Truth to Power

I don't mean to sound macabre/But, hey, isn't it my job/ To lay it on the masses/ And get them off their asses/ To fight against these fascists. --Digable Planets

Since this is my last column, I am torn between the desire to offer some final thought-provoking insights and the urge to add an inflammatory and self-congratulatory exclamation point to five semesters of writing editorials for The Crimson, so I'll probably attempt to do both.

Once again, I will try to present an alternative perspective to the accepted orthodoxies and narratives that American culture and Harvard are constantly trying to promote.

I must say that I have enjoyed my four years at Harvard. I'm fortunate to have been able to take advantage of the academic resources, intellectual diversity and extracurricular opportunities that the University provides; perhaps more importantly, I've also gained some very close friends. However, I would like to take one last opportunity to point out some of the more unsettling aspects of the Harvard experience, from the vantage point of a senior.

One of the more annoying traits that spending four years at Harvard fosters is a reverence for everything related to this institution: its alumni, its traditions, its so-called mystique, etc. This reverence translates into a disturbing arrogance.

Too many Harvard students subscribe to the notion that anyone educated outside of these ivy walls, or any idea or institution which does not bear the veritas shield, should be discredited or discounted.

Too many Harvard students mistakenly assume the fact that having sat in the same classroom as John F. Kennedy '40 or used the same toilet as Henry A. Kissinger '50 somehow reflects on their character or means that they deserve to be revered as members of both the pantheon of Harvard heroes and America's mythical hallowed elite.

This arrogance also is manifested by a reluctance to criticize anything related to Harvard and the (rarely articulated) assumption that any student who graduated from this institution is endowed with near supernatural attributes of intelligence and judgment.

Another distressing aspect of undergraduate life at Harvard concerns racial and cultural sensitivities and sensibilities. While I was the associate editorial chair of this newspaper, students of various races who shared a politically correct mindset would congratulate me on being the only black editor on the masthead and tell me that they empathized with my "struggle."

I always found this attitude puzzling, because I don't feel that my experience as a Crimson editor has been especially daunting. During the 1960s, black students were beaten and jailed for holding sit-ins in segregated establishments, and I believe that such examples of boldness, moral conviction and fortitude constitute true struggle.

But merely working in a majority-white environment, and voicing opinions that are frequently unpopular or considered radical, although sometimes frustrating, should not be considered especially challenging.

Another reflection concerns the nature of the political activism among Harvard's left, which consists mainly of liberals, progressives and a few radicals. For the most part, this group is too self-righteous and takes itself for too seriously.

Harvard's left needs to discover a sense of humor and not shrink from using caustic wit and sarcasm. It could also benefit from a more combative stance. Mockery can be an especially effective device for combating the hypocrisy or ridiculous obsessions of the right.

For example, the Salient has such a fetish for printing frequent and bitter attacks on affirmative action and feminism that one is forced to consider two equally frightening and bizarre alternatives: either the magazine is actually a freakish parody of contemporary conservative thought, or its whiny writers really fancy themselves to be the anointed defenders of Western civilization from the post-modern and multicultural hordes. Undergraduate conservatives are constantly publishing articles that are so offensive that it is appropriate to occasionally flip them the written equivalent of a middle finger.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my tenure as a Crimson editorial columnist. To quote a phrase popularized by Ishmael Reed, "writin' is fightin'," and I've relished the chance to joust with my political and ideological opponents. The negative responses that I sometimes provoked only helped to motivate me. I've received replies ranging from polite criticism to outraged diatribes--even one death threat--but I won't apologize to anyone who I offended because they probably deserved it.

Finally, I'd like to thank all the Crimson readers who told me that they liked or were intrigued by my work; I'm especially grateful for their encouragement. I hope that my editorials have not only been interesting, but have also exhorted others to speak truth to power.

This is David W. Brown's final column.