Dr. Frank's What's-it

Two of those people... Nick

Two of those people...

Nick Denton writes of a familiar experience, the sort of conversation you have all the time when you live in a place like Berkeley:

A friend was in town from the UK this weekend, and rehearsed the old arguments that I thought we'd left behind at university, where he learned that there were as many interpretations of novels as there were readers, and who was to say that one was better than another. And, as we talked about the clash with Islam, the old questions came out again. Who are we to say that our way is better? It's their truth; who are we to judge?

I can't believe I ever tolerated that exercise in intellectual self-destruction. I certainly don't now. I say our way *is* better. I have every right to judge. Many truths? Well, this is mine: the West represents the pinnacle of human achievement. Modern Islamic "culture" - unless it reforms - will be listed by the history books alongside German fascism and Soviet communism as a reactionary spasm. Someone else can judge the quality of a society by the virginity of women on marriage. My criteria? Progress: space travel, electronics, computer networks, gene therapy, long life, literature, movies, music.

I, too, can't believe I ever indulged this sort of off-hand relativism, which was the default point of view amongst practically everyone I ever met growing up and living in the Bay Area. The ability to maintain a convincing pretense of holding such beliefs was a valuable skill, a requirement for social acceptance; the penalty for failing to cultivate the pretense with sufficient dedication was ostracism, vilification as "one of those people" (as in, "I can't believe you're o. o. t. p.") It's still pretty much the case, and as time goes on, it becomes ever more intolerable even as it becomes more strained and difficult to sustain. What is it about university life that fosters this kind of willful blindness? I suppose they'd say it's based on "tolerance." And it's undeniable: a strident belief in something that is self-evidently false can feel like a kind rebellion, in a flat-earth-society kind of way. Yet it has always seemed to me to more a matter of indecision, of waiting to see how things come out before committing to holding a particular opinion-- and then of course, unless you're "one of those people," the only decent thing is to come down on the side of the loser. Oh, and it's a good way to meet girls.

Anyway, I've long ago come to terms with the fact that I am pretty much "one of those people," and I'll join Nick in saying: long live cultural imperialism.

Posted by Dr. Frank at May 4, 2002 12:50 PM | TrackBack