V-Gram 3

December 7, 1995

"Vast Minority"

On December 7th The New York Times [pages 1 & 6] reported on the Administration's use of talk radio in an effort to sell the Bosnia plan. Apparently, the overwhelming disapproval evidenced by actual quotes was too much for someone at the Times and, albeit without any supporting data, a non-sequitur sentence was inserted about the "vast minority" which approves of the Government's action.

The term and its placement are both too pitiful to attract attention, except for one uncomfortable memory. It happened when he was unable to command a majority that Lenin declared his followers a "vast minority," to be henceforth known as the 'majority' bolshevik party.

While it would be preposterous to compare either an editor of The New York Times to Lenin, or a transparent attempt at news manipulation to the murderous history of the Bolsheviks, there is a point to be made. Some utterances by our press, educators, judges, entertainers, and government officials do have that same historical antecedent. Increased awareness of this and other signs of blatant intellectual dishonesty should be noted, especially when the practitioner is The New York Times. It would also help to place our national debate in sharper focus.