A recent letter by two economics professors appeared in the Star in which they criticized a non-economist for daring to question the conventional wisdom of their trade. The sacred tenent that was challenged was the axiom that material self-interest is the essence of life. As the economics texts put it, man is a creature of unlimited wants. He (a bit of patriarchy?) just can’t have enough. But no harm in trying. Thus, economics.

What scholars from other fields are saying is that this simplistic view is at the root of the destruction of the planet’s ecosystem. On a finite planet, you cannot have more crap infinitely into the future. Our learned economists’ response was typical of their priestly case: What’s a little acid rain when you can have CDs?

I wonder if, when we have finally polluted ourselves out of existence, the dying gasp of our esteemed economists will be “…cough…hack…put that…choke…Wagner CD on the stereo…cough…wheeze.”

When propaganda such as the views of these professors is accepted as the law of the land, one might ask what the purpose is of a university that guides student thought and aspirations in purely materialistic directions. As we head into the uncertain 90s, this is this question that should concern the NIU community.

John Hamilton

alumnus, 1989