From Whose Perspective?

Battles over culture will, for the near future, become increasingly central to political debate in this country. With that in mind, this month and next we will examine some of the plethora of material on this conflict over the defining image of America.

From Whose Perspective?

In many ways the "culture wars" are a made-for-TV controversy. The "battle over the soul of America," as Pat Buchanan called it in his address to the Republican National Convention, provides many video-friendly photo opportunities and images for the medium we so regularly invite into our living rooms.

In one corner we have those who are terrified by the "tribalization" of America, their code word for "uppity minority" claims to rights of opportunity and access. In the other are multiculturalists who deconstruct any and every situation into its most basic form of oppressive indulgence, thereby making impotent the authority of real critiques of abusive power. And from their respective corners the gladiators swing freely, worrying little for the truth in the mix and using incendiary imagery to try to frighten the Great Middle of the American electorate off the couch and into the street.

The wars have been brewing for years, but serious recognition began with the publication of Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.'s 1991 book, The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society (W.W. Norton, $14.95, paper). Schlesinger adds his reputation to a growing list of authors who express dismay over the direction of America's multicultural future.

Schlesinger assumes that America's assimilation of its ethnic minorities into the common culture has always been positive and desired. New questioning of this assumption causes him, in concern, to wonder: "The national ideal had once been e pluribus unum. Are we now to belittle unum and glorify the pluribus? Will the center hold? or will the melting pot yield to the Tower of Babel?"

Rightly, this book addresses the impulse to find unifying themes and claims that arise out of a common spirit. Wrongly, it rejects and dismisses too easily the history - the real story - of how we got into the mess we are in, and therefore does not offer a plausible view of a different future. Schlesinger instead points to a return to the past. This just won't do.

James Davison Hunter seems to offer a more complete picture on a number of social and cultural issues in his Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America (Basic Books, 1991, $13, paper). He presents accompanying stories of people on the extremes of the cultural debate. On each topic Hunter offers an anecdotal illustration of two people or groups. The reader is left with the uneasy tension of irreconcilability.

In many ways, the weakness of Hunter's book is in the illustrations. Because he tries to use recognizable media images for his stories, real-world examples that might point to some synthesis or common ground are forsaken. Rather than contributing to an enhanced vision for the future, Hunter seems satisfied to agitate the warriors further.

In most variations of the cultural wars, both sides make self-righteous claims, and both fight with the assured zeal of a prophet. In this light Hunter's soon-to-be-released Before the Shooting Begins: Searching for Democracy Amidst America's Culture War predicts an ominous future for those who struggle for nonviolent change.

Hunter chastises progressives for defining the avant-garde "not so much as the presentation of classic social themes in new artistic forms, but rather as the symbolic presentation of behavior and ideas that test the limits of social acceptability." Author and film critic Michael Medved in Hollywood Vs. America: Popular Culture and the War on Traditional Values (HarperCollins/Zondervan, 1992, $20, cloth) goes even further, seeing a conspiracy within the film industry to undermine traditional American values.

Medved draws on his deep base of knowledge of the film industry and his conservative interpretation of Hollywood's excesses to offer some interesting observations on American film consumption. In no-holds-barred prose (with chapter headings like "The Poison Factory" and "The Glorification of Ugliness"), Medved takes on the sacred cows of the Hollywood field.

Some interesting trends support Medved's claims that the market does not control the medium in Hollywood. He cites the popular and financial success of most G-rated movies in recent years as opposed to the vast majority of more adult-oriented film offerings. He credits this to the fact that producers and directors are creating film for each other, not for the viewing public.

While Michael Medved concentrates on his medium of interest, Time art critic Robert Hughes brings generalist sensitivities to the subject, quoting often from "high culture" and "popular culture" sources with equal ease. His recently published book, Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of America (Oxford University Press, 1993, $19.95, cloth), is a didactic presentation of an Australian-living-in-America's sense of the stakes of the engagement.

Though called by The Los Angeles Times "the thinking man's Rush Limbaugh," Hughes is much more. Not a dogmatic ideologue (though clearly conservative), Hughes is able to dissect idiocies Left and Right and put them in context as well. While offering traditional complaints about political correctness, he reserves a more aggressive attack for practitioners of "Patriotic Correctness," the wrapping of oneself in the flag while disregarding the freedom it represents.

Hughes saves his most venomous attacks for the "12-step charlatans" who have, in his estimation, created an aura of respectability for the victimhood of everyone, in fact for the requirement of it. It is in this theme of a society of victims that Hughes defines his greatest concern: An America addicted to therapy.

The quality of Hughes' writing and his breadth of examples make Culture of Complaint a thoroughly enjoyable read. Whether you're in agreement or not, Hughes offers views that can be respected because they avoid vitriolic tone and ideological stance.

Next month a handful of books setting forth the "multicultural" terms of the debate will be examined. Stay tuned!