Word: moralizing
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...kind of piece-along with the accompanying report on the CFIA-that one is ordinarily inclined to ignore, if only out of consideration for the author. Yet I don't think any of us here at Harvard can afford to ignore this kind of intellectual and moral atrocity in these times. Too much is at stake, and too many are ready to interpret silence as tacit sanction. The effect, if not the aim, of Mr. Hyland's writing is to soften up his readers for other assaults on the minds and freedoms of this community...
Everyone agreed that it was amazin'. It was even more than that, said the Mets' ancient and revered manager Casey Stengel, who offered the World Series' ultimate moral: "You can't be lucky every day. But you can if you get good pitchin...
Guilt is running nudity a close second at theater box offices. Flesh peddling is relatively honest, since it makes no particular pretense of moral grandeur. But when the clink of commerce purports to be the thunder of conscience, all sorts of hypocrisies begin masquerading as virtues...
What, then, does such a playwright think he is doing? His rationale is that he is providing a cautionary moral lesson drawn from history that will enable people to avoid past errors and evils. Unfortunately, the profoundly ironic lesson of history is that people do repeat the errors and evils of the past, over and over and over again. The reality these playwrights ignore is that man is a finite being, bound always to act and react within the limits of his nature, "a fallen creature" in religious terms. If the human character could be altered and improved...
...that the people they attract will come to the theater precisely because their consciences are on the alert. There is nothing easier than to preach to the already converted. For any but a guilt-collecting audience, most of these plays rate a big B for Boredom. There is no moral suasion in crude hack work that substitutes lapel-grabbing diatribes for scrupulous dramatic craftsmanship. A poor play does not become a good play simply because the playwright's heart is in the right place...