fPROFESSOR’S CORIVER
The truth of the few
by Steve Smith
Who’s got the truth? I
mean, from whom will one
obtain the knowledge most
worth having? A long and
widely held view would have it
that wisdom is the exclusive
possession of a few highly
intelligent and disciplined
men and women who are often
hated, sometimes revered,
but never fully trusted by the
ignorant mob. Let us call this
the Socratic view. It is
immortalized in Plato’s
parable of the cave, which
tells how one wise man,
Socrates, slips free of the
chains of common prejudice,
which holds all others captive
in a firelit cave. All they see in
the cave is shadows of things
on the cave wall. But Socrates
climbs out of the cave, up to
the sunlight, where real things
may be seen. If you would
learn the truth, then, seek out
the philosopher, the
illuminatus, and let him
patiently conduct you towards
the light.
Other people have reacted
against the Socratic view.
They tend to ^regard
philosophies as eccentric or
deluded and the common folk
as already loaded with
wisdom. Even in their
prejudices the masses are
wise, for those ingrained
opinions of theirs have been
filtered through the test of
long folk-experience. One of
the notable recent champions
of the anti-Socratic view was
Leo Tolstoy, whose novel War
and Peace contains a
wonderfully profound peasant
named Platon Karataev. This
Platon, who is really an anti-
Plato, speaks almost
exclusively in proverbs and
“old sayings,” but he knows a
million of them and applies
them to life with great facility
and tact. He is a fountain of
folk wisdom. Writers like
Tolstoy lose no opportunity to
show the common man to his
best advantage, and to make
fun of the intelligentsia, i.e.
the self-styled philosophical
elite.
The opposition between
the Socratic and anti-Socratic
views of truth, when applied to
problems of political order,
produces the debate between
democrats and aristocrats.
Will we be in better shape (or
in the least trouble) if we are
in the sway of the masses or if
we are ruled by the elite?
When applied to the life of the
mind, however, the face-off is
between so-called common
sense and the knowledge of
the learned intellectuals. And
that, I hope you will notice,
has some bearing on a
college’s reason for being.
Colleges and universities are
the places where a number of
this society’s most highly
educated members, its
“intellectuals,” are rounded
up so that high school
graduates can be exposed to
them. We do this, I trust, in
the expectation that
knowledge worth having will
thereby be effectively
transmitted. Evidently, then,
we have adopted the Socratic
view of truth; otherwise we
would send our truth-seekers
out into the pastures and
shops and factories of
America, to get an education
in the “university of
experience.”
Well, there is much
sentiment in favor of this,
after all-and much distrust of
the value of what is taught in
colleges. But the trouble is
that if you stay away from
college and go looking for
Platon Karataev, you will be
very lucky to find even one
person who resembles him.
Platon is a fraud. He is not an
ordinary man at all, but a
freakish concentration of all
the wisdom that would be
found if you thoroughly
canvassed an- entire society.
And the sort of wisdom he
purveys has its limits.
But the intellectuals,
among whom we include our
learned professors, are also
frauds. They are not, as a
class, massively wise, if the
sign of wisdom is living
happily; they may, actually,
have a greater-than-average
tendency to be out of touch
with certain of life’s practical
realities, since they spend an
unnatural amount of time
reading books; they are
certainly more prone to
holding odd opinoins. The
average member of this class
(say myself) resembles
Socrates about as little as the
average farmer resembles
Tolstoy’s Platon. So the
student who seeks a
professional guru in college
may well be let down.
Still, there is a sense in
which we professors are all at
least trying to be like
Socrates. Society has
instructed us to get hold of the
truths that require specialized
THEATRE NEWS
by Virginia Evans
Decree Staff
The Theatre Department
is already hard at work on two
shows for this semester:
“Kennedy’s Cihldren” and
“Godspell.”
“Kennedy’s Children” is a
two-act play about five people
who relate how the sixties
affected them. This is a
special show for the
department, because it is the
senior project. The five
graduating theatre majors all
have important tasks to
perform with show.
Jone Marshall is the
director. Anthony Pierce has
a leading acting role. Evelyn
Ford is doubling as technical
director and set designer.
Cathy Ballou is the stage
manager. And Becky
Marshall is the lighting
designer and property
mistress.
The cast for “Kennedy’s
Children” is as follows;
Anthony Pierce as Mark, Jeff
Hartzog as Sparger, Nancy
Johnson as Wanda, Christie
Oglesby as Rona, and Earl
Roberson as the Bartender.
“Kennedy’s Children”
will be performed February
16-20. Please make
reservations in advance to be
assured a seat.
“Godspell” is the second
show of the spring semester.
It is being directed by Susan
Marrash Minnerly. Steve
Wilson is the musical director,
and Judy Rawls is the
choreographer. “Godspell” is
a two act musical based on the
gospel of Matthew.
The cast is: Rusty Styron
as Jesus, Anthony Pierce as
Judas, and Bruce Springle as
John the Baptist. The
disciples are Hank Hardy,
Cathy Ballou, Isaac Hodge,
Lisa Humerickhouse, Christie
Oglesby, Amy West, and
Virginia Evans.
research and then
disseminate them.
Presuming to be a
spokesman for the truth of the
few, and having admitted that
there is another truth, no
inferior, of the many, it
behooves me to say a few
words in praise of “our” sort
of truth, the truth that is
taught in college. First of all,
it is a little out of the way, not
an obvious part of ordinary
experience (else it would be
the truth of the many), but has
desirable properties on that
account; it has the appeal of
the exotic, and it is meat and
drink for curiosity when
curiosity is really hungry and
thirsty. The truth of the many,
on the other hand, excels in
stating and reminding us of
the familiar and obvious. The
truth of the few is very rich
and full of novelties, having
the general tendency to
advance and explore, and this
distinguishes it from the truth
of the many which tends
always to be the same. (The
truth of the few may be more
prone to fads for this reason.)
It is found, offered, and
received according to rational
methods, which is to say that
it is civil, specially excelling
at what should be a feature of
all thinking and talking done
by human beings. It is thus
tolerant and diplomatic,
whereas the truth of the
many, less flexible, does not
open itself to criticism or give-
and-take. When opposed
prejudices collide, two
variants of “common sense,”
look out. The truths of the few
can be changed and even
abandoned at a moment’s
notice, if better truths appear.
They are fragile. This
prevents the gatherers of
these truths from becoming
unreasonably attached to
them, and from having an
unreasonable dislike of being
found out in a mistake. The
“illuminati” rejoice in being
fallible. It means they still
have something to learn~and
learning is what they like to
do.
May quality go
on and on
by Tony Pierce
Around this time last year
I wrote an article for The
Decree voicing my opinion
against trashy “Blood and
Gore” movies. Since that
time, I have cheerfully
noticed that not only have
movie industries been-turning
out better movies, but that the
majority of them have been
reaching the Rocky Mount
movie theatres.
Movies like “The French
Lieutenants Women” and
“Rich and Famous” offer us
much more to look at than
some half-nude girl’s blood
gushing from her open throat.
If you wanted to laugh and
have a good time, movies like
“Arthur” did more than its
part in assisting you. And
movies like “Tribute”
brought tears to your eyes, but
wasn’t the plot and acting
better than in the average
borrow film.
Now don’t get me wrong, I
love horror movies.
One of my favorite
movies of last year was the
horror movie “American
Werewolf In London”. This
movie gave you music to
listen to, made you laugh, and
it scared the pants off you.
This is just one example of a
quality horror film.
OPINION
Christmas already?
by Chris Bragg
Decree Staff
“Ho, Ho, Ho Merry
Christmas,” yes it is that time
again. Christmas is that
annual event loved by
children and dreaded by
parents.
The perversion of
Christmas by big business is
not what I am concerned
about in this editorial.
Attending a Methodist
affiliated college, I feel it is
my right, almost my duty, to
use The Decree to bring forth
the Christmas message.
“For unto you is born this
day in the city of David a
Saviour, which is Christ the
Lord. And this shall be a sign
unto you all: ye shall find the
babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddently there was with
the angel a multitude of the
heavenly host praising God,
and saying. Glory to God in
the highest and on earth
peace, good will toward men.”
Luke 2; 10-14.
“Glory to God,” “Peace,
good will toward men,” this is
the Christmas message. I
know it is 1981 and it might be
a bit too much to ask, but on
Christmas day close your eyes
and thank God for the most
beautiful, precious gift of all-
Jesus Christ.
This message may seem
familiar to those of you who
read the last issue of The
Decree. I am not trying to
shirk my duty by reprinting a
previous editorial but I would
like to make an important
point. Christmas is over until
next year. All the lights,
trimmings, and trees are
taken down and put away. Our
new gifts that sparkled under
the tree on Christmas
morning are now broken-in
and somewhat used. But what
about the Chiristmas spirit?
Did we also put our peace and
good will in the closet to be
taken out again next
Christmas?
Each year around
Christmas numerous good will
stories break into the news.
This year was no exception to
the rule. There is so much
good will and charity around
Christmas but where does it
go on December 26? Some
countries at war even declare
a “peace” and stop fighting on
Christmas. It seems that the
average man only shows
concern for his fellow man a
week or two before Christmas.
If warring nations can put
downtheir weapons for
Christmas why can’t they do
the same every day?
When the multitude
declared “Glory to the God in
the highest and on earth
peace, good will toward men,”
1 do not think they only had
December 25th in mind. Luke
2 verse 14 is a verse for all
seasons not just Christmas.
Let each and every one of us
take the initiative and bring
out in every day the true
meaning of Christmas:
“Peace, good will toward
men.”
Interfaith News
by Rusty Styron
Welcome back to another
semester here at NCWC, we in
Inter-faith Commission hope
that each of you had a much
needed and restful vacation.
For those of you who are
unfamiliar with Inter-faith we
would like to explain our
various activities on campus.
First of all we have
Wesleyan Christian
Fellowship, or WCF, which
meets Wednesdays at 5:30 in,
the cafeteria private dining
room. WCF is a non-
denominational group of
extremely enthusiastic
students who get together
once a week for an open Bible
study. Many topics are
discussed and new faces and
ideas are always welcome.
Tuesdays at noon, also in the
cafeteria, the Baptist Student
Union, or BSU, meets to
discuss ways of overcoming
problems which not only
Baptists but other students as
well are faced with.
Another major part of
Inter-faith is our highly active
chapter of Fellowshio of
Christian Athletes, which
meets Wednesdays at 6:30 in
the T.V. room of the Student
Union. Of course a person
does not have to be an athlete
to be a member of FCA. FCA
is currently working on their
annual “Dogpatch Olympics”
where local high schools
compete against college
students in a day of field
activities.
Also, Dr. Ken Finney
holds daily devotionals on
Mondays, Wednesdays, and
Fridays from 12:30 until 12:55
in the Inter-faith Lounge. This
semester Dr. Finney will be
discussing various Christian
issues.
The FCA and WCF are
currently working on “The Up
and Down Party and Dance”
to be held Friday, February 12
from 9 until 1 in the cafeteria.
The purose of the dance is to
raise money to benefit these
campus organizations.
Admission is $i and
refreshments will be served,'
also there will be dancing with
a live D.J.
The Decree Staff
CO-EDITORS
Chris Bragg -. Martie Barbour
BUSINESS MANAGER
Kathy Kuritz
SPORTS EDITOR
David Doby
SPORTS WRITERS
Kevin McDougald
Earl Roberson - Adam Siawski
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Jeff Hartzog - Fred Gilbert
TYPIST
Debra Brantley
FACULTY ADVISOR
Dr. Paul deGategno
FEATURES EDITOR
Toay Stroud
WRITERS
Dawn Layfleld - Ricky Creech
Christine Ooglesbee - Brooks Sltlniu.r
Tony Pierce - Rusty Styron
Virginia Evans - Jeu Keeter