Ouch. If you’re interested in somebody taking Cornel West to the intellectual, literary, and ethical woodshed, go over to Inside Higher Ed to read Scott McLemee’s review of Cornel West’s recently published as-told-to memoir. (Yes, the professor hired a ghost writer!)
McLemee is right. Cornel West is not an academic celebrity—he is the parody of an academic celebrity. Think Stanley Fish without real cleverness and rhetorical élan. Think Harold Bloom without striking flashes of literary insight. Think Bill Ayers without any actual radical activism in his past. What McLemee leaves unmentioned is the fact that West is a phenomenon of a now passing era. He was created by post-civil-rights era white guilt, and its insatiable need to promote and celebrate and coddle and indulge their image of the “Black Intellectual,” a role he has played so well for nearly three decades.
While I have you, can I ask you something? I’ll be quick.
Twenty-five thousand people subscribe to First Things. Why can’t that be fifty thousand? Three million people read First Things online like you are right now. Why can’t that be four million?
Let’s stop saying “can’t.” Because it can. And your year-end gift of just $50, $100, or even $250 or more will make it possible.
How much would you give to introduce just one new person to First Things? What about ten people, or even a hundred? That’s the power of your charitable support.
Make your year-end gift now using this secure link or the button below.
