Embattled Independents

THAT WORTHY MAGAZINE published by the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity, the AmericanScholar, has added to its masthead the subtitle, "A Quarterly for Independent Thinkers." It is surely that. One may question whether there is any thought worth the name which is not independent, but it is the current habit of those devoted to academic freedom to stress their emancipation from the tyranny of established order. If at times an outstanding battler for freedom seems to balance a chip on his shoulder and (rather expectantly) defy any one to knock it off, the fault is not entirely his. Rather is it the natural result of occasional experiences in which academic witch-hunters, backed by a formidable Gestapo, have immolated daring adventurers who have put forward unorthodox ideas. Hence the note of defiance to be detected in independent circles—sometimes suggestive of the suspicion that rather more importance is attached to the independence than is attached to the things thought.

As that somewhat bombastic song, "Hail Columbia," puts it, "Let independence be our boast"; but it may be possible to overdo it to the point of provoking unjust reactions against independence itself. The late Don Marquis satirized it neatly when he wrote, "Behold me—I am in revolt! Now persecute me, damn you! Persecute me, curse you! Persecute me!"

One could wish that the more extreme independents did not so often create the impression that they'd rather like to be martyrized. As one of the most prominent of them once remarked, "I long for the day when I can go home and say, 'Thank God, Mary, I've been arrested for insisting on my right to free speech!' " Might it not be better to long for the day when no one would dream of arresting" anybody on that ground? In other words, is there not a danger that the martyr complex may be abused? Anxiety to provoke reprisals may, on occasion, lead well-meaning independents to overdo what is, in itself, an excellent and necessary thing. An over-strong desire for the martyr's crown may well be a proper thing to be independent of—to violate that rule which says one should never end a sentence with a preposition.

SCHUSSERS OF THE VERY NEAR FUTURE LEARN THEIR FUNDAMENTALS FROM WALTER PRAGER