Peace and Pacifism
I am much interested in the phenom-enon of student pacifism, and make bold to suggest that others should be too. My most memorable brush with it was at Dartmouth College a few months ago, where I lectured in connection with the Great Issues Course. The experience was unusual because the entire senior class is required to attend the Great Issues lectures, which constitute the text of the course. It is only every now and then that university authorities compel students to listen to my words; and so not often that I, or other marauding publicists, meet with a truly representative portion of the student body. Generally you find yourself speaking only to those who are politically responsive: who demonstrate a degree of political curiosity by the very act of having come to hear you, and hence are not typical. But at Dartmouth it was everyone, and I learned that pacifism is everywhere. Pacifism’s fallout has got into the bones even of those who do not voluntarily give a moment’s thought to the issues of our time.
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