75-10-B2
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Radical Chic Revisited
TranscriptRadical chic is back and the United Farm Workers are once again reaping the rewards. I'll be right back. A few years ago, in 1970, the conductor Leonard Bernstein gave a party for the Black Panthers and much of New York's fashionable society was there. This was a mistake by most people's standards but Bernstein made an even bigger one that night. He permitted a brilliant young writer with a photographic memory and a nimble pen to enter his apartment. When Tom Wolf published his article called "Radical Chic" the English language had a new phrase and New York's beautiful people went underground for quite a while, at least so far as radical politics is concerned. Now they appear to be coming out again. Those lovely young ladies who said things such as, quote, "I've never met a Panther before, this is a first for me and I know it's terrible to drink champagne and eat caviar for the poor but what are you going to do?" Unquote. They're with us once more, showing us that there's no limit to what the beautiful people will do for laughs when the social scene is a little slow. One of the chief beneficiaries of the early wave of radical chic was the United Farm Workers of Cesar Chavez, a group that I've discussed before. For the purpose of these few minutes, all you need to know is that the U.F.W. has so limited a following in California, its home state, that it would not exist were it not for this phenomenon of radical chic, that is, fashionable people of means interfering at a long distance in a controversy of which they know little or nothing. Does all this sound like exaggeration? Well not if you read an article that recently ran in the Washington Post concerning the latest gathering of Manhattan's beautiful people on behalf of Mr. Chavez. When the post reporter asked the organizer of the fundraising party, 'why thrown it?' these were his words, quote, "I don't know why I'm involved in this, it's a very personal thing, very emotional, well I hate to be cynical but there isn't really that much else going on." Unquote. A wealthy lady asked why she was attending offered this explanation, quote, "Darling, this is the time we New Yorkers come out for causes. Then we can just carry them out to the Hamptons with us. Last week was the Attica benefit, you know." Unquote. The Post reporter found that quite a few attendees were less than dedicated to the U.F.W. cause, like the celebrity lawyer who said, quote, "I'm here because it's a scene. Farm workers? I'm too selfish to care about them." Unquote. Then there was the elegantly dressed, young socialite from the Caribbean who said, quote, "I'm really in support of anybody who loves the Earth. I love the Earth." Unquote. But I don't want to leave the impression that everyone at the party was unfamiliar with the U.F.W. program. There is, for example, the anonymous luminary who said, quote, "I can support the lettuce boycott because iceberg lettuce is tacky. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to break down on the grapes. I can't go much longer without fillet of soul veronique." Unquote. Tom Wolf, call your office. Radical Chic is with us once again. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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