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1
May 1971
great deal of fue! - something like a
half-ton per minute. At subsonic speeds
íts supersonic engines become very
inefficient and greatly increase atmo–
spheric pollution. The Concorde is
equipped with
only thirty min11tes'
extra flying time on a Paris-New York
flight. Critics call this unrealistic. Also,
in emergencies, the SST is limited in its
ability to land because it requires very
long runways with specially strength–
ened surfaces to withstand its enormous
landing impact.
With all these possible problems fac–
ing SST designers, builders, and passen–
gers, there is little wonder that the U. S.
government officially withdrew its sup–
port of such a project. Sorne feel
NO WORK
SOCIETV?
(Continued from page 34)
victim to the disease of too much lei–
sure wrongly spent.
Leisure
in
the Past
Even the ancient Spartans - symbols
of tight-lipped endurance - fell before
the curse of too much leisure. Aristotle,
in
his
Politics,
says of them: "The Spar–
tans remained secure as long as they
were at war; they collapsed as soon as
they acquired an empire.
They did not
know how to 11se the leimre that peace
bro11ghf' (Politics,
Vol. II,
127
lb).
This same sad chronide has been
written of nation after nation down
through history. The same was true of
the Roman Empice.
The Roman Empire grew to heights
never before known. But as the world
fell into submission the Romans began
to increase their leisure time. Rome
under Nero had
176
holidays yeady,
almost
1
day in
2.
Materialism, as has often been
recorded in history, was the trap that
extinguished the llame of many great
civilizations. There are too many start–
ling parallels between today's Western
society and the extinct civilizations
before us who first grew rich, then
soft, indifferent, apathetic .. . and finally
The
PLAIN TRUTH
the environmental considerations alone
should be enough to
permanently
ter–
mínate the project, no matter who wants
to undertake its construction. Unfortu–
nately, environmental degradation has
seldom prevented man from ultimately
pursuing technology for power and
profit.
But technology, the convenient whip–
ping boy, is not really the prime of–
fender. What is at fault is the world–
wide spirit of competition - the spirit
of a world continually at war, but not
always fighting with bombs and bayo–
nets. In the case of supersonic trans–
ports, it is economic and propaganda
warfare. Until this wrong spirit is
totally and absolutely eradicated from
died! And, of course, they didn't think
it would happen to them either.
Few realize how completely leisure
has gripped America and Britain. "Let's
live it up" have become the passwords
of our time. But when any nation
becomes overly engrossed in pleasure–
seeking, it is ripe for terminal problems.
We need to ask ourselves a question
never more pertinent than now: Is more
leisure time really good?
There is, of course, a time for plea–
sure and leisure. But as Americans and
Britons are finding, the nations whose
citizens work hard - the Germanies
and Japan and elsewhere - are surging
ahead economically. New nations, with
aggressive citizens, are coming to the
fore - phasing out former powers
which have grown fat and lazy.
In that important light, it is time we
re-evaluate our concept of leisure.
What "The Good Life''
lnvolves
"Many a man," Benjamín Franklin
once put it, "thinks he is buying plea–
sure, when he is really selling himself
slave to it." When a nation becomes
tuned to the purely material, that
nation, just like every other fallen
nation, is writing its own epitaph.
What is so wrong with the "Six days
shalt thou labor, and do all thy work"
concept? Is the exhortation found in
Proverbs to "Go to the ant, thou slug–
gard; consider her ways, and be wise"
now obsolete? And is the immortal
41
hwnan nature, man's technology and
economy will continue to be dictated to
by
political
considerations -
even
when the ecological and economic
prognostications are not too bright.
The U. S. was in a quandary. Build
the SST and accept its acknowledged
environmental dangers -
or don't
build it, and accept possible economic
and political consequences.
The SST may get a small percentage
of us there faster - but will it make
the rest of man miserable in the long
run? The SST may be necessaiy for a
natíon to stay in competition with
others - but will it be another unnec–
essary economic burden ?
Is the SST really worth it?
O
command of the religíous tcacher, Paul ,
to Timothy, "lf any would not work,
neither should he eat" no longer appli–
cable to the Western world? What
about concepts that we should enjoy our
work? Are they out of step in a tech–
nological age of nonfulfilling jobs?
They shouldn't be. But why are they?
Because people are seeking to escape -
to escape work and the responsibilities
of life.
They end up, however, working just
as hard at sorne leisure-time activity.
Possibly you've heard the expression:
"l'm glad my vacation is over. Now I
can rest up by going back to work."
Americans end up
WORKING
at their
leisure. There is only one problem: Leis–
ure labor is almost entirely
rmprodrtc·
tive.
It
is precious time and energy
wasted on generally selfish pursuits -
not spent on producing somethiog use–
fui for oneself or society.
A crisis comes when a large pro–
portien of a population's energy is
spent on wasted leisure. This is the trap
Americans have fallen into. Instead of
using recreation to regenerate their men–
tal batteries so they can become
more
prod1fctive,
Americans have used recre–
ation as an end in itself - as a device
for escapism.
With this approach to life, no nation
can long continue its leadership in the
world. We need to reconsider, carefully,
how we spend our time. Will we collec–
tively produce and lead, or merely
con–
mme
and fa!! ?
O