White Writes About a Very

White writes about a very troubled time in American history when the thought of freedom and the idea of communism and fascism was intertwined and stamped in everyones mind. No one really fully understood what was going on physically, but it was the ideas that were under attack. It was freedom that was being questioned, and to anyone who lived through that time, freedom was something that defined the United States as a nation. This fear of losing freedom, or the idea of being free, was something that scared many.

E.B. White criticizes those people who not only didn't care either way, but those who he thought had no opinion in the matter, which was just as bad as believing in fascism. White criticizes anyone who in his mind threatens the idea of freedom. He especially dislikes intellectuals who seem to be educated in the sense that they read and have gotten some sort of education, but in a sense seem ignorant to their actual surroundings.

He writes about a man he met in New York who started to talk about the happenings in Europe and was actually comparing their lifestyle to the American lifestyle and saying how the Germans were better because they seemed more manicured. He writes, as if with disgust, "If it represents the peak of our intelligence, then the steady march of despotism will not receive any considerable setback at our shores" (White, pp. 480).

The shame he felt in the "intellectual" Americans made him fear that they had no idea what they were talking about. He disliked their ignorance. White did not think that ignorance was a bliss. He wanted people to have opinions, to state what it was that they believed instead of going with the crowd, with what people thought would be safe to think. He felt that this was all "full of defeatism and disillusion and sometimes of a too studied innocence" (White, pp. 481).

He criticized intellectuals for not merely taking a side on an issue that White thought affected everyone. He thought that intellectuals would more than anyone, want their opinions to be heard and to be taken into account because it is the educated people in the United States that made a difference. It was them who had the advantage of knowing and having more opportunities than the rest, yet they were the ones that were content with what was occurring.

He writes, "Where I expected to find indignation, I found paralysis, or a sort of dim acquiescence" (White pp. 483). He was so appalled by their lack of opinion and this disregard to an issue that affected so many, that it invigorated his own desire and admiration of and for freedom. His criticism was not of their disbelief in.