Whose Opinions on China?

Suppose that a dozen of us, some radical, some “liberal” and some conservative, were asked to list 181 intelligent persons whom we should like to interview on some topic of current interest: wouldn’t the makeup of our lists vary greatly in character? If each of us was given 500 names to choose from in the first place, wouldn’t each of us begin by striking out a great many whom we considered too wrongheaded to bother with? And wouldn’t each of us happily include a number of persons who were, from our particular points of view, sound and reasonable citizens? And then, if we brought in sets of prevailing opinions that did not jibe with one another at all, as we certainly should, of what value would the whole conglomeration of conflicting opinions be to anyone, if we all refused to tell whom we had chosen to interview?

These questions become pertinent, I think, to anyone who burrows through a big book which Mr. Harold R. Isaacs was commissioned by the Center for International Studies, MIT, to build around a series of 181 interviews. These were conducted over a period of fourteen months, mostly in 1955; and this 416-page opus (John Day, $6.75) is entitled Scratches on our Minds. Apart from the fact that this suggests unpleasant impressions only, as Mr. Isaacs certainly did not intend that it should, it is meaningless without the subtitle “American Images of China and India.” Roughly, the questions asked were designed to reveal what intelligent Americans think or feel about the Chinese and the Indians and about our relations with them past and present.

RG

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Rodney Gilbert

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Suppose that a dozen of us, some radical, some “liberal” and some conservative, were asked to list 181 intelligent persons whom we should like to interview on some topic of current interest: wouldn’t the makeup of our lists vary greatly in character? If each of us was given 500 names to choose from in the first place, wouldn’t each of us begin by striking out a great many whom we considered too wrongheaded to bother with? And wouldn’t each of us happily include a number of persons who were, from our particular points of view, sound and reasonable citizens? And then, if we brought in sets of prevailing opinions that did not jibe with one another at all, as we certainly should, of what value would the whole conglomeration of conflicting opinions be to anyone, if we all refused to tell whom we had chosen to interview?

These questions become pertinent, I think, to anyone who burrows through a big book which Mr. Harold R. Isaacs was commissioned by the Center for International Studies, MIT, to build around a series of 181 interviews. These were conducted over a period of fourteen months, mostly in 1955; and this 416-page opus (John Day, $6.75) is entitled Scratches on our Minds. Apart from the fact that this suggests unpleasant impressions only, as Mr. Isaacs certainly did not intend that it should, it is meaningless without the subtitle “American Images of China and India.” Roughly, the questions asked were designed to reveal what intelligent Americans think or feel about the Chinese and the Indians and about our relations with them past and present.