-
FOR
AND
AGAINST 1-5
1.
It’s high time men ceased to regard women as
second
-class citizens
This is supposed to be an
enlightened age, but you wouldn’t think so if you
could hear what the
average man thinks
of the average woman. Women won their independence
years ago. After a long
bitter
struggle, they now enjoy the same educational
opportunities as men in most parts of the world.
They have proved repeatedly that they
are equal and often superior to men in almost
every field. The
hard-fought battle for
recognition has been won, but it is by no means
over. It is men, not women who
still
carry
on
thee
sex
war
because
their
attitude
remains
basically
hostile.
Even
in
the
most
progressive societies, women continue
to be regarded as second-rate citizens. To hear
some men talk,
you’d think that women
belonged to a different species!
On the surface,
t
he comments made by men about women’s
abilities seem light
-hearted. The same
tired jokes about women drivers are
repeated day in, day out. This apparent light-
heartedness does
not conceal the real
contempt that men feel for women. However much men
sneer at women, their
claims to
superiority are not borne out by statistics. Let’s
consider the matter of driving, for instance.
We
all
know
that
women
cause
far
fewer
accidents
than
men.
They
are
too
conscientious
and
responsible to drive
like maniacs. But this is a minor quibble. Women
have succeeded in any job you
care to
name. As politicians, soldiers, doctors, factory-
hands, university professors, farmers, company
directors, lawyers, bus-conductors,
scientists and presidents of countries they have
often put men to
shame. And we must
remember that they frequently succeed brilliantly
in all these fields in addition
to
bearing and rearing children.
Yet men go on maintaining
the fiction that there are many jobs women can’t
do. Top
-level political
negotiation
between
countries,
business
and
banking
are
almost
entirely
controlled
by
men,
who
jealously guard their
so-
called ‘rights’. Even in otherwise
enlightened places like Switzerland women
haven’t even been given the vote. This
situation is preposterous! The
argum
ents that men put forward
to exclude women from these fields are
all too familiar. Women, they say, are unreliable
and much on
intuition and instinct to
arrive at decisions. They are not even capable of
thinking clearly. Yet when
women prove
their abilities, men refuse to acknowledge them
and give them their due. So much for a
man’s ability to think
clearly!
The truth is that men cling to their
supremacy because of their basic inferiority
complex. They shun
real
competition.
They
know
in
their
hearts
that
women
are
superior
and
they
are
afraid
of
being
beaten
at their own game. One of the most important can
be sure that if women were allowed to sit
round the conference table, they would
succeed brilliantly, as they always do, where men
have failed
for centuries. Some things
are too important to be left to men!
2. World
governments should conduct serious campaigns
against smoking
If you smoke and you still don’t
believe that there’s a definite link between
smoking and bronchial
troubles, heart
disease and lung cancer, then you are certainly
deceiving yourself. No one will accuse
you of hypocrisy. Let us just say that
you are suffering from a bad case of wishful
thinking. This needn’t
make
you
too
uncomfortable
because
you
are
in
good
company.
Whenever
the
subject
of
smoking
and health is
raised, the governments of most countries
hear no evil, see no evil and smell no
evil.
Admittedly,
a
few
governments
have
taken
timid
measures.
In
Britain,
for
instance,
cigarette
advertising has been banned on
television continues to puff its way to smoky,
cancerous death.
You don’t have to look very far to find
out why the official reactions to medical findings
have been
so lukewarm. The answer is
simply money. Tobacco is a wonderful commodity to
tax. It’s almost like
a
tax
on our daily bread. In tax revenue alone, the
government of Britain collects enough from smokers
to
pay
for
its
entire
educational
facilities.
So
while
the
authorities
point
out
ever
so
discreetly
that
smoking may, conceivably, be harmful,
it doesn’t
do to shout too loudly about
it.
This is surely the most short-sighted
policy you could imagine. While money is eagerly
collected in
vast sums with one hand,
it is paid out in increasingly vaster sums with
the other. Enormous amounts
are
spent
on
cancer
research
and
on
efforts
to
cure
people
suffering
from
the
disease.
Countless
valuable lives are
lost. In the long run, there is no doubt that
everybody would be much better-off if
smoking were banned altogether.
Of
course,
we
are
not
ready
for
much
drastic
action.
But
if
the
governments
of
the
world
were
honestly
concerned
about
welfare
of
their
peoples,
you’d
think
they’d
conduct
aggressive
anti-smoking
campaigns.
Far
from
it!
The
tobacco
industry
is
allowed
to
spend
staggering
sums
on
advertising.
Its
advertising
is
as
insidious
as
it
is
dishonest.
We
are
never
shown
pictures
of
real
smokers
coughing
up
their
lungs
early
in
the
morning.
That
would
never
do.
The
advertisements
always
depict
virile,
clean-shaven
young
men.
They
suggest
it
is
manly
to
smoke,
even
positively
healthy!
Smoking
is
associated
with
the
great
open-air
life,
with
beautiful
girls,
true
love
and
togetherness. What utter
nonsense!
For a
start, governments could begin by banning all
cigarette and tobacco advertising and should
then
conduct
anti-smoking
advertising
campaigns
of
their
own.
Smoking
should
be
banned
in
all
public places like theatres, cinemas
and restaurants.
Great efforts
should be
made to inform
young
people
especially
of
warning-
say,
a
picture
of
a
death’s
head
-should
be
included
in
every
packet
of
cigarettes
that
is
sold.
As
individuals
we
are
certainly
weak,
but
if
governments
acted
honestly
and
courageously, they could protect us
from ourselves.
3. Television is doing
irreparable harm
‘Yes, but what did we use
to do before there was television?’ How
often we hear statements like
this!
Television
hasn’t
been
with
us
all
that
long,
but
we
are
already
beginning
to
forget
what
the
world was like without
it. Before we admitted the one-eyed monster into
our homes, we never found
it difficult
to occupy our spare time. We used to enjoy
civilized pleasures. For instance, we used to
have hobbies, we used to entertain our
friends and be entertained by them, we used to go
outside for
our amusements to theatres,
cinemas, restaurants and sporting events. We even
used to read books
and listen to music
and broadcast talks occasionally. All that belongs
to the past. Now all our free time
is
regulated by the ‘goggle box’. We rush home or
gulp down our meals to be in time for this
or that
programme. We have
even given up sitting at table and having a
leisurely evening meal, exchanging
the
news of the day. A sandwich and a glass of beer
will do ---
anything, providing it
doesn’t interfere
with
the
programme.
The
monster
demands
and
obtains
absolute
silence
and
attention.
If
any
member of the family
dares to open his mouth during a programme, he is
quickly silenced.