填空题
About seven years ago, I accepted an invitation to participate in a seminar on the ethical and moral problems of American society that was sponsored by the Aspen Institute in Colorado. Among the other invited guests were business executives, college presidents, judges, government officials, managing editors, professors and theologians.
【F1】
Although there was no conflict or controversy in the discussions, one of the presentations has had a profound, almost obsessive, impact upon my thoughts about the character and quality of American life.
In a rather quiet voice, a recently retired vice-president of one of the largest corporations in America told the group that 【F2】
one of the persistent problems faced by his office was how to keep the accounting records of the corporation in such a way that they would be accurate and would also obscure the fact that regular operating expenses were payoffs to municipal officials to expedite the installation of new construction in the large cities throughout the United States.
Casually, this participant cited this as another example of a prevailing functional immorality with which big business had to come to terms.
When none of the other participants raised a question about the ethical implications of this practice, I eventually asked why this powerful corporation did not bring this matter to local and Federal law-enforcement officials. My colleagues clearly considered my question naive. They reacted to my persistent questions as if I were a child who did not understand the economic and political rules of the great American game.
Now I was shocked not only by the disclosure but equally shocked at the fact that my fellow seminar participants were not shocked. 【F3】
They thought themselves realistic in not permitting an academic discussion of ethical and moral values to be confused by "minor" specific examples of generally accepted institutionalized immorality.
In assessing the social, political and human strength and potential of America, one can concentrate on such large issues as America"s role in Southeast Asia and such other international problems as its fluctuating relations with economic and ideological allies and adversaries; the persistent and manifold and overtly cruel forms of racism; the more subtle manifestations of inter-ethnic conflicts and the rejection of the poor, the aged and the infirm in a nation that prides itself on its affluence; and the fact that a highly developed technological society that has pioneered in space exploration continues to tolerate large-scale decay of the residential portions of its inner cities, deterioration of public education and accelerated pollution and wastage of its natural and human resources.
【F4】
What is the basic systemic problem—the fundamental problem of perspective, value and character—that seems to be inherent in the chronic crises plaguing American society?
Obviously the answer to this question is not to be found in deprivation and poverty of resources.