This, we are sadly aware, took time; for the brightly-colored hopes sent
skyward so long ago as 1914, and the vistas discovered as a consequence
by young men whose eyes till then had been resting safely on the ground,
and the daring and lively questioning that was aroused by the incessant
nudging of sleeping minds, coincided, as it unluckily happened, with
the beginnings when the "Great War" ended, of mass-production and
international finance, so developing problems of government, the solving
of which could not be reconciled with any admission of individual
liberty and personal right. It was, therefore, the elimination of
the notion of justice and liberty from common opinion which occupied
statesmen from 1918 onwards.
Gradually the true social morality has been evolved--that one citizen
should be so like all other citizens that his only distinguishing
characteristic is his number; that the right ideal of citizenship, plain
for all to follow, and ensuring the stability of society, is to be
so loyal to the Holy State that an expression of a man's views in a
gathering of his fellows will rouse no more curiosity than a glass of
water. Obviously so desirable a similarity of mind and character, making
disputation impossible, and preventing all dislike of the ordinances of
the Sacred Entity, or Cabal of Inviolable Dispensers, a uniformity in
which war and peace become merely the national output of a vast machine
controlled by the Central Will, has been developed only through ages of
Press Suggestion, popular education with a bias that was designed but
was scarcely noticeable, the seizing and retaining of opportunities by
legislators whenever public opinion was sufficiently diverted, and
a development of chemical science and aeronautics which has been
encouraged by the enlightened directors of the major industries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account