Most of my reading this summer has been in preparation for a new course on Political Correctness in American Society. The amount of material out there is staggering. A recent search on the phrase "political correctness" had over 50,000 hits. The phrase is all over the culture in skirmishes left and right. I am enjoying this research, but it is professional, not pleasure, reading. Thus it was with great interest and anticipation that I ordered How I Accidentally Joined the Vast-Right Wing Conspiracy (And Found Inner Peace). I was not disappointed.
Harry Stein is my senior by almost a decade, but the ideological journey and cultural landmarks he chronicles look familiar to me. Stein is a writer and journalist with 6 books and credits at the New York Times, GQ, Esquire and TV Guide. He is currently an ethics columnist for the Wall Street Journal. His account of his journey is breezy, funny, well-researched, open and honest. It has the distinct advantage, in my view, of being simultaneously pleasurable, professional AND subversive in the cause of freedom. Hard to beat that combination.
Stein's journey from 60's radical student activist to 90's conservative begins with paternity and family life circa 1980 (there's that decade difference again) That's probably not a big surprise. But the Manhattan media and literary world and upper middle class Hastings-on-Hudson suburban neighborhood that Stein and his family inhabit might well be the most politically correct environment known in modern America, other than a university campus that is. Stein chronicles how his father's eye view takes in the culture wars on Clinton, abortion, gay rights, feminism, affirmative action and more, and how the disconnect between received liberal wisdom and his perspective on these issues places him and his wife, who is the quiet leader of this expedition, at ideological odds with their professional and local communities.
The Presidential election of 1992 is a revealing landmark in ideological journeys. Stein is well aware of Clinton's (now) obvious moral and ethical failings and casts a protest vote for Perot. (It must be noted that this author was not nearly so prescient, but there's that decade again, slightly compressed. I dropped my Democratic registration after Hillary's health care debacle, was an independent for Angus King in '94 and a registered Republican in '97. My journey started later, but progressed somewhat faster in the 90's. Of course it's not over yet.)
Stein has done his research, sifting through the cultural archives both recent and historical to chronicle the personal and societal consequences of our debates on gender equality, gay rights, diversity and freedom of speech and association. He writes quite personally about abortion, and his continued support for choice against a backdrop of deep regret for an American culture that takes it so cavalierly. He documents how ideological viewpoint effects what is and is not presented by various media outlets, including The New York Times at some length. He misses the degree to which the internet has energized and enabled the subversive vast right-wing conspiracy, but there's that ten years again.
It's a great read, and food for your brain too. I'll be ordering a copy for the UMM library.
How to Tell if You've Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy
You hear someone talking about morality and you no longer instantly assume he must be a sexually repressed religious nut. You're actually relieved that your daughter plays with dolls and your son plays with guns. Watching network news, you notice that the person opposing affirmative action is identified as a conservative spokesman," while the one supporting is just a "Harvard professor". Jon Reisman is a faculty member at the University of Maine at Machias
