just as philip's magazine editor told him, any hack could write a column on the subject based on facts and figures. what they needed was a different angle that would capture the audience on a gut level. the theme wasn't about showing a Jewish guy get discriminated against. those incidences provide the backdrop and the link to philip's realization of a much more pernicious side to the subject. his magazine article may have started out with the idea of what it actually is like to be discriminated against as a Jewish man, but it moved into an analysis of how well- meaning, "nice," people who woudn't consider themselves bigoted or prejudiced, will sit by and let it happen without saying or doing anything. that's why kathy's rocky relationship with philip is so important and the ultimate resolution of the film.