Article April 2, 1921 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from E. J. Urwick, Charles Henry Dickinson, Charles D. Bornwasser, Raymond G. Fuller, Kopald

["Primitive and Civilized"—The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, U.S.A., February 8, 1921]

The frequency with which we hear, since the war, of the "failure of civilization" is evidence of the passing of a god which the human mind has been worshiping more and more complacently for many centuries. Civilization has no succinct definition even in dictionaries, but it is generally understood to be the process by which primitive man, so called, is cultivated and refined, or at least subdued and chastened. Up to very recent years primitive has been a derogatory term when applied to peoples, nations, or conditions, while to be civilized has been considered highly desirable. For many years novelists describing the virtues of their heroes and heroines have spoken of them as elegant, refined, cultured, and these novelists have only reflected the thought of the civilized countries in which they lived.

Then comes a tremendous event which reveals even to the most unthinking that primitive man, so called, has not been educated away, but is apparently with us in all his starkness. And this discovery has led to deep and universal interrogation of that which we have called civilization. It is recalled that even before the war there was some question about it. So-called civilization brought drink, and drugs, and disease to primitive peoples. In one of those widespread reactions which are of its essence, mortal mind begins to wonder whether, after all, simple peoples are not more virtuous and admirable than their more sophisticated neighbors. It begins to bow down to the primitive. Those sensitive recorders of the popular thought, the novelists and reviewers, begin freely to use such adjectives as elemental, primal, and primordial. The machinery for worshiping a new god is being set up in the world.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Signs of the Times

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access