Tradition

...they are continually modified but rarely do they disappear...

...On the one hand, human rights and reduced arms sales were central tenets of the Administration's foreign policy...

...THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR JULY 1982 33 the corrosive power of rationalization...

...All traditions of inquiry --scientific, humanistic, religious-begin with a study of old knowledge, begin, t h a t is, with a study of the tradition...

...Few people, I think, are strongly opposed to substantive tradition-preferring traditions that are antitraditional...

...The best diplomatic writing is done by the British, who, even if at times wrong and patronizing, always exhibit a remarkable ability for penetrating a local culture, folklore, and language...

...All contributions are tax deductible...

...TRADITION Edward Shils / University of Chicago Press / $20.00 Stephen Miller T r a d i t i o n , as Edward Shils says in the preface to his new book, is a "bewildering subject...

...As far as is known, American diplomats in Iran acquitted themselves well in this respect...

...The strenuous defense of tradition, Shils observes, is a modern phenomen o n - t h e work of the counter-Enlightenment...

...Essays, properly documented, of not more than 5,000 words may be submitted by all interested persons...

...Although substantive traditions have been shaken, they have not been obliterated...

...Nearly all analysts, including the two authors reviewed here, have noted that the simultaneous attempt at repression and politi34 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR JULY 1982...

...Martial law was declared, bloodshed did ensue, but no national crackdown comparable to recent measures in Poland followed, only a hemorrhaging of concessions which quickly undermined the basis of martial law...

...Eliot's writings on tradition, yet Eliot attempted to revise dramatically the traditional canon of English literature...

...he asks...

...This requires diplomats to acquaint themselves with all aspects of their host country...

...The Impact of Uncontrolled Immigration Awards will be made f o r t h e best two essays...

...He has attempted to provide a general history of recent Iranian politics and describe the role played by the American participants during the revolution...

...Was the American embassy illinformed about the political currents in Iran during 1978...

...For its argument goes against the grain of modern social thought, especially modern sociology...

...10001 if any, played by the author or his colleagues...

...Winning essays will become the property of the Center and may be published by the Center...

...14.95 Rustam Can penguins live in a desert...

...A novice in science must master a body of established knowledge which is his tradition just as a novice in training for a religious profession has to do...

...1000, L'Air du Temps, Chloe, Shalimar, Norell, Halston Night, etc...

...He falls short of both goals...

...Stempel's rendition of Sullivan's performance would win an award for diplomatic verbiage...

...are a l l - - w h e t h e r we realize it or not--in the grip of the past...

...there is a scientific tradition, a Marxist tradition, a progressivistic t r a d i t i o n . When someone chooses to embrace one of these he e n t e r s into " a n already charted territory with its own already established rules, demands, and exigencies...

...Everyone, not only those who engage in scholarly inquiry, must rely on tradition...

...Officials nevertheless stood stiffly erect, perspiring but never protesting, even though the penguin-like outfits did not have a long Iranian pedigree...

...Rather, many writers have argued against the dominance of a particular canon of literamre--a canon that included Alexander Pope yet left out William Blake...

...A New York, NY 10005 212-344-4288 Serving Wall Street area since 1895 INSIDE THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION John D. Stempel / Indiana Ulaiversity Press / $17.50 MISSION TO IRAN William H. Sullivan / W.W...

...Most human beings do not have enough imagination to think up an alternative to what is given...

...Forrest M. McDonald, Ph.D...

...Edward Shils does defend tradition, but his defense is far from boring--mainly because he complicates the notion of tradition in ways that make his argument far more interesting than those of most staunch traditionalists...

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...If traditional societies were not as wedded to tradition as their defenders have suggested, modern societies are far from being completely devoid of traditional elements...

...Traditions, especially religious traditions, are alive and well...

...And I look forward to his next book as much as I cherish this one...

...Send for free, illustrated 40-page brochure H-S0 Vantage Press, 516 W. 34 St., New York, N.Y...

...But on the evidence of this book, Buckley might even be able to make the Vice President of the United States fresh and interesting...

...At times I find Shils's distinctions somewhat unclear, but generally his approach is appropriate...

...Which, for the most part, is a good thing...

...Traditional patterns of thought and feeling have much more staying power than Weber realized...

...The book is too long, often repetitive, and ultimately unsatisfying...

...Even the controversial role of Stempel's superior in Tehran, American Ambassador William Sullivan, is glazed over...

...Lewis A. Tambs, Ph.D...

...One function is to provide information and facilitate communications between their home and host governments...

...In fact, no imagination is so free as to be able to contrive something wholly new, comprehensive, and detailed...

...Here a series of answers is offered: the Shah's short-sightedness, the military's indecision, the establishment's overconfidence, etc...

...It can also be a deadly boring subject...

...But there are two other functions diplomats fulfill...

...It is with all this in mind that the recent testimonies of two top American diplomats in Iran need to be judged...

...Stempel is of course correct to point out the missed opportunities, the foolishness of officials, and the alternative policies not pursued...

...Thomas Fleming, Ph.D...

...Shils strongly questions the views of a seminal modern thinker whom Shils himself did much to introduce to the American scholarly public: Max Weber...

...Shils, in fact, exaggerams the extent to which writers of the past 200 years have subscribed to a tradition of genius whereby the author feels compelled to "do what has not been done before by others . . . . " No significant writer of the last 200 years has been so antitraditional...

...Iranian officials felt uneasy about official American opinion, since imposition of martial law would mean bloodshed and far more draconian measures than previous policies involved...

...No clear explanation of the secular historical forces at work--such as the emergence for the first time in Iran of a centralized state--or of the sudden and peculiar coalescence of a social, economic, and political crisis is pre-sented...

...Far from being locked into traditionality, such societies continually modified t h e i r traditions, since questions continually arose for which tradition had no answer...

...Stefan A. Possony, Ph.D...

...David S. Chamberlain, Ph.D...

...John Lukacs, Ph.D...

...But one searches in vain for an integration of these factors in this book...

...There are factual mistakes...

...As Shils nicely puts it, we Stephen Miller is a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute...

...Further information is available from: The Center for lmmigratiot~ Research and Education 227 Massachusetts Ave., N.E., Suite 320 Washington, D.C...

...plus $2.0,0 delivery charge first bottle, 50 cents each additional one...

...Deadline for submission is August l, 1982...

...Not only are societies permeated by d i f f e r e n t traditions, but so too are individuals...

...But how can that be, bearing in mind that many regard themselves as resolutely opposed to tradition, which they equate with oppression, ignorance, and superstition...

...The Carter Administration was a puzzle to the Shah'and his advisers...

...First prize award $1,000 Second prize award $500 Editorial Advisory Board Samuel T. Francis, Ph.D., Chairman M. E. Bradford, Ph.D...

...All relatively complex societies are shot through with different traditions...

...Those political leaders and intellectuals engaged in a promethean project to bring instant modernization to their countries, Shils says, have been sorely disappointed, unable to "reconcile themselves to the obduracy of the human beings whom they would treat as malleable materials...

...Shils argues that some p a t t e r n s of thought strongly opposed to what he calls substantive tradition are themselves traditions...

...By dwelling on what we might call the varieties of traditional experience, Shils highlights the absurdity of assuming that we can escape totally from tradition...

...Norton & Co...

...Orwell, it seems, was much too pessimistic in 1984...

...the Shah did not receive an undergraduate education in Switzerland...

...Traditions always need to be modified and sometimes need to be overthrown, but Shils is certainly right when he says that "a mistake of great historical significance has been made in modern times in the construction of a doctrine which treated traditions as the detritus of the forward movement of society...

...Men's colognes too...

...I f Shils makes too much of the antitraditional animus of the tradition of literary creation, this is nonetheless a minor flaw in a book whose importance cannot be overestimated...

...The essays will be judged by a panel of members of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Center...

...Unfortunately, most American diplomatic memoirs read as if written after a long stay not abroad, but in Washington...

...If not prior to arrival, at least shortly thereafter, diplomats must come to understand the politics, culture, and history of the assigned nation...

...One thinks of the solemn defenses of tradition heard at commencement exercises and other ceremonial occasions or the humorless attacks against tradition by those who preach the gospel of liberation...

...I n the first week of September 1978, the Iranian government, in response to rising civil unrest, weighed the deeision to impose martial law...

...They may, after all, provide answers to the two questions being posed about the performance of the American diplomats in Iran...

...should take advantage of its historical position and mediate the turmoil, orchestrating an outcome more consistent with American interests in regional stability . . . . ") If Stempel fails to provide an adequate interpretation of events in Iran, what about the political role he as an American diplomat undoubtedly played during 1978 in Iran...

...The traditions of rationalization or-liberation are embraced by very few people...

...I would have advised against that job too if I had been asked...

...nor do they feel an urgent need to think up something new when there is already a pattern at hand...

...A look at modern Russian literature--from Solzhenitsyn to Sinyavsky--reveals that such is the case...

...The body of traditions prevailing in a differentiated society," Shils says, "is a very heterogeneous thing...

...Individuals of course will break down under torture, others will completely swallow the reigning ideology, but many will resist the ideology of the state, preferring to remain attached to more traditional patterns of thought...

...I' would put it another way: Very few people are strongly opposed to traditional ways of doing things...

...According to Shils, Weber was wrong to assume that traditional beliefs and patterns of thought could not resist The Center for Immigration Research and Education announces the 1982 Essay Competition on the subject of America in 2030 A.D...

...In certain instances, depending on bilateral relations and the political circumstances, this function may expand...

...So why did it take the Islamic fundamentalist road...

...Where could the totally new come from...

...The tradition of emancipation from traditions is also among the precious achievements of our civilization...

...Such was the order of the day, and the parade continued...

...20002 The Center is a project of the American Policy Institute, a non-profit organization exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code...

...On official holidays, high-ranking Iranian government functionaries and foreign diplomats attended audiences with the late Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi...

...The President rejected the Sullivan thesis that the U.S...

...Essays on the political, economic, cultural, national security or social implications of continued large-scale'Third World immigration to the United States are invited...

...Imperial Court protocol required participants to wear formal morning suits...

...James B. Whisker, Ph.D...

...But if modernization generally has been unsuccessful, aggravating disorder in nearly every country, the fact that people rarely abandon traditional patterns of thought ought to be good news for the human race...

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...More telling is the absence of any insights into the rich cast of personalities involved...

...one can be a biophysicist (or a hardnosed businessman for that matter) as well as, say, a devout Roman Catholic...

...To cite only two: Cooperation between the clerical and secular opposition did not, as he states, begin in 1963...

...Deploring the scientistic, rationalistic, and individualistic strains of modern society, many of these writers looked back in nostalgia to pre-industrial societies, which they assumed lived " i n a condition of unbroken t r a d i t i o n a l i t y . " Not so, Shils argues...

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...I say " f o r the most p a r t " because, as Shils himself makes clear, it would be foolish to endorse the traditionalist point of view totally...

...I will never presume to advise Buckley on anything again...

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...Shils's notion of a n t i t r a d i t i o n a l traditions enables him to question those who make absolute distinctions between scientific and humanistic forms of inquiry...

...There is one clue to his thinking and actions in a political capacity, but for that one will have to look elsewhere...

...he only attended secondary school there...

...Stempel's book unfortunately reveals neither his actions nor his thoughts at the time, and his discussion of the protracted negotiations sounds secondhand...

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...James P. McClellan, Ph.D...

...Did the American diplomats fail to comprehend the situation and in fact, by their actions, undermine an ally...

...Hence, books written by diplomats can either provide general information or shed light on the political role, Rustam is a writer in Cambridge...

...Ceremonies, regardless of their formats, are only part of a diplomat's routine...

...Stempel's main point is that the revolution in Iran was not preordained, and it could have taken a variety of different routes...

...Charles A. Moser, Ph.D...

...These ceremonies lasted all morning and, given Tehran's climate, often occurred on very hot days...

...Not everyone in society wishes to live according to the emancipatory i d e a l , " Shils says...

...Shils hims e l f acknowledges his debt to T.S...

...Does Shils make too much of the notion of tradition, asking it to do too much explanatory work...

...Like the humanist, the scientist never begins from the beginning, since no new knowledge is possible without a grounding in old knowledge...

...At the very least, tradition is a convenience, something the individual can fall back upon because the idea of continually inventing new ways of doing--or thinking about-things is a terrible burden...

...A foreign diplomat may find himself a central actor in the domestic politics of the host nation...

...On the other hand, the President had quite clearly backtracked on pressing these issues in his two meetings with the Shah...

...This meant a stiff white shirt and bow tie, dark trousers, and long black morning coats...

...we are all creatures of tradition...

...Given the close relations between Washington and Tehran, the Iranian leadership was anxious to know the American government's attitude...

...rather, it had a long lineage going back to 1905...

...The other function, which may be called the political one, is to advise, cajole, persuade, and, if necessary, threaten the host government...

...Inside the Iranian Revolution is by John D. Stempel, who served as deputy chief of the Political Section of the American Embassy in Tehran from 1975 to 1979...