USING 'MORAL EQUIVALANCE'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807400014-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: May 31, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807400014-1
It I
WASHINGTON TIMES
31 May 1985
Using mora equivalence
anything whatever'Vfia~is tieing
MICBAEL NOVAK challenged is not intellectual liberty.
om Wicker has a bit of a
problem. The distinguished
columnist of The New York
'columnist John Chamberlain, who -.,
suggested that Mr. Wicker seems to
hold some form of doctrine that the
U.S.S.R. and the United States of
America are "morally equivalent"
Mr. Wicker (a patriot and a good
colleague in a seminar) replied in an
energetic column of his own that he
'does not hold that the U.S.S.R. and
the United States are "morally
equivalent" and, further, has no'
respect for anyone who does. Mean-
,-while, Michael Kinsley wrote in his
own column in The Wall Street Jour-
nal that he does not know of anyone
who holds to the doctrine of "moral
equivalence." , - -
{..Now one.supposes that no intel-
ligent writer or critic in the West,
faced with the naked question, "Do
-you or. do you not hold that the
_ U S.S.R. and the United States are,,
morally equivalent?", - will answer
"yes" M rue, precisely such a ques-
tion was put at the Oxford. Student
Union. True, too, the American
whose assignment it was to argue for
the negative (Defense Secretary
Caspar Weinberger) won by a close
-vote. So in the real world of ideas the
question is not an idle one.
,But do any in America hold to it?
Surely, not in its naked form. Every
American writer-knows at least this
much: criticizing the U.S.S.R. within.
the U.S.S.R. as he currently
criticizes the United States would
land him in psychiatric detention,
injected with drugs, not win him the
equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. So
at least one reason why the United
States is not morally equivalent to
the U.S.S.R. is that the latter
-restricts the liberty of writers.
Mr. Wicker thinks that some in the
United States may be challenging
the liberty of U.S. writers to criticize.
the actions of the United States. Mr..
Wicker warns that such persons, if
they look over their shoulders, will
{ find moral equivalence gaining on
them.
That warning, of course, is an idle
one. No one challenges the liberty of
U.S. writers to.criticize any aspect of
What iskeing challenged is intellec-,
tual carelessness.
Recently, for example, Korean
Airlines won a libel suit against a -
British writer who accused the
United States of using the KAL-007
shot down by the Soviets as a spy.
plane. It turns out that the author of
that article in Britain borrowed
heavily from materials from Tass
r.. and Izvestia, materials that are'.
demonstrably false.
Eager enough to criticize the
United States, Thin Wicker himself
devoted two columns to serious con-
sideration of an American version. of
that argument,- which appeared in
The Nation. ` -.
Suppose that libelous article had
been true. Then the U.S. government -
would -have-. been - lying about
KAL-007, exactly as the government
of the U.S.S.R. had been lying. Moral
equivalence?. Careful. thought is
needed here
Mr..-.Wicker's: defense of his
refusal to join a recent Washington
conference sponsored jointly by the
Shavano Institute of Hillsdale Col=
lege and the U.S.. State Department
is that he wishes to hold the U.S. gov-
ernment to its own high ideals, and>
to judge it by what it does.
That is not, of course, an example
of holding the .doctrine of moral
equivalence. Every taxi driver in
New York City daily exercises his
right to criticize the U.S. govern-
ment. So does every conservative,
neo-conservative. moderate, liberal,
and democratic socialist in the land.
Criticism of government is a
national sport.
Yet mere actions by governments
do not get to the heart of the matter.
The U.S.S.R. is properly blamed in
stri ct moral judgment, not solely for
what it does, but for its system; and
not solely for its system but for the
doctrine (Marxism-Leninism) by
.which it justifies both its existing
system and every one of its actions.
It is not enough, then, to criticize
the U.S.S.R. for its actions. Its sys-
tem and its very ideals must be mor-
ally judged. Mr. Wicker says he is
hesitant to take part in such discus-
sions - at least at the above-
mentioned Shavano conference -
because they might lead to "self-
congratulation" on the part of U.S.
citizens.
Self-congratulation indeed! For
what else are Americans willing to
! give their lives, their fortunes and
their sacred honor, if not for those
differences of ideals, system, and
action?
Furthermore, please note the fre-
quency with which many American,
writers and speakers use expres-
sions such as "the two superpowers,"
"the tide -of history, ""Afghanistan is
the Soviet 'Vietnam," "U.S. support
for terrorists in Nicaragua;' and the
like.
It is perfectly correct to criticize
the U.S. government in its every
nook and cranny. Criticism of big
government is not only legitimate;
it's in fashion even in the White
House.
Tbm Wicker is afraid of adding his
weight to American anti-
communism, and also afraid of add-
ing his weight to the- pride .of
Americans in their- own country.
This does not add up to the strong
form of the 'doctrine of moral
equivalence. If he looks over his
shoulder, though, he'll see that,
according to that method, moral
equivalence is gaining on him.
. For Soviet propagandists, seen
more and more often on American
television, not least on Ted Koppel's
otherwise admirable "Night Line,"
adroitly cite all those American
commentators who, they say, take .
the same positions they do. Those
who tread lightly on the U.S.S.R. and'
heavily on the United States should
also measure the uses to which their
words are put in the international
arena, just as they now measure
them for abettin-g'"`self-
congratulation:'
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807400014-1