"Pressure corrupts" from the July 1, 1969 Door County Advocate
Chan Harris,
EDITORIALS
Pressure corrupts
A few issues back I talked about going more than half way to bring peace because it would be to our self interest. I concluded by saying that the lack of peace has had a bad effect on our society.
Even before we were involved in Viet Nam the cold war was warping the American way of life. It caused a pressure that was passed down the line, to family and classroom. In 1957 the Russians put up the first earth satellite and we turned up our pressure cooker even higher. The Advocate joined those who called for more and faster education.
Well, we do educate faster now, and better. Sometimes an institution needs a shot in the arm to jolt it out of complacency. In this case, however, we took a pep pill and tried to get 110% efficiency. Among results is a higher rate of teen suicide and an alarming use of narcotics and a variety of drugs. Push push push . . . and pay the price. If there were peace in the world no nation would have to push its young people so hard. We could let the young be young. Now they're lucky if they don't begin to feel the heat until seventh grade.
The pressure makes itself felt in all areas of American life, particularly business. I quote this editorial from Graphic News, one of the trade journals we get.
"A recent magazine article told of the progress the Samoans are making in catching up with the 20th century. The article said, in part: 'Just how well they will adapt to and survive the swift pace of economic development being forced upon them by the jet age is hard to say . . . many Samoans still live a simple, unhurried life.'
"What is wrong with a simple, unhurried life?
"Our own younger generation is rebelling against our jet age progress. Dr. Feinberg, a noted psychologist, in a recent survey noted that runaway youths — many of whom have given up the comforts of well-to-do-homes — become hippies with long hair and live in squalor 'so they will not become a part of the competitive society.' Has our 'progress' reached the stage that the very pressure of living in our society is starting to decay that which we sought?
"We have always had some extremists and 'oddballs' but never before have there been so many involved as seem to be joining today's extreme ranks. Never before have so many young people given up the comforts of fine homes, multiple cars, TV, etc. to live happily (?) in a more simple society. Have we broken the sound barrier of human capabilities and started a degenerating slide which will bring about chaos and destruction to a society which moved so fast that we lost control?
"We think not. But perhaps it would be well if we did some re-evaluating of causes
rather than taking the infuriated attitude with which 'normal' people regard the extremists."
This is significant. Here is a magazine publisher saying we should take a long look at the hippies and others who have simply decided to drop out of the rat race to try living with each other instead of against each other.
Another item, Scotty Reston's June 25 column in the Milwaukee Journal. He notes that the administration is having trouble finding talent and that part of the reason is that many potential public servants have simply burned out. Reston quotes a cabinet member as saying he never realized what a toll American business life has taken on talented and successful men. "Many of them have simply been worn out in the struggle. Many more have all kinds of family problems they cannot leave. In a great many cases they have taken to drink to such an extent that the risk is too great."
While much of this stems from competitive nature of man, much is also due to the pervading pressure for international survival. Without this pressure we could proceed unhurriedly, with less waste and with more time to enjoy our creativity. Peace is no panacea for the problems of man; if we had no problems we would invent them. But there is a difference between producing for the barren business of war and using our resources to fight the ills of mankind. How much better to seek mass cures rather than mass slaughter. We can wipe out millions with a single bomb yet more than half the world's population lacks basic medical care. Peace would leave us with no lack of challenges and no less excitement in meeting them.
Let us then make the first moves in defusing world tension. Let us be as imaginative and daring in our search lot peace as our most famous generals were on the battlefield. We salute annually those who gave their lives In war. Let us be as willing to give our lives for peace.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
Other posts about peace
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/peace
Other posts relating to Chan Harris, the editor
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/chan-harris