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The Aurora Forum
A Communist, a Cynic, and a Patriot
by Piotr H. Kosicki
Opinions Editor

Monday, January 13 brought a bright-red dawn to Stanford, an aurora not seen since the fall of the Soviet Union. The inaugural session of the Aurora Forum, a new panel series sponsored by Stanford's School of Continuing Studies, brought to Kresge Auditorium the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Gordon Wood, Stanford philosopher Richard Rorty, and the social "activist" Angela Davis--all professors--to the table to discuss American "National Pride, National Shame." A question so inherently biased against patriotism was pushed to the brink of inanity by Davis, a certifiable communist who rejected "American identity" in favor of a nebulous "global identity" and equated capitalism with "fascism and totalitarian socialism." Combined with the gloom of the ever-cynical Rorty and met with zealous outbursts from an audience packed with left-wing extremists, Davis's ideological bantering seemed to carry the night.

Lambasting "what we call American democracy," Angela Davis tried to dissociate herself in absolute terms from American identity. Describing the gospel of the United States as a "prison-industrial complex" carrying little more than disciplinary measures and corporate muscle to the rest of the world, Davis spoke fondly of her visits to Cuba as a model place of "free education and universal access to healthcare."

Although Richard Rorty was more moderate in his assessment of the American character, he too concluded that we have more cause for shame than pride. Arguing that the US looks "much more like a corrupt plutocracy than we did after World War II," Rorty advocated corrective change through the creation of an international police force to which the US would surrender a measure of its sovereignty.

Rorty emphasized weapons of mass destruction as a danger to our continued existence, yet he took it for granted that a magically harmonious world order could actually emerge even if the nations of the world could agree to surrender sovereignty to an international force. Speaking of the blatant attack on the American ethos constituted by 9/11, Rorty went so far as to state that "It was an accident that we got it first." In Rorty's mind, "Europe is morally ahead of us," and the US "preoccupation" with national sovereignty functions as just another tool of "national-security state" rhetoric.

Davis's radicalism and Rorty's cynicism clashed with the extremely level-headed analysis of Gordon Wood, renowned historian of the American Revolution. Although Wood mitigated his patriotism, in all likelihood to avoid the wrath of the left-wing crowd, he took great care to pound home the idea of not throwing babies out with bathwater. While acknowledging moral blemishes on the US' past, Wood took great care to note equally glaring blemishes on the consciences of other nations, pleading for historical perspective in rendering judgment on America's Founding Fathers: "It's unfair to blame the Founding Fathers for failure to anticipate the twenty-first century."

Ultimately, Wood effused a sense of warmth for the country to which he has devoted his entire professional career. He argued that Americans should "be proud of their principles of equality" even in the face of injustices because failing to recognize good both denies reality and deprives Americans of constructive ways to look at that which is not as good. In the final analysis, Wood summarized his more optimistic viewpoint saying, "I hope the idea of America will continue to stay alive."

Although the leftist majority in the audience made for powerful backing for Ms. Davis, Wood's counteroffering even led audience members to pose some critical questions. Confronted by an audience member's question asking her to point to a nation that better accomplishes her criteria for pride, Davis became utterly speechless, falling back on her ideological proclamation that she finds "it difficult to experience that emotion [pride] within a national framework."

The blood-red aura diffused by Davis's presentation and encouraged by Rorty's dark ruminations was, thankfully, not absolute. In the end, Professor Wood had an impact, and, although much ofthe audieence lovingly swarmed Angela Davis after the end of the discussion, Gordon Wood strode proudly off the stage, a patriot.

Page last modified on Wednesday, 01-Mar-2006 23:51:26 MST.