International journalist Charles Wiley, a member of Accuracy In Media's
speakers bureau, has participated in numerous discussions and debates on
the UT campus over the past several years, hosted by the Young Conservatives
of Texas. Previously scheduled to visit UT to speak on the West Mall and
to participate in an evening discussion on the future of race relations,
he arrived just after the Graglia controversy erupted. We interviewed him
shortly after his appearances here.
"All of this excitement is puzzling. In suggesting that there are
differences in how diverse cultures assign values to various life choices,
Professor Graglia did what "multiculturalists" have suggested
for years: he discussed cultural differences.
"After decreeing that we need as wide a diversity as possible, the
"politically correct" went ballistic when it was suggested that
different cultures have different priorities. They abruptly decided that
different cultures couldn't have different views.
"Suddenly, PC rules were changed. Now, we should not discuss this subject.
"It is a page right out of 1984, George Orwell's novel about a futuristic
dictatorship. We are taking the first steps toward living in a totalitarian
nightmare."
"What is wrong with an opinion that different cultures have different
priorities?
"Scholastic achievement among Asians is outstanding. It is perfectly
rational to suggest that, as a group, they push harder on their kids to
study - which means that culturally they have put a higher value on scholastic
achievement. Throughout the world, some groups do better economically than
others - even when they are a minority in a hostile environment. If you
don't attribute that to cultural difference, then there has to be some other
explanation. Free people should be able to intelligently discuss the subject
without hysteria and threats.
"If you deny that people who come from Asia have a different cultural
thrust, why is the percentage of Asian students at leading universities
four to six times greater than their actual number in California? Are they
inherently smarter? If so, good luck. But I think it is a greater possibility
that their culture is the answer. It seems rational to believe that parents
who make their kids study - instead of hangin' out and drowning themselves
in rap, rock and TV junk food - will turn out better scholars."
"What's inferior? Is it wrong to put different emphasis on what
one thinks is important in life? A person who joins an order and studies
only religious teaching, or takes a vow of poverty or silence, has decided
that there is something more important than education as we define it. They
choose not to make money. Their concept of success is different.
"Parents in some of our farming areas don't want their children to
leave the community to go to school. By most standards they get minimal
education. They want to live close to the land and family. Who's to say
that's an inferior culture?
"Don't tell the PC police, but I am much more interested in my kids'
happiness than their scholastic achievement, career success or bank balance."
"At the discussion on race relations, I questioned the concept of
establishing individual evaluation to choose 48,000 people for admission.
How do you give brownie points to make up for everything that could have
gone wrong in their lives?
"My old man was a drunk. Do I get extra points to boost my test scores?
Someone in the debate said "Yes." Well, then, what if your father
drinks a pint of booze a day and mine spills that much? More points for
me? What if your mother was distant and mine was loving?
"What if someone with great sex appeal had no time for study because
they were always in the sack? Should we discount the higher marks of others
because they had the advantage of being nerds?
"Do the brownie points start in pre-school and continue through life?
Do those with a mid-life crisis get extra consideration if they want to
return to school?"
"We need to get away from victimization criteria. This country was
an idol of the world because we were able to take outsiders and make them
part of the nation. And we did it by concentrating on the similarities,
not the differences.
"It took far too long in many cases - but that doesn't mean the whole
system was wrong. For years, black Americans were, in many important areas,
outsiders who wanted to be in. They wanted a colorblind system where they
would not be treated differently.
"The problem in horrible civil wars around the globe today - in central
Africa, Bosnia, Algeria and others - is that people are focused on their
differences. We should stop worrying about diversity in terms of percentages
and such; we should encourage people to behave as individual Americans to
do what they want to do and can do.
"Why should we be unhappy that some cultures produce more doctors,
basketball players, engineers or good cooks than others?"
"Then how do you explain these poor Asian immigrants who win so
many college slots and move up the economic ladder so quickly? Within a
decade, many, who came with virtually only the clothes on their backs, have
realized the American dream. Everyone in the family works. Most Asian-American
parents have made education the corner piece of their life strategy - and
it pays off in school and the work place.
"Those with that kind of dedication should not be penalized. But neither
should we insist that all American cultural groups have the same goals.
"It is ironic that those who talk the most about not judging people
on the basis of their economic success are usually the most insistent that
everyone has the same goals."
"One way is to find those who solve problems and achieve - and study
what they're doing. Too often, there's a negative approach. Our society
seems obsessed with concentrating on failure instead of success. We need
to look at both, but I'm far more interested in the parents of kids who
are making it than those with children who are in trouble. We should study
one group to learn what they do right and the other to avoid what they've
done wrong.
"I just wish that the critics of all our failures, those who are trying
to straighten out the ethnic strife in the United States, would point to
a country we could study as a role model. I don't think America should be
striving for such goals, but it would be interesting if the PC crowd would
show us what country has achieved their goals of the "right" percentages
and the "right" diversity level.
"If we could get away from a disruptive, fruitless search for "proper
mixes," our country would progress faster and smoother - including
achievement of most goals avowed by the critics."
"I was involved some years ago in tracking down studies about scholastic
achievement and found that all came to the same conclusion: There was very
little you could do outside the home to bring about serious change on a
large scale. The super big influence on how kids do in school is their home
life. Spending per student - double and more, and how the money was spent
- made little difference. What counted was the child's home support system.
"Even if you have perfect equality before the law and in the hearts
of all, there will be individuals who are going to make their goals and
those who don't. Life is like that. How far do we go to help those who fail
to achieve goals, some of which were assigned by others?
"To try to give some people a better shot, we have opened up an endless
process of manipulation. Most affirmative action, regardless of sugar coating,
means that somebody gets screwed. Even minority people who would have succeeded
without affirmative action lose - their achievements questioned by many.
"We are being torn apart, not brought together. Our people have become
resentful and tribalized. A continued breakdown could eventually change
the United States into another Yugoslavia."
"There's no problem with all citizens having pride in their individual
cultural heritage. But to be a plus for our country, it must be clear that
first and foremost they are Americans - and then they are part of their
group. In the past, almost everyone thought that way. But, today, many who
live here do not like this country.
"Despite the ugliness of segregation, there was a better feeling between
groups than there is now. Those who were out, just wanted in. They thought
that we had a great system and wanted only to have an equal part in it.
Somehow, that view got derailed in the minds of many and things got messed
up.
"When people are overly sensitive and defensive about their groups,
it becomes almost impossible to carry on intelligent discussion about race
relations. Many topics are taboo - and many Americans are afraid to speak
frankly. With that kind of situation, it's very difficult to make much progress.
"Jesse Jackson will probably get into the Guinness Book of World
Records as the biggest publicity hound in history. No excuse to get in front
of a camera is too trivial for him.
"Jackson called on people to "shun" Professor Graglia - to
treat him like a "pariah."
"If a professor with a perfectly sensible opinion is to be shunned
and treated as a pariah, then how should we handle someone, like Jackson,
who calls Jewish people "Hymies"?"
-Contumacy Staff
