Doug Henwood wrote:
> Katha Pollitt wrote:
>
> >Tom, How did New York City literary debates--is that what we're having,
> >btw?-- cost Harris Wofford his election?
>
> From the Umberto Eco piece posted the other day:
>
> >3. Irrationalism also depends on the cult of action for action's sake.
> >Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without,
> >reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation. Therefore culture is suspect
> >insofar as it is identified with critical attitudes. Distrust of the
> >intellectual world has always been a symptom of Ur-Fascism, from Hermann
> >Goering's fondness for a phrase from a Hanns Johst play ("When I hear the
> >word 'culture' I reach for my gun") to the frequent use of such expressions
> >as "degenerate intellectuals," "eggheads," "effete snobs," and "universities
> >are nests of reds." The official Fascist intellectuals were mainly engaged
> >in attacking modern culture and the liberal intelligentsia for having
> >betrayed traditional values.
>
> Doug