Terrific column on Reinaldo Arenas: acute and moving. I had no idea that in the March 5 New York Observer, Philip Weiss had written that Castro’s “dedication and vision are staggering.” Blimey. Has Phil been hanging with Graydon Carter lately?
PAGE-TURNER: Splendid and evocative piece by columnist Clarence Page on the resilient discrepancy between black and white SAT scores. Page doesn’t go for the ostrich-like “abolish the SAT and everything will be OK” theory of some. He’s interested, as anyone should be, in why there’s such a tenacious SAT gap, even among high-income blacks. Page is even big enough to acknowledge that “The Bell Curve,” Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein’s book on social inequality in America, helped open up an honest dialogue about this (despite attempts by many not to have the debate at all). Page posits that the stress of thinking their intelligence is being evaluated may play a part in black under-performance, citing interesting studies suggesting that some blacks out-psych themselves on some tests. This is surely worth exploring – to see if we can find ways to alleviate it. If smart blacks are being denied places at colleges simply for psychological reasons, we need to find a way to frame the tests so that they don’t achieve this effect. But it’s worth acknowledging the courage of a black columnist like Page to wrestle with these issues so openly. It’s the beginning of a solution – if we can only resist the instinct to brush the problem completely under the carpet for reasons of misplaced sensitivity.
PALM BEACH SANITY: Apparently no hanging chads in the latest Palm Beach County election, says the Wall Street Journal. Using exactly the same technology as last November, but with increased voter awareness of how to use it, the County executed a near-perfect election. “What happened in the past,” voter Joseph Giordano told the Palm Beach Post, “was due to our negligence and inability to read the rules.” Thanks, Joseph. It may have taken a few months for the obvious to sink in, but I’m glad it now has.
THOSE FRENCH ELECTION RESULTS IN FULL: You probably saw the headlines showing the French Left winning Paris for the first time in ages, and Lyons, as well. But a day later, election results across the country, especially in rural areas, show major conservative gains. Outside Paris, the left lost – big time – even in a period of economic growth, presided over by a leftist prime minister. Socialists lost control of over 30 major towns, including Blois, Strasbourg, Orleans, and Rouen. Three cabinet ministers failed to win municipal power – most prominent among them the odious Americanophobe, Jack Lang, education minister, and former minister of “culture.” If replicated nationally, it would mean a return to power of the right nationally. Just a straw in the wind. The results in general showed that neither main party bloc has unbeatable momentum for next year’s big electoral fight; but that the right-wing, dismissed as losers only a few days ago, should not be counted out. Even the leftist paper, Liberation, conceded that “The blue [conservative] wave that swept across France’s regions weakens [Socialist Prime Minister Lionel] Jospin more than the gains in Paris and Lyon strengthen him.” Worth pondering as beleaguered Britain, with a near-revolutionary rural population, goes to the polls in May. Pundits are giving the Tories no hope at all. Sound familiar?
The Dish 