Dan Aykroyd's typical response to Jane Curtin in the classic "Saturday Night Live" sketch - in which he calls Curtin an "ignorant slut" - shows "the entertainment value of extremist rhetoric," said University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann in a lecture Wednesday afternoon. This is "extremist rhetoric made so intentionally outlandish that it's humorous," Gutmann added.
Delivering the 40th Annual Meiklejohn Lecture, Gutmann spoke on "Certainty and Single-Mindedness: The Lure of Extremism" to a full Salomon 001. Before she became president of Penn in July 2004, Gutmann spent 28 years at Princeton University researching religious freedom, equal opportunity, ethics and public affairs.
The theme of Gutmann's lecture was the presence of extremist rhetoric in constitutional democracies. While she addressed the dangers of extremist rhetoric to democracy and suggested effective responses, Gutmann never condemned its existence.
In the spirit of free speech advocate Alexander Meiklejohn, the lecture series' namesake, Gutmann explained why, in fact, extremist rhetoric deserves constitutional protection. She said such rhetoric does not "pose a clear and present danger and does not threaten democracy."
Gutmann repeatedly asserted that there is "nothing wrong with mobilizing" extremism in democratic politics. She said she does not believe that extremist rhetoric is "all bad or that it's wrong for democracy." Instead, the "hazard exists in the way in which it is mobilized," she said.
"Extreme rhetoric is almost always deceptive or worse - it's bullshit," she said.
Extreme rhetoric, according to Gutmann, is characterized by single-mindedness on any issue coupled with an expression of this attitude that does not submit itself to public debate, thereby creating the perception of a single-minded certainty. Extreme rhetoric exists in a vast array of secular and religious varieties, Gutmann said.
Gutmann attributed the alluring quality of extreme rhetoric to the ease with which one-dimensional beliefs are adopted. She also mentioned the tendency of most people to seek "comrades in rhetoric" and to find comfort in the like-minded or those that reinforce their beliefs.
Extreme rhetoric presents potential dangers to constitutional democracy because it "blatantly disregards truthful understanding" of any other opinion, "demonizes political opponents ... (and) associates the like-minded in a way that degenerates and degrades all others," Gutmann said.
Gutmann cited former Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., and Pat Buchanan as examples of politicians who have unleashed extreme rhetoric. McCarthy and Buchanan considered their opponents "moral enemies that need to be defeated," Gutmann said. In such instances, there "is no room for mutual respect," she added.
Gutmann suggested that because the "majority of citizens are not extremists," there is reasonable hope for those who wish to protect pluralism. She emphasized the importance of "engaged pluralism," which she described as based on a set of practical standards, including mutual respect and a principled search for common ground.
"Pluralists need to be as passionate as extremists," Gutmann said. "There is no reason not be passionate about what you believe in," she added.
There is a need for institutions to promote pluralism, especially by "(catering) to the complexities that people have in their lives," she said. Higher educational institutions in particular should "cultivate reasoned argument and openness," she added.
Following the talk, Gutmann took questions from the audience, most notably an aggressive query from Professor of Economics Glenn Loury - which led to a heated exchange between the two - and a question from Mayor David Cicilline '83.
One of the students in attendance said he enjoyed Gutmann's lecture.
"Ideas she presented were particularly important considering the changing venues of political deliberation in the past century," said David Wishnick '07.
Before becoming Penn's president, Gutmann served as Princeton's provost and Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics. She is the author of more than 100 articles, essays and edited volumes of political philosophy, practical ethics and education. Her most recent books include "Identity in Democracy," "Democratic Education" and "Democracy and Disagreement."
