^-‘-^rnSX-:^rn• Jf…rnV . . . ; . ^ , * S 9 ^rn• M ^ -rnIn comparison with its modern rivals,...

disseminating news. These can essentially be described asrncommunity agencies: families, kindred, localities, confessionalrnand economic groups.rnThe capitalist press is bestrnunderstood in a competitivernlight, though at present therernis a worrying tendency towardrnmonopoly positions forrncommercial, rather thanrnideological, reasons.rnThe relationship between the two is obviously not one ofrnsimple competition. Community agencies can serve for the assessmentrnand transmission of news...

tions between parts of the media and government or politicalrnparties, most obviously in France and Italy. Unfortunately,rntechnological developments and the efforts to create multimediarnempires only encourage regulatory supervision and governmentrninterference.rnThe media arc undergoing centralization, not least becausernit is financially easier to make money by arranging mergers andrncreating quasi-monopolies, rather than by creating and investingrnin new...

sense of particular identity was sharpenedrnh the confrontation of whiternand red men on the violent edge of thernAmerican states. As is so often the case,rnthe clash with the “other” helped to fusernthe Christian, English-speaking, northernrnEuropean eommunities along thernAtlantic seaboard and beyond into arnnation, a nation that would remain thernvital core of what we now call...

percent of those who responded to onernsurvey conducted in Northern Irelandrncalled themselves “Irish,” while thernlargest remaining group of respondentsrnchose to identify themselves as “British,”rnor “Ulstermen.” Since those who callrnthemselves “Irish” appear to be the samernpeople who identify with Catholicism,rnand the “Ulstermen” those who are—rnnominally at least—Protestant, Connorrnasserts that many analysts, confused byrnmodernist assumptions, tend to...

the values of our Founding Fathers arernbeing eroded through processes overrnwliicli there are scarceh’ am democraticrncontrols.rnhi detailing this abandonment, thernauthors rightly stress the ccntrality ofrn”equalit’ before the law” and thern”democratic ideal” to the liberal tradition.rnWith the emergence of “equalityrnbefore the law,” the individual was liberatedrnfrom the constraints of “birth, privilege,rnand class” that determined hisrnplace and...

Principalities & Powersrnby Samuel FrancisrnEnemies of the StaternThe Great Republican Revolution took arnbrief trip to the benches last summerrnwhen committees in both House andrnSenate paused in their deliberations tornburrow into the federal atrocities at Wacornand Ruby Ridge. The resulting hearingsrnwere by no means as much fun asrnthe 0.}. Simpson trial, and the Houserninvestigation of the...

agcnc” until the New Deal era, when itrnacquired the legendary status it retainedrnuntil the 1970’s, and the modern FBI isrn’er’ much a creature of the New Deal.rnWhile Coolidge’s Attorney GeneralrnHarlan Fisk Stone had withdrawn thernBureau from the red-hunting that was J.rnEdgar Hoover’s first love, the Presidentrnwho put the FBI back into the domesticrnsecurit’ business was...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter FromrnMexicornbyRayLowiyrnLawless RoadsrnIt is 10:00 P.M. as you step off the Greyhoundrnbus in Laredo, Texas. By all rightsrnyou should feel exhausted after your 36-rnhour ride from Minneapolis. But therntruth is, you feel pretty good. The air isrncool but muggy on this late-Augustrnnight. You are told that the Rio Grandernis just a few blocks from the...

to, a gorgeous little town off the mainrnhighwav to Mexico Citw Like Zacatecas,rnGuanajuato was a silver town. But whenrnthe silver gave out, the government putrnthe miners to work digging a honeycombrnof tunnels throughout the hills uponrnwhich the town is built. The resultrnis a unique place where pedestrian walkwaysrnand automobile passageways cutrnthrough the mountains like so...

Andres de Larrainzar for several months.rnThe small rebel zone is surrounded—rnprotected would be a better term—^by arn”civil corridor” of Red Cross workersrnwho, in turn, are surrounded by the MexicanrnArmy. Cholera is endemic in thernrebel zone. Lengthy negotiations aboutrnthe possibility of negotiating the commencementrnof negotiations continue.rnMeanwhile, tourism, the one sure-firernincome producer that the state of Chiapasrnhad...

night, too.rnSan Cristobal is a beautiful little town,rnbut it’s filled with refugees. Thousandsrnof impoverished Indian people from therncountrsidc begging, or trying to sell littlernplastic trinkets. Several of} our fellowrnpassengers say it just wasn’t this way arnfew ears ago—before the Zapatistasrnstirred things up. All these people livedrntheir traditional lives in their traditionalrnvillages. But that is oer...

condition of the poor. Today there arern280 organizations affiliated to CEDIC,rnthe state-level Council of Indians andrnPeasants. Despite their great diversity ofrnperspectives and goals, the central issuesrnof justice and dignity give unity to themrnall, emphasizing agrarian policy, land, respectrnfor individual and communal humanrnrights, politics free of corruption,rnjust prices for their products, and publicrnservices such as running...

subside back below them—as if they hadrnnever been, like some latter-day “land ofrnlost content.”rnAs vou get closer, and slip into thernwinds’, grass’ immensity, you relinquishrnreal life with relief. You fall into numinousrnabstraction, as ou look over thernbare desolation, and cannot but think ofrnunworkaday things—how the moonrnrides high and white over the damp le-rnels, of flocks...

VITAL SIGNSrnM E D I ArnThe Truth About thernMilHon Man Marchrnby Marc MotanornCi It’s time for the government to payrnus reparations for the 500 yearsrnof slavery that they put on us,” declaredrna marcher in the Million Man Marchrnin Washington, D.C., on October 16. Irnattended the march on assignmentrnfor Rush Limbaugh, The Television Show.rnMy coverage of...

Alternative iews of American historyrnwere abundant. A group of men callingrnthemselves Moroccan Moors claimed tornbe the Founding Fathers of America. Arnmember of the group stated, “Our flag,rnthe Moroccan flag, was cut down in 1776rnb- General George Washington on SixrnChestnut Street in Philadelphia Thisrnis the Moroccan empire of the West. . . .rnWc helped frame the...

iCrnFloggingrnby Sherman McCallrnBoys had been beaten since historyrnbegan and it would be a bad dayrnfor the world if ever, ineonceivably, boysrnshould cease to be beaten.” So said C.S.rnForester in Lieutenant Hornhlower.rnClarence Davis, a black Democraticrnmember of the Maryland House of Delegates,rncourageously proposed restoringrnjudicial flogging in Maryland last year.rnCourts would give up to ten lashes with...

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnHunters and GatherersrnThe carcass lay across a slab of rock atrnabout tlie leel of mv knees. I estimatedrnits undressed weight to liave been aroundrn700 pounds: substantial for a two-yearoldrnelk. I had managed to position it sornthat when I drew the guts out they fellrnclear of the slab onto the rocks...

through the steep soft clay to the bottomrnand across a succession of giillevs to thernfence, where we dismounted and tiedrnup to sagebushes to eat our lunch, whilernthe cows bedded gratefully at a discreetrndistance of 50 yards. Wc ate ham andrncheese sandwiches and drank fruitrndrinks, and were concerned with dividingrna Twinkle in three pieces when thernflatbed...

Recent articles:rnSteven Weinberg on scientificrnmethodologyrnDavid Riesman on higher educationrnDonald Kagan on Western civilizationrnRobert Conquest on threats to culturernJohn Finnis on scholarship in therncourtsrnPaul Hollander on political correctnessrnJohn M. Ellis on feminist fallaciesrnAlbert Braverman on medical schoolsrnHeather Mac Donald on TonirnMorrisonrnGerald Early on AfrocentrismrnCarol lannone on women andrnliteraturernHenry A. Turner on fraudulentrnscnolarshiprnPaul R. Gross & Norman...

INCLUDING ESSAYS BY.rnPETER BRIMELOWrn{Forbes Magazine)rnALLAN CARLSONrn(The Rockford Institute)rnJEAN BETHKE ELSIITAINrn(University of ChicagornDivinity School)rnRICHARD ESTRADArn{Dallas Morning News)rnTHOMAS FLEMINGrn{Chronicles Magazine)rnSAMUEL FRANCISrn(Nationally SyndicatedrnColumnist)rnPAUL COTTERIEDrn(Elizabethtown College)rnGARRETT HARDINrn(Professor Emeritus ofrnHuman Ecology)rnHANS-HERMANN HOPPErn(University of Nevada,rnLas Vegas)rnDONALD L. HUDDLErn(Rice University)rnE. CHRISTIAN KOPEErn(University ofrnColorado inrnBoulder)rnkrnnrnirn^rnIMMIGRATIONrn* AND THE *rnAMERICAN IDENTITYrnSELECTIONS FROMrnChronicles: A Magazine of American Culture,rn1985-1995rnskirnr.rnf”rnrrn”^rntrnftrnKrnRICHARD D . LAMMrn(Former Governor ofrnColorado)rnJOI [N LUKACSrn(Professor Emeritus...

EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnEDITORIAL ASSISTANTrnMichael WashburnrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnHarold O./. Brown, Katherine Dalton,rnSamuel Francis, George Garrett,rnChristine Haynes, E. Christian Kopff,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, William Mills,rnJacob Neusner, ]ohn Shelton Reed,rnMomcilo SelicrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnAllan C, CarlsonrnPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnPRODUCTION SECRETARYrnAnita CandyrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnRochelle FrankrnA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices;rn934 North Main...

the mother of the red man…. The earthrnis not the white man’s brother but hisrnenemy….” The French original gi es usrnthe gift Burns asked for, “to see ourselvesrnas others see us.” Near the beginning,rnGoldsmith notes that although thernAmerican Gross National Product hasrnquadrupled in the last 50 years, “Americanrnsociety is in serious social crisis.” InrnFrench, “La...

mative action in California. Predictal^K-,rnthe CCRI and its authors have becomernthe target of vicious attacks by blacks andrnliberals, in the grip of a collective hysteriarnnot seen since the publication of ThernBell Curve.rnAccording to the Contra Costa Timesrnon October 7, Fred Jordan, the head ofrnthe California Business Council of Organizationsrnfor Equal Opportunity, warnsrnthat the state will...

high” (Hebrews 1;3), for the suggestionrnthat the right hand is a place of honorrnmight upset left-handed people (thisrnleft-handed editor, until his eonsciousnessrnwas raised, was not upset; in fact, hernis not upset even now, no doubt an indicationrnthat he is so insensitive that herncannot even recognize derogatory insinuationsrnthat apply direetlv to him).rn”Darkness” must also be eliminated,...

PERSPECTIVErnThe Illusions of Democracyrnby Thomas FlemingrnWe live by our opinions. While other people’s opinionsrnare called illusions, if they pose no threat to our interests,rnand prejudices if they do, wc call our own opinions “truth”rnor principles, if we are fools: “the most positive men are thernmost credulous,” as Pope observed, probably having scientistsrnin mind. If we...

school have excluded the teaching of English as a practicalrntechnique of expression; literary theories prevent us fromrnenjoying fiction and poetry and from applying them to our ownrnlies. Psychological and sociological theories—rooted inrnnothing more solid than verbal playfulness—may even corruptrnour morals and stunt our sense of responsibility.rnAmong the most dangerous of our theoretical illusions arernthe political...

his life was higher than it was for a yeoman or a serf. Today,rnagain, human lives are not equal: a child in the womb ma bernmurdered with impunity, and a large majority of the black populationrnapparently believes that the murder of white people isrnjustified on the grounds of the general racism in Americanrnsoeiet’. The political...

two parties and whose outeomes are determined Ijy bribery, isrninduced (bullied or bribed) to pass a bill. In many cases,rnCongress is not even consulted by the federal judges and bureaucratsrnwho have taken law and public administration intorntheir own hands.rnWhen liberal theorists like Seymour Martin Lipset speak ofrndemocracy, they do not mean either everyday democracy orrneven...

literatures is a highly recent activity of the Western mind. It isrnlate 18th eenturv. Literary theory, by contrast, is ancient. It hasrnbeen there since Plato and Aristotle, even if its life over twornthousand years is less than continuous. Though more literaternthan numerate, I cannot accept that 200 vears is longer thanrn2,000; and in light of...

France. When ideas die, a wit onee remarked, they go to America.rnWith the new age of international conferences on criticalrntheory, nobody thought Sir Philip Sidney had anything muchrnto do with the matter, or even Coleridge or I.A. Richards. I suggestrnit is time we did.rnAs Roland Barthes said, one never knows what is not to bernfound...

taint, whereas with a French sentence I could offer only a tentativernand unreliable opinion, hi that case, it is clear, an abilityrnto define is not evidence of knowledge, relatively speaking, butrnof ignorance. Anv dependence on grammatical rules is likely tornhe c idcncc of inadequate knowledge; anv dependence on thernrules of acting, or even an excessive...

The highest moral command, perhaps the only one, is to respectrnthe Otherness, the alterity of every Other in the world.rnImposing our metanarrative on others is intellectual colonialism,rnas bad as, no, worse than the literal colonialism of the Europeanrnempires of the 19th century. A passion to show up eachrnearlier generation’s metanarrative, its indifference to alterityrnand the...

Christopher Norris was awakened to the implications of CriticalrnTheory by the Gulf War, or rather by an article on the crisisrnwritten by a leading postmodernist, Jean Baudrillard, in thernleftist Guardian a few days before the war broke out. (See hisrnUncritical Theory: Postmodernism, Intellectuals and the GulfrnWar, 1992.) We live inside language, according to the tenets...