EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnKXF.CU’IIVK F.DITORrnScott P. RichertrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnASSISTAN’I- EDITORrnAaron D. WolfrnART DIRECTORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESIGNERrnMelanie AndersonrnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnPhilib Jenkins, ].0. Tate, MichaelrnWashburn, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrn]anet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,rnDonald Livingston, Roger D.rnMcGrath, William Mills, WilliamrnMurchison, Andrei Navrozov,rnJacob NeusnerrnKII.M EDITORrnGeorge McCartneyrnFOREIC,N-AFFAIRS EDI TORrnSrdja TrifhovicrnLEGAI .AFFAIRS EDITORrnStephen B. PresserrnRELIGION EDITORrnHarold O.]. BrownrnCIRCUIATION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternA publication ofllie Rockford Instihite.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn928 North Mam Street, Rockford, IL 61103.rnWeKsitc: w-ww.chroniclesrrragazirre.orgrnEdrtorial Phorre: (815)964-5054.rnAdvcrtisirrg Phorre: (815) 964-5811rnSrrbscription Departrrierrt: P.O. Box 800,rnMorrrrtMorrrs, 11.61054 Call 1-800-877-5459.rnCopyright © 2001 by The Rockford lri,sHtrrte.rnAll rights reserved.rnChronicles: A Magazine of American Culhtrern(ISSN 0887-5731) is prrblished rrronthly for $39.00rn(foreigrr srrbscripHorrs add $12 for srrrface delivery,rn$48 for Air Mail) per vear by 1 Ire Rockford lirstitrrte,rn928 North Mairr Street, Rockford, IL 61103-7061.rnPreferred |jeriodical postage paid at Rockford, ILrnand additiorral nrailing offices. POSTMASTER:rnSend address changes to Chronicles, P.O. Box 800,rnMorrrrt Morris, 11, 61054.rnThe views expres.scd in Chronicles are thernarrthors’ alone arrd do irot necessirril) reflectrnAre views of The Rockford Irrstitrrte or of itsrndirectors. Urrsolicited rrrarrrrscripts carrrrot Ix:rnretrrnred rrrrless acconiparried by a self-addressedrnstarrrpcd errvelo]x:.rnChroniclesrnVol. 25. No. 12 ncccinbcr 2001rnIVinled in llic Uiiikfl SLilL-sofAiiicrK;!rnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESrnOn Real ComishmenrnIn “Real Diversity” {Views, September),rnDr. Roger McGrath implies that the Cornishrnare virtuous or otherwise worthy ofrnpraise because tliey could serve their EastrnAnglian, whiggish industrial masters withrnant-like aplomb and distinction. He praisesrnjust those qualities that a mechanizedrnsociety of robotic workers would covet. Inrnhis mind, the Coniish people were “good”rnto the extent they obeyed the still, smallrnvoice of modernity. Their temperancernand their shrewdness served them well.rnDr. McGrath argues, in the scramble tornbuild a society that mirrored the machinationsrnof America’s industrial dynamo.rnThey receive an additional pat on thernhead for contributing, through their miningrnefforts, to the abstraction of all workrnand commodity value into “money.”rnI disagree: A true Cornishman doesn’trnshare the vision of such men as JayrnGould, Henry Ford, and Bill Gates. ArnGornishman belongs on his own patch ofrnland, no matter how hardscrabble. Herndeserves to Hll the miserly mead until itrnyields enough barley and malt for a keg ofrnbeer. He claims a wife, a few healthy animals,rnand the fish of the stream.rnRendered docile by the directors ofrnAmerica’s industrial consolidation, Dr.rnMcGrath’s Gornishman probably had littlerntime to reflect on his self-sufficient,rnhonor-bound ancestors: the men whornrouted tlie Parliamentarian forces at BraddockrnDowne in 1645, who fought for thernking with pitchforks and thrown stones.rnThe carl of Clarendon was more generousrnwhen he observed that the Cornishrn”were always more sparing than is usuallyrnknown in civil wars, shedding very littlernblood after resistance was given over, andrnhaving a very noble and Christian sense ofrntlie lives of our brethren: insomuch as therncommon men, when they have beenrnpressed by some fiercer officer to follow thernexecution, have answered ‘tliey could notrnfind it in their hearts to hurt men who hadrnnothing in their hands.'”rnFor Dr. McGrath, this Christian ideal isrnsubsumed in the interest of economic utility.rnIt is a secondary, sociological phenomenon.rnFor the Gornishman of old, suchrnvirtue was the only thing that mattered.rn—M. KdwardTohinrnPleasant Hill, CArnDr. McGrath Replies:rnMy description of Cousin Jacks as thern”best hardrock miners in the world”rninspired all of this? My father-in-law,rnwhose father was a Cornish immigrant,rnfound room for criticism also, admonishingrnme for devoting half of the article tornthe Pennsylvania Dutch.rnOn Pleading InsanityrnJanet Scott Barlow missed the point completelyrnin her article about the Houstonrnwoman who drowned her six children inrnJune (“Hearing More, Feeling Less,” VitalrnSigns, September). She interpretedrnthe woman’s husband’s matter-of-fact,rnemotionless demeanor in front of thernpress the day after the killing as a byproductrnof “an explosion of coverage.”rnThus, Mrs. Barlow’s central point seemsrnto be a strong disapproval of “mediarnwhores.”rnAt the press conference, the husbandrnclearly stated his wife’s drowning of thernchildren was a symptom of her depression;rnthat she did not mean to kill thernchildren, but that she was sick; that shernloved her children. He was there in frontrnof all those journalists to defend his wife’srninnocence. He explained her behaviorrnas if it were the case of a mother whornfailed to feed her children after she hadrnsuffered an acute attack of meningitis,rncausing her to lose consciousness — nornintention, no guilt, just a biologically determinedrnphenomenon.rnThe husband’s demeanor and behaviorrnwere perfectly in line with the officialrnposition of the American Psychiatric Associationrn(APA) and the American MedicalrnAssociation (AMA): Depression andrnmany other “mental illnesses” may causerna person to kill another person unintentionally.rnThe killer is not a murderer butrna victim who deserves compassion andrntreatinent rather than blame and punishment.rnIn short: The husband was usingrnan “insanity defense.”rnThe insanity defense is an inventionrnthat has nothing to do with biology but arnlot to do with whitewashing, for a fee,rntroublesome human behaviors. Thisrnever-expanding ideology has left littlern4/CHRONlCLESrnrnrn