ABSTRACT
In pronouncements, Diane Ravitch made a useful distinction between what she called "pluralistic multiculturalism" and "particularistic multiculturalism," or, as she clarified her terminology, pluralism or multiculturalism on the one hand, and particularism on the other. Indeed, the unique feature of the United States is that its common culture has been formed by the interaction of its subsidiary cultures." The demands of a just multicultural society are complex, and we may find no easy answers; worse, the problems often promote demagoguery. It is, for example, a lot easier to be a black conservative than it might once have been. The dearth of qualified women and minorities should not be used as an excuse to retain or coddle charlatans or incompetents simply because they are black or female. Justice and political correctness are not always, one might even suggest that they are seldom, coterminous.
