CRY FOR THE CHILDREN! A Plea for Action
| Published date | 01 August 1972 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711787200400304 |
| Author | R.S. Scorer |
| Date | 01 August 1972 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
253
CRY
FOR
THE
CHILDREN!
A
Plea
for
Action
R.
S.
SCORER
In
the
rich
lands
of
this
century
we
have
unparalleled
prosperity,
health,
and
delight
in
life.
The
industrial
revolution,
scarcely
two
hundred
years
old
has
put
the
world’s
wealth
at
our
behest
at
a
rate
which
now
grows
exponentially.
One
Trident
air
liner
exploits
as
much
power
as
the
whole
Roman
Empire:
the
world
has
a
thousand
air
liners
at
work
and
they
consume
less
than
one
per
cent
of
all
fuel
used.
Thus
there
are
a
hundred
thousand
Roman
Empires
at
work
transforming
the
face
of
the
world,
and
a
hundred
thousand
Babylons
having
fun.
There
is
nothing
to
resist
the
power
of
power.
In
ten
years
we
use
as
much
oil
as
in
the
whole
of
previous
history.
Anyone
who
pursues
a
course
that
is
not
effectively
competi-
tive
with
modern
power-consuming
civilisation
opts
out
of
influence.
Those
who
abdicate
their
power
can
continue
to
live
on
the
bene-
fits.
There
is
no
alternative
to
participation,
active
or
servile.
Moral,
religious,
political,
human
ideals
and
instincts
face
the
power
of
mechanical
power
now
exaggerated
beyond
all
previous
imagination,
and
are
almost
powerless
before
it.
Saints
and
sages
become
objects
of
the
media.
Preachers,
feeling
instinctively
that
something
must
be
wrong
can
find
only
the old
theme
of
science
fiction
-
that
the
machines
are
taking
over,
and
that
the
noise
and
pollution
will
subdue
individuality,
tranquility
and
love.
This
is
a
fearsome
theme
because
so
far
only
a
tiny
fraction
of
humanity
has
yet
been
satiated.
There
is
no
moderation
in
the
quest
for
power
at
our
elbow.
But
if,
as
we
may
hope,
it
will
be
recognised
that
a
man
can
only
eat
two
good
meals
a
day,
and,
tired
of
dropping
bombs,
afraid
of
a
nuclear
holocaust,
men
seek
some
sort
of
affluent
tranquility,
what
might
follow?
Let
it
be
supposed
that
affluence
soon
palls
and
the
rich
countries
of
the
world
agree
that
the
main
human
effort
should
go
to
making
the
benefits
of
the
industrial
revolution
available
to
all
humanity,
instead
of
serving,
as
at
present,
mainly
the
consumption
of
the
rich.
It
is
traditional
in
the
European
outlook
that
those
with
power
guide
the
main
effort
into
their
personal
service.
At
the
beginning
of
the
industrial
revolution,
for
example,
the
landowners
sought
the
aggrandisement
of
their
estates
and
resented
the
power
of
manufacturers
and
traders.
There
is
no
justification
in
history
for
the
belief
that
wealth
will
be
democratised;
but
neither
is
the
situation
paralleled
in
the
past.
Communication
and
education
has
quite
suddenly
begun
to
weld
the
world
into
one,
and
the
feeling
of
a
common
destiny
and
the
entitlement
of
all
men
to
the
human
inheritance
is
rife
today
in
Africa,
Asia,
and
South
America.
To continue reading
Request your trial