In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, Charles Murray, author of Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, identifies five common myths about white people:
- Working-class whites are more religious than upper-class whites.
- Elite colleges are bastions of white upper-middle-class privilege.
- Marriage is breaking down throughout white America.
- White working-class men have a strong work ethic.
- White Americans are yesterday’s news.
Another article, in the NY Times, quotes Murray as remarking that merely extending his thanks “can cause trouble for people in academia.” This same article says that on a recent visit to Earlham College (my alma mater) Murray’s talk was twice interrupted by fire alarms.
As asserted in an earlier post on American Exceptionalism, Charles Murray is an important observer of contemporary society. He is worth listening to despite fire alarms and regardless of whether or not one agrees with him. Here is a preview that he wrote last month of Coming Apart, called Belmont and Fishtown.
–Paul
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