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神の万能なる杖の一撃でそして，これ（ムチ打ちの罰）は，もし子供たちが，騒々しかったり，聖職者（牧師）にするためにふさわしくないと思われるようないかなる活動にも耽っていたら，起こりかねないものと理解されていたのである。この観点にもとづいた教育は，いかにして「上品な」人間を産み出す方法に関する極めて価値のある著作（注：皮肉です。）である『フェアチャイルド家』の中で述べられている。けれども，現在，この高い水準を実行している両親を私はほとんど知らない。悲しいことに，子供が楽しむことを望むのが一般的にきており，このような手ぬるい方針のもとに教育された子供たちが，大人になったときに，快楽（注：「上品な」人にとってひかえるべきもの）に対し十分な恐怖を示すかどうか心配である。 どうやら，「上品な」人々の時代は終わりに近づいてきたようである。二つのことが「上品な」人々の時代を消滅させつつある。その第一は，他人の迷惑にさえならなければ，幸福であることは無害であるという信念であり，第二は，欺瞞に対する嫌悪である。この嫌悪は道徳的なものであるとまったく同等に美的なものである。これらの両方の結果は第一次世界大戦によって促進された（ものである）。戦争中，世界の国々の「上品な」人たちは，しっかりと支配権を持ち，最高の美徳の名のもとに（注：愛する国土や愛する人を守れ！），青年たちを相互殺戮へと導いたのである。それがすべて終わったとき，生き残った者（青年）たちは，最高の美徳を構成していたものは憎悪によって吹きこまれた虚偽と悲惨さだったのではないかと疑い始めたのであった。残念ながら，彼らが再び，あらゆる意味において（偽善ではなく）真に高邁ないかなる倫理の基本原理を受け入れるようになるのには，いくらか時間がかかるのではないかと思われる。「上品な」人々の本質は，協力への傾向において，子供の騒々しさにおいて，及び，特に性において－> 性については取りつかれていて－，はっきりと現れる生活を嫌っているということである。一言にして言うならば，「上品な」人々とは，「下品な」精神の持主である。 |
Nice people very properly suspect pleasure wherever they see it. They know that he who increaseth wisdom increaseth sorrow, and they infer that he that increaseth sorrow increaseth wisdom. They therefore feel that in spreading sorrow they are spreading wisdom; since wisdom is more precious than rubies, they are justified in feeling that they are conferring a great benefit in so doing. They will, for example, make a public playground for children in order to persuade themselves that they are philanthropic and then impose so many regulations upon its use that no child can be as happy there as in the streets. They will do their best to prevent playgrounds, theaters, etc., from being open on a Sunday, because that is the day when they might be enjoyed. Young women in their employment are prevented so far as possible from talking with young men. The nicest people I have known carried this attitude into the bosom of the family and made their children play only instructive games. This degree of niceness, however, I regret to say, is becoming less common than it was. In the old days children were taught that One stroke of His almighty rodand it was understood that this was likely to happen if children became boisterous or indulged in any activity such as was not calculated to fit them for the ministry. The education based upon this point of view is set forth in The Fairchild Family, an invaluable work on how to produce nice people. I know few parents, however, in the present day who live up to this standard. It has become sadly common to wish children to enjoy themselves, and it is to be feared that those who have been educated on these lax principles will not display adequate horror of pleasure when they grow up. The day of nice people, I fear, is nearly over; two things are killing it. The first is the belief that there is no harm in being happy, provided no one else is the worse for it; the second is the dislike of humbug, a dislike which is quite as much aesthetic as moral. Both these results were encouraged by the War, when the nice people in all countries were securely in control, and in the name of the highest morality induced the young people to slaughter one another. When it was all over the survivors began to wonder whether lies and misery inspired by hatred constituted the highest virtue. I am afraid it may be some time before they can again be induced to accept this fundamental doctrine of every lofty ethic. The essence of nice people is that they hate life as manifested in tendencies to co-operation, and in the boisterousness of children, and above all in sex, with the thought of which they are obsessed. In a word, nice people are those who have nasty minds. |
