День триффидов
Conference
"Myfriends,"hesaid,"IthinkImayclaimtobetheoldestamongyou.InnearlyseventyyearsIhavelearned,andhadtounlearn,manythings—thoughnotnearlysomanyasIcouldhavewished.Butif,inthecourseofalongstudyofman’sinstitutions,onethinghasstruckmemorethantheirstubbornness,itistheirvariety.
"Well,indeeddotheFrenchsayautrestemps,autresmaurs.Wemustallsee,ifwepausetothink,thatonekindofcommunity’svirtuemaywellbeanotherkindofcommunity’scrime;thatwhatisfrowneduponheremaybeconsideredlaudableelsewhere;thatcustomscondemnedinonecenturyarecondonedinanother.Andwemustalsoseethatineachcommunityandeachperiodthereisawidespreadbeliefinthemoralrightnessofitsowncustoms.
"Now,clearly,sincemanyofthesebeliefsconflict,theycannotallbe‘right’inanabsolutesense.Themostjudgmentonecanpassonthem—ifonehastopassjudgmentsatallistosaythattheyhaveatsomeperiodbeen‘right’forthosecommunitiesthatboldthem.Itmaybethattheystillare,butitfrequentlyisfoundthattheyarenot,andthatthecommunitieswhocontinuetofollowthemblindlywithoutheedtochangedcircumstancesdosototheirowndisadvantage—perhapstotheirultimatedestruction."
Theaudiencedidnotperceivewherethisintroductionmightbeleading.Itfidgeted.Mostofitwasaccustomed,whenitencounteredthiskindofthing,toturntheradiooffatonce.Nowitfelttapped.Thespeakerdecidedtomakehimselfclearer.
