AS I WAS SAYING
Steinfels, Peter
I I Illlll I I I Readers who enjoy TV reruns will relish the appearance of Michael Novak's comments [Correspondence, page 642] and the somewhat lengthy observations I am about to...
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...Indeed, if anything, it is we who need the ethnics, for identity and, if we so wish, to broker our way into the upper reaches of the American intellectual elite...
...Michael Novak, however, is a most passionate student, one who insists on embracing his new insights and rejecting his old ones with an extraordinary vehemence...
...It is one of the great sorrows of my life that I lack the time and stamina to follow the nuances of Novak's thought throughout his various writings and manifestations...
...As far back as 1968 Novak proposed the remaking of the Democrats into a "vehicle of radical change...
...Had Novak been writing an essay on penguins and dragged the knowledge industry and "new class" into it, an occurrence I regard as distinctly possible, then it seems to me his animadversions on the latter topic might be scrutinized, without delving into his treatment of Antarctic fauna...
...And so, roundabout, I return to my recent column and Michael Novak's reply...
...MW 6:00 P. M. _9 Theology of the Prophets in Ancient Israel Rev...
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...and so, without even quite knowing it, I was susceptible to the heady wisdom of Mr...
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...It simply doesn't support the political conclusions drawn from it...
...Yet at least one check on the tendency to manipulate "abstract terms" or "mythical constructs" to suit one's mood or one's opportunities is a close, though critical, attention to what "facts" we have, what we know, for instance, about the role of the "new class" in the economy and about its cultural attitudes...
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...The best we hope for," he went on, "are gradually more accurate myths, more intricate sub-plots...
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...Novak is a Philosopher, to whom these matters are rightly trivial but because it represents exactly the difference, perhaps between our temperaments, in any case between what we demand of political analysis...
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...These appeared in November 1973, which was two years before the Kirkpatrick Sale article of November 1975--all of which Novak compresses into "Last year, of course, some months before . . . . " I mention this detail not to quibble--Mr...
...It is the intellectual equivalent of laughing all the way to the bank...
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...By 1972 essentially the same group had become the villain of the piece, an obstacle to the kind of politics he favored...
...To this lucidity I am confident that Michael Novak is no less devoted than I am...
...No, I simply requested that the myth be more accurate, the sub-plot a little more intricate...
...I examined his use of those terms, as well as of "ethnic" and "Northeastern elite," as examples of a larger problem...
...Clare Dower, New Milford...
...PETER STEINFELS analysis...
...STEINFELS-" Which, somehow o r other, represents its leadership, "established power," and 35 percent of the GNP...
...Temperament and even vehemence are crucial...
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...That seems to me a question that can be settled in its own right~ without trekking off "in search" of his meaning in some other (unspecified) localities...
...NovAS: Hey, where were you when the ethnics needed you...
...In 1968 he had thought a "new politics" could be built on at least a portion of this classwthose who had fueled the opposition to the war and to Humphrey's nomination...
...Novak an injustice by making my comments so much longer than his letter, I would like to examine this "subject" a little more closely, for its history illustrates the rhetorical slipperiness that de TocqueviUe had in mind...
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...William Pfaff, Paris...
...John Kilgallen, S. J., S. S.D...
...On the other hand, talk of the knowledge industry and the "new class" will surely continue, however slipshod and misleading...
...TTh 4:35 P. M. For application or information, contact: Sr...
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...Novak saw fit to reprint them without appending, or referring to, his Collected Works...
...Novak: Didn't the Democrats hold a $1,000-a-plate dinner at the Wal...
...carrier or other means, sample complimentary and other free copies 1,290 2,170 e) Total distribution (Sums of C and D) 23,289 22,485 f) 1. Office use, leftover...
...I I Illlll I I I Readers who enjoy TV reruns will relish the appearance of Michael Novak's comments [Correspondence, page 642] and the somewhat lengthy observations I am about to make...
...This vehemence, furthermore, has a discomforting tendency to be directed outward...
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...The love of tyranny is a national disease," he said, and Ioyot un=ve sm y of chtc Go 6epa tmenl oF 1;heotoGy Spring Session January 17-May 9, 1978 I...
...But now that he has cried "Context...
...60c, twelve times...
...To this reversal the question of the (Continued on page 670) 14 October 1977:646 the Vatican share) which led recently to the presentation of the natural sighification the priest bears to Christ in sexual, not personal, terms...
...In short, Novak learned something, which is no discredit to him...
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...I look forward to reading the essay by Paul H. Weaver...
...Four years later Novak had changed his mind...
...In my recent column, I did not reject the idea, the notion, the concept, or as he would have it, the "mythical construct," of a knowledge industry and a "new class...
...JOANNE MC WILLIAM DEWART 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Steinfels ( C o n t . ) "new class" was central...
...3) Seek to bring Democrats and Republicans of liberal bent into common organizations...
...NOVAK: Okay, so I didn't mean every professor...
...NOW, K: Say, have you read all my other writings...
...Additional courses are available Chicago, Illinois 60626 through the Loyola Institute of Pastoral Studies...
...So we get the following dialogue, proving, as Marx said of Louis Napoleon, that the second time around is inevitably farce: STEINFELS: Look here, Novak and others are saying that a knowledge industry responsible for 35 percent of the Gross National Product is the basis of a "new class" elite led by "secular Know-Everythings...
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...New York...
...they have been fending quite well for themselves...
...As for talk of "patriots" and "cowb0ys"--to be distinguished from the somewhat more palpable entity, the Sun Belt--my impression is that the difficulty of stuffing Jimmy Carter and the election of 1976 into these "mythical constructs" has considerably lessened their seductiveness...
...To back up this request, I attempted to demonstrate that the current notions were wildly distorted...
...That the authors of Human Sexuality share the Vatican's preoccupation with sexuality, and so conclude that physiological sexuality is the most important determinant of human life is deplorable...
...True devotees, of course, could disinter the comments I made previously on Michael Novak's style of argumentation...
...But the soil is so dry that even planting is most difficultwthe children must get water from a muddy river far away...
...n Upper Volta a project for homeless boys enables them to make a living grow|ncJ and selllng flowers instead of begging...
...Yet the column at hand made some rather definite statements...
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...Weaver is a Fortune editor who has written some excellent pieces on the media...
...My column runs twice a week, you know...
...There, I insist, my topic being the knowledge industry and the "new class," I saw no reason to distract readers, and discompose Novak, with any treatment of his changing views of the Democratic party, and all his attendant extravagances, bad advice, and poor predictions...
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...STI~INFELS: An examination of the only economic study of the knowledge industry I know, Machlup's Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States, STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION (Act of August 12, 1970, Section 3685, Title 39, United States Code): I. Date of filing: September 29, 1977...
...Kathleen Case,/Craig, Sewickley, Pa...
...but only employed his Washington Star column as a fair example of the loose talk or loose myths that are rampant...
...Political writing of course is largely seat-of-the-pants...
...If he were willing to recognize in the 1968 Novak a fairly representative example of the group denounced by the 1972 Novak, then either (a) he might understand why numerous old admirers tend to discount his swings of enthusiasm--if he once described Mayor Daley in such feverish terms, why take seriously his sweeping descriptions of the "new class'?--or (b) he might, and this would be better yet, temper his judgments...
...Perhaps he will supply the lucidity we need...
...The Democratic party's majority was no different from Republicans, and Novak mocked the "businessmen who sing a patriotic hymn at every weekly luncheon...
...Viewpoint Historical viewpoint, worth reading, Roe vs...
...and I concluded with de Tocqueville's warning, "An abstract term is like a box with a false bottom...
...But in fact, if I am to believe the findings of Father Greeley (and I always do), the ethnics have not needed him or me...
...I really think the subject needs more serious study and reasoned comment...
...312-274-3000 An equal opportunity educator and employer _9 Loyola University of Chicago admits students without regard to their race, color, sex or national or ethnic origin _9 Qualified persons are not subject to discrimination on the basis Of handicap "Worse, the people love their own disease...
...Obviously, selfconsciousness is not his strong point...
...What he learned, I believe, is that at least points 1, 2, and 4 of his 1968 strategy conflicted with point 5; and since by 1972 he had become an ethnic and seen McGovern lose, it was point 5 that controlled his new thinking...
...Conn...
...The Manieh Myth MUNICH, Jones...
...His description of this structural change, in terms of the knowledge industry and the "new class," was in my view exaggerated and unfounded...
...Copies Printed b) Paid Circulation (Net Press Run) 24,327 24,I50 1. Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors and counter sales: 1,371 1,460 2. Mail subscriptions 20,528 18,855 c) Total Paid Circulation 21,899 20,315 d) Free distribution by mail...
...STEINFELS" Your column, I fear, is singularly devoid of distinctions...
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...I also recall him as the man who in 1972 organized major advertisements in which leading academics endorsed Richard Nixon as the candidate who "had demonstrated the superior capacity for prudent and responsible leadership...
...Are these statements accurate or inaccurate...
...6. Names and addresses of publisher, .~.itor, and managing editor: Publisher, Edward S. 5kilhn, .232 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y...
...I will point out that his argument turned, as his column stated, on the fact that "the new class structure in America is altering the cultural base of the Democratic party...
...I fear only that we have widely divergent notions of what it might entail...
...Doesn't that clinch my argument...
...America," he declared, "is not yet a democratic country, has not been one, and does not wish to be...
...To this "fraternal correction," as Michael Novak termed it, he replied in good spirit, making a case for "mythical constructs" in political AS I WAS SAYING...
...66c, three times...
...At the risk of doing Mr...
...In 1973 my complaint was not about "patriots" and "cowboys" specifically...
...1 I. Average No...
...8 . Known bondholders, mortgagees and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other .securities...
...By 1972 Novak had discovered that "so many members of the new class" were accusing America of being "sick" and were "sweating contempt from every pore...
...Editor, James O'Oara, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y...
...Now I go all meek and respectful once references to "myth" and "symbol" start rolling around...
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...2) Support candidates of the new politics, whether Republican or Democrat...
...NOVAK: Well you missed my tone...
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...Others, perhaps, will prefer something more exciting, like the explanation of the "Classified" rates at the back of the magazine...
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...By late 1972, in the wake of Senator McGovern's defeat, he was proposing nothing less than a "New Christian Democratic Party'--he still had something to fathom about the sensibilities of American Jews--and it is this proposal which he recasts periodically and which last year reemerged, in the column at issue, as the "Family Democratic Party...
...and I find nothing in the "context," nor indeed does Novak specify anything in the context, that 14 October 1977:670 repairs his misstatements...
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...5. Location of the headquarters or general busiotto offices of the publishers: 232 Madtson A,~enue, New York, N.Y...
...But readers should know that Novak's subject was a favorite of his--the possible emergence of a new Democratic party...
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...The political expression of the "new class" is identified flatly with "cultural nihilism" and set in diametric opposition to "the traditional values of honesty, decency," etc...
...I will read his "exact and careful analysis" with great attentiveness...
...Contact: Hallel Communicat|ons, 411 East 66th St., New York, N.Y...
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...None...
...I did not, of course, intend, as Mr...
...And the distinctions...
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...5) Devise Strategies and seek candidates who appeal to and lead the lower middle class...
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...4) Continue the radicalization of liberals through judicious confrontation politics-counting on Nixon and Humphrey to make the task easier...
...Novak assumes in his points (c) and (d), to write a dissertation on "The Mythical Construct of the 'New Class' in the oeuvre of Michael Novak...
...The Crisis of the Future, Ewert Cousins...
...you may put in it what ideas you please, and take them out again without being observed...
...Hope for change rode, first of all, with the "bright, young, suburban voters of liberal bent...
...Estate of Otto L. Spaeth, 120 East 81st St., New York, N.Y...
...Signed) Edward S; Skillin Publisher shows that this 35 percent is a "stage statistic...
...Thus in 1968 Richard J. Daley was a "tyrant" and Daley's Chicago was "something close to" fascism...
...Gerald McCulloh, Ph.D...
...I only meant a relatively small part of the "new class...
...I added that "Every time I try to get my finger on one of these agglomerations it flips away and changes shape...
...The kind of thinking evidenced in Human Sexuality and in Vatican documents which inflates sexuality to the dominant position and to the point of obscuring everything else that makes a human person human has done much harm, and will continue to do more as long as it is practiced...
...To this end he offered a five-step "strategy aimed at 1972 and 1976" that deserves quotation in full: (1) Refuse to support Humphrey and regular Democrats...
...It is true that I did not mention the subject of Novak's column...
...And so they have remained ever since...
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...STEINFELS: What empirical evidence we have shows that the professariate and the intellectual elite, the political heart of the "new class," are far from cultural nihilists...
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...No doubt, then, Novak will congratuCommonweal: 671 late himself on being "onto something...
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...4. Location of known offfice of publication: 232 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y...
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...unaccounted, spoiled after printing 123 765 2. Returns from New Agents 915 900 g) Total fSumofE&F--should equal net press run shown in A) 24,327 24,150 I certify that the statements made by me above are correct and complete...
...At this l~st irrelevancy, I am tempted to rejoin, where was Novak when the ethnics needed him...
...A pump and pipes to the city reservoir would provide for their qarden and drinking water for the whole parched neighborhood...
...Donations for Brother Larry Bonduelte's project should be sent to: Mitsionaries of Africa, 1622 21st St., N.W...
...But, while the relative importance of sexual gender (whether derived from anatomy or cultural conditioning) for human experience is debatable, it is certain that human personality is not sexually differentiated, and to recognize this is not gnosticism (pace Michael Novak, July 8...
...Less and less," I wrote about Novak's writings, are they "about individuals, issues, and interests which I can recognize . . . and more and more are they about cosmic confrontations between shadowy, collective actors: the 'new class' [see, I.mentioned it even then!], the 'superculture,' the 'enlightened and affluent,' the 'urban ethnics,' the 'media elites,'" etc...
Vol. 104 • October 1977 • No. 21
