And lo, it came to pass that in those days a mighty host of Marx assembled in the high court of Moscow to take counsel together how they might destroy the might of the West. And they came from the East and from the West, from the North and from the South. From the five continents and the seven seas they came. And the Lord High Commissar stood before them, and he, too, sought the answer to this mighty question.
And some said, “Let us invade Europe.” But the rest said, “No, this will turn men against us.” And others said, “Let us drop one hydrogen bomb to show our might.” But others, wiser than they, said, “They, too, have hydrogen bombs, and more than we.” And still others said, “Let us destroy the United Nations.” But the hosts and the Lord High Commissar rejected these and many other words of counsel. And so it was that they abode there many days, but without finding that which they sought.
And there arose an old man, one who had lived under the Czar, and under Lenin, and under Stalin, one who had seen many things in his day. And he said: “O foolish men, you seek to do that which would unite the world against you in hatred. Instead, we can win our struggle without losing any friend or sacrificing a life. Let us destroy the souls and minds of the people of the West, especially those in America.”
And the mighty hosts agreed, but none knew how. So they asked, “Old man, how would you do this?” And he said, “Listen to me.”
The Road to Serfdom
And the hosts of Marx gathered round the old man and hearkened unto him, even the Lord High Commissar.
“It is so simple, you who are used to espionage and the futile might of science. To destroy the mind and soul of a people you need only replace, gradually, the great with the trivial, the noble with the vulgar, the meaningful with the meaningless, the good with the bad. You need only provide diverting entertainment which is easy, free, and available. You may do this in the name of recreation or education and if you do it long enough men will become your slaves.”
“But old man, you have not told us how,” the hosts replied.
A Strategy for America
And the old man continued, “Because of progress every family, nay, every person in America can now have a television set or radio beside or before him all the minutes of the day. No longer will there be spaces of silence. Even at the beach, at the family outings, or while driving in the car voices and pictures may be heard or seen. Let us provide programs enough to keep their minds occupied from early till late, nay, let there be no moment in their lives unoccupied or diverted with trivia. If they tire of television let there be movies of like kind for them to attend. Or, if boredom forces them to read, let their reading, too, be cheap and vulgar. Men, women, boys, and girls will no longer read books. They will even believe that education and religion come best in pictures. And lo, I will tell you the most wonderful part of this conquest.”
“All this won’t cost us a penny. Their advertisers will pay for the television program. The people themselves will pay their way into movies and purchase the cheap books and magazines, especially the young who are eager for thrills. Now and then we will arrange for their police to capture a Russian spy bearing microfilm. This will divert their minds. Meanwhile we will continue our armaments and worldwide propaganda and pressures in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. But our main program must be in the minds of Americans. And once the mind is captured the soul soon follows.”
“We will destroy old values and replace them with new ones of our making, which we must not permit in our lands. We will turn wrong into right and right into wrong. This will be done most pleasantly.”
“And how long will this take, old man?” the Lord High Commissar asked.
Where Unregeneracy Leads
“Who can tell? But we Marxists do not fret over a decade or so. It will come soon enough. Time and human nature are on our side. By providing cars and buses we will make Americans unable to walk and destroy their bodies. With easy chairs and couches we will soften their muscles even while we soften their brains. Within twenty years few American children will be able to read, write, spell, or think continuously for over five seconds. School children will chose the easiest subjects in school and make merely a passing mark in even these. All because from their infancy they have been bred on trivia at home. We will even cause their sacred book, the Bible, to become unknown and forgotten. We will make them incurious and even despise those who are curious and love learning for its own sake.”
High Tide is Coming
And the hosts of Marx praised the old man for his wisdom and gave him a seat of honor, to be photographed at the right hand of the Lord High Commissar. They voted to continue armaments, to continue pressure on the five continents, but to rely on the old man’s advice to win and capture the West. And so it is till this day.
GRAHAM R. HODGES
Emmanuel Congregational Church
Watertown, New York.
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