The Ivory Foxhole

THE JAPANESE have bought one-seventh of Rockefeller Center, they are making automobiles in South Carolina, and Congressman Richard Gephardt wishes he could run against Hirohito. But wait. The Japanese may be positioning themselves to rescue the West culturally.

Despite the obvious fact that the roots of American culture are European, there is a powerful movement in our schools and universities to expel what is called “Eurocentrism.” By Eurocentrism is meant reading Dead White Males like Aristotle and Shakespeare. It is supposed to be an indication of “sensitivity” if a university advises a black student to read Alice Walker and Frantz Fanon instead of Goethe and Tolstoi.

About the Author

Jeffrey Hart

Jeffrey Hart is a contributor to National Review.

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THE JAPANESE have bought one-seventh of Rockefeller Center, they are making automobiles in South Carolina, and Congressman Richard Gephardt wishes he could run against Hirohito. But wait. The Japanese may be positioning themselves to rescue the West culturally.

Despite the obvious fact that the roots of American culture are European, there is a powerful movement in our schools and universities to expel what is called “Eurocentrism.” By Eurocentrism is meant reading Dead White Males like Aristotle and Shakespeare. It is supposed to be an indication of “sensitivity” if a university advises a black student to read Alice Walker and Frantz Fanon instead of Goethe and Tolstoi.