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Wednesday, December 15, 2010
It's been brought to my attention that Glaukopis, a
Polish publication, has published an article that mentions me. The article is
by John Radzilowski. Its title is "On Polish Historical Studies in the
United States: The case of Professor Marek Jan Chodakiewicz."
I don't read Glaukopis, but a friend does, and forwarded the
article to me.
The article's main point is that there is
a conspiracy afoot to damage the career of Polish-American historian Marek Jan
Chodakiewicz. Those working to damage Chodakiewicz have this motive: they want
to protect Politically Correct, and anti-Polish, ideology in America.
The guilty parties who have damaged Chodakiewicz include the
following: Antony
Polonsky, Piotr
Wrobel, Istvan
Deak, Joanna Michlic,
and … drumroll, please … I'm embarrassed to type my own name after such a list
of luminaries … me.
I try to tell my students that you
don't have to probe very far to deflate conspiracy theories; they are absurd on
their face, and those who believe in them are not processing reality
accurately.
The above list is not plausible as a list of
people who would conspire to damage Chodakiewicz, to damage Poland, or to
protect politically correct ideologies.
In fact, with
the exception of my name, if you removed the scholarly contributions of this
group of people to advancing understanding of Poland in the West, you'd be left
with a very anemic scholarship.
I'm lucky enough to have
been reading this list of scholars for a very long time. As a Polish American,
I would be heartsick if I didn't have access to Wrobel, Polonsky, Deak. I must
confess that I'm not a fan of Prof. Michlic's scholarship, but I respect her
efforts.
See, I grew up during an era where there was
nothing – and I mean nothing – available on the Polish or Polish American
experience, or, for that matter, the Slovak experience, the Lithuanian
experience, the Serb experience – I've
written about this silence in an essay.
Reading
Polonsky, Wrobel, Deak – it's a miraculous experience to me. These scholars and
others like them gave my own history to me. I cherish these names.
And – Politically Correct? Again and again I've seen these
scholars stand up in public and say what needed to be said about Eastern
Europe, damn the inevitable criticism from those who want to demonize anyone
living east of Germany.
That's point number one. If
anyone in Poland is uninformed enough to believe that these scholars are worthy
of being disrespected in the pages of a Polish publication, I sincerely hope
that that person will learn more about the scholars.
Point
number two: me? Are you serious?
Grouping me with the above scholars pays me an utterly
unearned compliment. I'll tell you this – I probably bake better cookies than
Istvan Deak, but that is the only arena in which I would compete with him.
To suggest that I have the clout to damage an academic's
career is really, really, REALLY beyond belief. I barely have enough power to
fail a student who doesn't hand in a final paper. And – I beg of you – don't
let this information leak out to my students!
Merely the
inclusion of my name on this list renders the main idea of the entire article
not only absurd, but laughably so.
Further – no
intelligent person who has read more than one line of writing by me would ever
group me with the Politically Correct or the ideologically pure. My complete
lack of Political Correctness or Ideological Purity is immediately evident to
anyone who has an above one-digit IQ. I'll go further – my book, "Bieganski,"
is the single most Politically Incorrect book on Polish Jewish relations ever
written.
I'm tempted, at this point, to confess. Yes,
Yes! I want to shout. I am part of the conspiracy! I'm glad we've all been
found out and can come out of hiding and shout our truth to the world! Black
helicopters flew me to Area 51, where top Army brass, "Greys" – Greys
are space aliens to you civilians – Art Bell, Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey
greeted me. Sinatra and Harvey kept insisting that we play cards, but both
became very agitated anytime they were dealt the queen of diamonds. Ultimately,
though, my fearless leaders decided that I would never make a really great
conspirator, because I am dyslexic. I kept forgetting if the pellet with the
poison was in the flagon with the dragon or the vessel with the pestle.
All right, enough kidding around.
My
role in the conspiracy: Six years ago, I wrote a review of one of
Chodakiewicz's books for a small journal. I acknowledged the strengths of
Chodakiewicz's work, and pointed out its weak points. That's what book
reviewers do. It's not what powerful conspirators do. Here's the review in
question.
I am unaware of anyone having any reaction
to this review (except for the author of the Glaukopis article.) In short, my
guess is that very few people ever read the review. In any case, I stand by the
review.
Glaukopis fails to make the case that Marek Jan
Chodakiewicz has been professionally damaged at all. Chodakiewicz held the Kościuszko
Chair in Polish Studies at the University of Virginia. President Bush appointed
him to a 5-year term to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. He holds
the Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies at Institute of World Politics. He has
published several books and articles. His
books are all on sale at Amazon, and have received good reviews.
Chodakiewicz has received several grants and awards, as listed
on his Wikipedia
page.
Glaukopis' Polish readers may not realize
this, but America is in a recession right now. The official unemployment rate
is close to ten percent; unofficial estimates are higher.
The recession is especially bad among PhDs. I know excellent teachers and
scholars, with publications and strong letters of recommendation, who have been
unable to find full-time jobs. These marginally-employed PhDs have no job
security, no health insurance, and, given the job market, very little hope for
any kind of a normal future in academia.
Given the
Depression-like, not Recession-like, conditions on the American humanities academic
job market, for anyone to attempt to depict a man who has published, won
awards, and held endowed chairs as a victim is not just inaccurate, it's
distasteful.
One last thing. I must protest Glaukopis'
insistence on spelling my name incorrectly. This may seem like a small point –
heck, it is a small point. But there's something bigger behind it.
When conspiracy theorists intentionally misspell your name, they
are attempting to state that they know who you are better than you do. They are
saying, "She's hiding behind this false name, but we know her real
name." They are attempting to destroy your real identity and reconstruct a
new one for you, one that fits their conspiracy.
For the
record, I'd like to state that Glaukopis' implausible conspiracy theory got
this fact wrong. I am not, and have never been, Danusia Gośka. I'm not Polish.
I'm a Polish American. "Danusia" makes no sense over here.
"Danusha" does.
Further, my family's name has
not ever been "Gośka," on either side of the Atlantic. Glaukopis,
your misspelling of my proud Polish father's perfectly good Polish-American
name does not reflect well on your adherence to accuracy, your respect of your
fellow Polonians, or your ability to serve your readers.
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