HARVARD'S LEFTIST MONTHLY

Advertisements for the movie "The Shadow" asked, "What evil lurks in the hearts of men?" We at Dartboard would like to ask an equally provocative question: "What political incorrectness lurks in the heart of Perspective, Harvard-Radcliffe's Liberal Monthly?"

Yes, you heard correctly: Perspective. We never thought we would see the day when Harvard-Radcliffe's Leftist Monthly would be accused of being insensitive to minority concerns. Oh wait--there was that cover drawing of Dean Epps last year, where he looked like someone had punched him in the lips. But this time the accusations come not from outside the publication, but from within.

How do we know all this? Gossip, malicious rumor, purloined notes from a secret meeting? Actually, no. Just open the most recent issue of Perspective to page four, and read Sarah Song's Introspective entitled "Why Do You Have to Get All Racial Reading the Introspective is always a treat for postmoderns like us, given our love of self-referentiality. But Why Do You Have To Get All Solipsistic?

What do we learn from listening to Song? That Perspective isn't free from the vices or racism that it rails against. Song provides numerous quotes from an anonymous in-house survey where "first-year women of color" say things like "Perspective is not open" and "I think we have a real problem with the Lack of dialogue on gender, sexuality and race dynamics within the staff."

Taking her publication as but one example, Song goes on to argue that racism is just everywhere--sort of like those ads for Calvin Klein underwear. She claims that whether we acknowledge it or not, we're "thinking racially" when we carry out such innocent tasks as house-hunting or choosing a radio station. We can only imagine the extension of this argument: "Whether we recognize it or not--when we balance our checkbooks, when we vacuum our bedroom, when we choose the brown rice pancakes over the baked potato bar we are thinking racially."

Perspective, insensitive to the concerns of colorful women. We too admit puzzlement. After all, when it came to being p.c. Perspective was a veritable how to manual. Now it seems that our friends on the left don't practice what they preach. They've spilt so much ink over the years calling for greater sensitivity to minority concerns at Harvard. For all of these years, it's just been the pot calling the kettle black.

Oops, sorry--this is about Perspective, after all. Maybe that should read "the pot calling the kettle 'of color."