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Socialists Want to Regiment People
Fenelon's idyll on Crete is
even more alluring. Mentor is made to say:
"All that you see in this
wonderful island results from the laws of Minos. The education
which he ordained for the children makes their bodies strong and
robust. From the very beginning, one accustoms the children to a
life of frugality and labor, because one assumes that all
pleasures of the senses weaken both body and mind. Thus one
allows them no pleasure except that of becoming invincible by
virtue, and of acquiring glory.... Here one punishes three vices
that go unpunished among other people: ingratitude, hypocrisy,
and greed. There is no need to punish persons for pomp and
dissipation, for they are unknown in Crete.... No costly
furniture, no magnificent clothing, no delicious feasts, no
gilded palaces are permitted."
Thus does Mentor prepare his
student to mold and to manipulate—doubtless with the best of
intentions—the people of Ithaca. And to convince the student
of the wisdom of these ideas, Mentor recites to him the example
of Salentum.
It is from this sort of philosophy
that we receive our first political ideas! We are taught to treat
persons much as an instructor in agriculture teaches farmers to
prepare and tend the soil.
Clark Simmons, Webmaster
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