may-care spirits presented innjournals like Rolling Stone,nwhich Frith shows as being asncounterculture as the New YorknTimes. Certainly there’s nothingnrevelationary about thesenfacts per se, but it is a wonder tonfind them coming from such ansource. However, such interestingnobservations are buriednunder Frith’s impenetrablenprose, which is, perhaps, hisntribute to his heroes in thenFrankfurt School of Marxism.n”Rock music is capitalist music,”nhe concludes, adding: “It drawsnits meanings from the relationshipsnof capitalist production,nand it contributes, as a leisure activity,nto the reproduction ofnthose relationships; the musicndoesn’t challenge the system butnreflects and illuminates it.”nFrith’s problem is that he likesnthe capitalist beat, which causesnhim to flail about, spoutingnMarcuse and Benjamin, as hentries to show that rock is bothndestructive and constructive ofnartistic and social values, a feat ofndialectics that, of course, hennever pulls off. It’s as if Frith isnrating a totally unrhythmicnrecord on Bandstandwkh the rationalenthat “It’s easy to dancento,” or a silent, Cage-like compositionnwith the claim, “It’s gotna good beat.” Although he ultimatelynsinks, his foundering isnoften worthy of note. DnLIBERAL CULTUREnVillage MavennIn an article about GeneralnWestmoreland’s lawsuit againstnCBS concerning the network’snattack on his ability and integritynduring the Vietnam War, anVillage Voice szge, seething withnmarinated rage against anythingnthe U.S. Army might havendone, writes:nThe first time I saw a Vietnamesenarmy captain beat anprisoner, I had a gut feelingnthat we had sided with thenwrong Vietnamese.nOf course, we should haventaken the side of those who exteiminatednneatly a millionnCatholics before the war hadneven started, who then assassinatedna million ot so peasants innthe South who tefused to sidenwith them, and who, aftet conqueringnthe South, reduced it tona tropical gulag. Obviously, wenshould have been allied withn40inChronicles of Culturenthose who tortured war prisoners,nwho forced hundreds ofnthousands of boat people to optnfot the possibility of cruel death,nand—above all—who slaughtetednmillions of human beingsnin Cambodia in the name of antheory. We should have sidednwith the communists; you see, atnleast they do not beat prisoners.nHamartia RevisitednJoseph Pulitzer (1847-1911),namong other things, was oncenthe police commissioner of St.nLouis, a position in which he,npresumably, fought crime andnvice; Mr. Pulitzer was always angreat one for attacking suchnthings while turning them to hisnown benefit. His newspapers,nfor example, affected the stancenof moral exemplars. His nameneven identifies an award which isnsupposed to fortify high ethics innjournalism. Pulitzer, of course,nis known as the father of “thennew journalism,” a textbookneuphemism used in place of thenmote accurate “yellow journalism,”nwhich thrived on the mostnscurrilous things existent—ornnonexistent. The ancient Gteeksnmaintained that the sins of anfather would be visited upon hisnsons. There may be somethingnto this, as evidenced by the tecentndivorce trial involvingnJoseph Pulitzei’s grandson PetetnPulitzet and his wife of six years,nRoxanne. Notes a newspapernreport:nMIS. Pulitzet is an adultress,na cocaine addict, a pathologicalnHat, a believer innspiiits and a lesbian,ncharges Robett Scott, lawyernfor hei husband.nOn the othet side it says:nMis. Pulitzer’s lawyeis accusenthe publishing scion ofnmaking diug hauls fiomnColombia, sleeping in thensame bed as his daughternduiing a European tout andnindulging in thiee-way sexnwith his wife and then32-yeai-old spouse of annheii to the Kleenex tissuenfortune.nIf Joseph Pulitzer were alive today,nhe couldn’t have bought anbettet stoty—deptaved tich people,nkinky sex, drugs, the occult.nCaveat EmptornAdvertising Age is a ttadenjournal devoted to improvingnproduct ptomotion—foodstuffs,ntoilet papei, automobiles,netc. Advertisers in its pagesnare primarily magazines, newspapers,nagencies, and the like,nall of which explain how theynreach vast, tich audiences. Apparently,nsome modem writetsnhave theit minds on the samenobjective and pursue it with thensame sense of piofessional ethicsnas that of, say, cosmetics pro­nnnducers. In a recent AdvertisingnAge—snuggled between an adnfor an underwriters’ magazinenand anothet for a siide-mle company—wenspotted a commercialnannouncement for “The thundetouslynacclaimed bestsellet bynJohn Irving, author of Garp. ” Itnleads us to wonder about Mr.nIrving’s self-promotional strategies:nwill thete be ads in animalhusbandlynmagazines toutingnhis use of bears in his books .^nWill we witness a line of Gatpnwtestling-wear? Will the HotelnNew Hampshire become thenname of a new hostelty chain?nOr, most intetesting of all, willnMr. Irving sell ad space in hisnnext production and thus ushernin the age of scratch-and-sniffnnovels?nThe Age of ReasonnMs. Rosalie Strert, directoi ofntwo storefront clinics in Baltimorenat which young people cannget ftee conttaceptives, no questionsnasked, tecently explained:nWe’re preaching abstinence,ntalking aboutnpiotection. We ate notnteaching promiscuity.nReally?nSelf-enforcing LawsnIn a recent issue of Ms.nmagazine we may read thisnobservation:nThere is an iron law thatnwhenevei you invent annawkwaid social custom thatntwists human nature out ofnshape, you have to create anhundred more to compensatenfoi the emotional messnit makes.nWe agree. We warmly welcomenself-reevaluation. We look forwardnto untwisting the feministnmess with the help oi Ms. ‘snneosagacity. Dn