On Optimism and the Optimists

If, as many think, the UN is dying before our eyes, the coroner’s verdict may well be: Killed with kindness. A messianic optimism said that this organization was the only hope for settling world problems; it must, therefore, be preserved at all costs. But the cost of preserving the great problem-solver has been, ironically, to insulate it from all contact with problems that might cause it to fail. It has become itself one of the problems needing solution. Those who expect most of it can, in any crisis (e.g., the dues crisis), ask least of it. The celestial machinery is maintained so that it may solve all problems some clay; but it must be prevented from trying its hand at a few of them right now, since imperfect practice might spoil its perfect promise. Things that matter to anyone—disarmament, Hungary, Suez, Berlin, Lebanon, Goa, Cuba, Vietnam—are too gritty to be submitted to this crystalline model of harmony.

Rhapsodic UN Rhetoric

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Garry Wills

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If, as many think, the UN is dying before our eyes, the coroner’s verdict may well be: Killed with kindness. A messianic optimism said that this organization was the only hope for settling world problems; it must, therefore, be preserved at all costs. But the cost of preserving the great problem-solver has been, ironically, to insulate it from all contact with problems that might cause it to fail. It has become itself one of the problems needing solution. Those who expect most of it can, in any crisis (e.g., the dues crisis), ask least of it. The celestial machinery is maintained so that it may solve all problems some clay; but it must be prevented from trying its hand at a few of them right now, since imperfect practice might spoil its perfect promise. Things that matter to anyone—disarmament, Hungary, Suez, Berlin, Lebanon, Goa, Cuba, Vietnam—are too gritty to be submitted to this crystalline model of harmony.

Rhapsodic UN Rhetoric