believes that The New Yorker’s readersnare his best potential clientele.nWhich confirms our suspicion aboutnthe linkage between the Liberal Culturenand all the “Reverend” Jim Jonesesnof this country.nNev^f York’s Literary CriticismnNew York Magazine, the rosary ofnlibcultists, on Dirty Work: the CIAnin Western Europe, the latest oeuvrenof Mr. Philip Agee, an admirer of thencommunist world enterprise:n”This is not to say, however, thatnDirty Work is not an interesting andninformative book. It is likely to becomenan invaluable aid to students ofnthe intelligence community, here andnabroad.”nExactly. Some of Mr. Agee’s previousnwork has proven an invaluable aid fornthose who wished to kill Americansnabroad.nWhat Happened to PersonalnCleanliness Among College StudentsnDr. Mortimer Adler, the renownednphilosopher and a man of wholesomenskepticism, asks in Newsweek what hasnhappened to culture as a mode of civilizednconduct that encompasses things fromnpoliteness to washing one’s clothes andnoneself. He complains that colleges todaynare not interested in transmitting culture,nbut rather in eliminating whatevernhabits of civilized behavior embattlednparents have succeeded in conveyingnduring the initial part of their offsprings’nlives. It’s enough to visit a dormitory atneven the most prestigious college tonnotice that the sanitary conditions of anflophouse, by contrast, seem like a remotenideal of winsome and salubriousntidiness.nWe can tell Professor Adler what happenednto the culture of cleanliness andncivility. It became a victim of ideas,ndisseminated in a quasi-totalitarian mannernby the very colleges which todaynworry about rat-infested dorm rooms.n30inChronicles of CulturenWhen in the sixties philosophers andntheorists of “liberation” began to preachntheir gospel of jettisoning the refinementsnof civilization, it was obvious thatnthe environmental and corporal sensenof order had to go first—as was demonstratednby Columbia University in 1968.nNext to go were—and still are, in thenminds of the liberal sages—all the extensionsnof civilized living, such asnfreedom, tolerance, respect for othersnand democracy. At the time, some peoplentried to combat the trend, recognizingnthat we would lose Western civilizationnaltogether if crudity became fashion. Wendo not remember Professor Adler amongnthem then. It has become fashion. Somendorms look like dumps and threatennhealth conditions. The only hope is thenknowledge that fashion changes, andnthe time may come when youth will reÂÂnPolemics & ExchangesnOn The Psychological Societyn—An Encorenby Tom Bethel!nThe Psychological Society that MartinnGross has elucidated so thoroughlynconsists of two broad groups: those unfortunatenpeople who really do suffernfrom serious mental illness, such asnschizophrenia or endogenous depression;nand the mildly neurotic or thentemporarily unhappy, who probably includenat one time or another, most ofnthe population above a certain incomenlevel: that is to say, people with sufficientnfreedom and leisure to ask themselvesnwhether they really are as happynas the Declaration of Independence suggestsnthey have the right to be. (Thenanswer is always no, of course).nThe point about the first group isnMr. Bethell is Washington correspondentnfor Harper’s and the AmericannSpectator.nnndiscover the charms of Fred Astaire’snnattiness as well as the simple truth thatnsensitivity and comity make life betternfor everybody—a truly democratic ideal.nSmart!nThe Village Voice, the New Yorknradical canard, exhorts its readers tonbe thankful on Thanksgiving Day, for,namong other gifts of the libculturalncornucopia:n”Be thankful that, although you opposednthe Vietnam War, you didn’tnsupport the Communist Parties ofnSoutheast Asia …”nOne can only hear the roaring guffawnin the politbureaus in Hanoi andnPhnom Penh. Dnthat no amount of lying on the couchnand talking about it is going to do anyngood at all; while for the second group,nin the great majority of cases there isnnothing wrong at all that time alonenwon’t cure, and so for this group, too,nlying on the couch and talking about itnis equally a waste of time.nThis leaves us with a great deal ofnunnecessary psychoanalyzing. Gross’nbook is thus a fierce indictment of psychotherapy,nparticularly therapy of thenFreudian variety. I think that such annindictment is long overdue, and Grossnhas done an excellent job of it, compilingnan enormous amount of data fromnthe professional journals in recent years,nand presenting the results in clear, readablenEnglish.nThe results are devastating, I feel.nSix million Americans annually receivenpsychotherapy in hospitals or clinics.n
January 1975April 21, 2022By The Archive
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