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C H A P T E R 1 4 The Rage of innocent s On Casting the First Stone in a Sea of Cultural Vain D O N K E E F E R Within th e wall s o f academia , mos t al l o f u s fee l ourselve s t o hav e become casualties in the war ove r political correctness. Some PC proponents hav e los t thei r job s fo r thei r fight fo r cultura l parity . A fe w PC-opponents ma y hav e los t thei r job s fo r thei r resistanc e o r lac k o f compliance wit h th e ne w trend s withi n th e academy . Man y hav e bee n wounded o n bot h sides . Rober t Hughes , i n The Culture of Complaint, describes ou r societ y a s a growin g populatio n o f cry-babies . W e hav e become thin-skinne d an d preoccupied , h e says , wit h th e negative , an d many bas k i n the self-righteou s bat h o f victimhood. 1 Advocate s fo r th e victims wra p themselve s i n th e mantl e o f self-proclaime d goodness . Many liv e in a state o f fear tha t the y will b e the next victims , that thei r ideas will be dismissed becaus e o f thei r political-colo r o r becaus e o f th e color o f th e perso n speaking . Course s wil l b e deraile d b y a studen t o r students who feel entitled b y their cultural identity to disrupt the flow. It is just a s likel y o r unlikel y tha t a professo r i n a nontraditiona l course , for example , women's studies , b e treated wit h disrespec t a s a professo r of a traditional , mor e canonica l course . Whit e male s complai n the y cannot get hired. Females of all colors and males of color complain the y cannot ge t promotions . W e al l rag e inwardl y o r outwardl y abou t ou r innocence. To be honest, however, these incidents are like the acts of real violence in our society. They are sparse in the grand schem e of things. But it only takes one incident in the community to set in motion the well-oiled gear s of fea r an d suspicion . With fear , th e mind clamp s shut . With suspicion , 2-45 2 4 6 D O N K E E F E R a see d o f resentmen t grow s int o a stone . Just a s i n urba n settings , w e now liv e behin d protectiv e bars , an d w e ar e ofte n arme d wit h alarm s and weapons , likewis e i n academia eac h sid e confronts th e othe r i n th e debates ove r politica l correctness , wit h a monumenta l stonines s tha t only partiall y cover s th e protectiv e bars , alarms , an d weapon s fro m sight. We are in a cold civil war. The campaig n fo r politica l correctnes s i s essentiall y a wa r o n th e prejudice agains t people s deeme d b y large r societ y t o b e differen t i n a way that makes them somehow lesser people. Cornel West describes this as an intellectual paradigm shift : I would g o so far a s saying that a new kind o f cultural worker i s in the making, associated with a new politics of difference. Thes e ne w forms o f intellectua l consciousnes s advanc e reconception s o f th e vocation of critic and artist, attempting to undermine the prevailin g disciplinary divisions of labor in the academy, museum, mass media and galler y networks , whil e preservin g mode s o f critiqu e withi n the ubiquitou s commodificatio n o f cultur e i n th e globa l village . Distinctive feature s o f th e ne w cultura l politic s o f differenc e ar...

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