Solved Exercise for Precis writing with Title “Civilized Culture and Brute Force” Precis for Class 9, 10, 11, 12 and Higher classes.

Passages with Solved Precis

I come back to my cabin in the woods, and find the forest inexorably creeping in upon me. Young trees and bushes spring up in the open land. But for persistent clearing them out, the forest would soon be back at my door-step. The wild creatures explore every nook and corner for food. Almost every fruit tree and garden plant is appropriated by rabbit, ground hog, bird or insect. My plant and animal environment constantly reminds me of the tremendous, aggressive energy with which life presses for a chance to survive, to grow and to multiply.

It is the same with men. Sometimes, as in pioneering America. The momentum of great effort to master the wilderness not only does master the wilderness but carries people beyond immediate pressure for survival to a condition of relative security and affluence. Then, with relief from economic stress, there tends to be a softening of character. We even have theories that economic competition can be dispensed with. Such theories are due in part to softness and shrinking from competition. There can be long time survival without toughness and aggressiveness. If one has not made himself at home with hardship, scarcely anything is more important to him than to make its acquaintance. An appetite for difficulty can make attractive and interesting a type of experience which is necessary for survival. He who rests on oars, no matter how secure he may seem, is on his way out.

Some men have appetite for difficulty. Arctic explorers and athletes show it. .A big business-man may keep on striving loan after all his humanly necessary wants have been met. The politicians, the artists—many a man in many circumstances—keeps going for the same reason. A soft person usually is a negligible person, though a man may be soft in some respects and tough in others. Hard mindedness, which often is a bar to social accomplishment, often is softness which does not dare stand against the mass. A college community is an excellent place to learn to stand for one’s convictions against pressure.

 It does not follow that quiet and contemplation are not good for those who can live best that way. Civilized culture is extremely varied, with room and need for many kinds of excellence. One who has deliberately achieved detachment from the prevailing rush and hurry, and had gained quiet and leisure in which a significant life may develop, has himself acquired a rare kind of toughness to withstand social pressure. Such power is not the fruit of timidity and laziness or of drifting with the current. Civilized culture will not try to escape competition but will try to make it serve the highest values. Brute force is always in the offing ready to take control if civilized culture weakens. Whoever through softness shrinks from competition surrenders culture to brute force. (We would include in brute force the cunning of the fox as well as the crushing power of the python-all that is not subordinated to cultural and ethical discipline).

Elimination of war is desirable because war is essentially wasteful. It will be eliminated aggressively or not at all. Soft people will not eliminate war, they will only succumb to it. Periods of softness have destroyed civilized cultures by making culture susceptible to brute force. The competition for which there can be no relaxation is that between civilized culture and brute force.

How can civilized culture prevail over brute force without using brute force? Firstly, by eliminating in itself arbitrariness, selfishness, privilege and all injustice. Brute force feeds on these qualities, and in their absence, does not develop strength to challenge civilized culture. Secondly, civilized culture overcomes brute force by non-participation in arbitrariness, injustice and violence wherever they are found in other societies. If America should refuse to participate in or to profit by exploitation, injustice or privilege over the world, it would find that to be heroic undertaking. The rubber we use, the tea and coffee we drink, the tin which is so necessary and a hundred other products we import from the cheapest market are produced by holding millions of men in economic servitude and poverty. If we should buy only where economic and social justice prevailed, we should experience much going without, and would pay more for the food, luxuries and raw materials we import. Such action would win the respect and admiration of decent people the world over, and would starve brute force to a point where its aggressive power would be small.

What is the chance of our taking such a course, even to the extent of suffering the terrific hardship of going without the morning cup of coffee? We now profit greatly in our economy by buying the ‘cheap’ products of oppressed and exploited labour. The regimes which control this labour, as well as the products, are of the kinds which rely ultimately on brute force to maintain their power. Rebellion of the oppressed produces another form of brute force, a form which America is concerned about just now. We could go far to eliminate both the brute force of the exploiter and the brute force of red revolt by refusing to share the products and profits of exploitation.

These cases illustrate the fact that there are possible ways of successfully competing with brute force without using it, provided we have the necessary sustained alertness and aggressiveness. However, it takes much less aggressiveness to spend scores of billions of dollars for military preparation and for war itself.

Brute force or arbitrary power—they are essentially the same—does not spring suddenly into being. A stable, civilized culture keeps them in check by maintaining a regime of fairness and justice which does not give them’ food and exercise on which to grow strong. Timidity, softness and indifference provide sustenance on which arbitrary power and brute force feed and grow strong. No social formula in the form of a constitution will keep power and force in subordination to civilized culture. Only toughness, vigour and aggressiveness in that culture will do it In a relatively opulent country like America, where there is a tendency to softness, the development of toughness of fibre and an appetite for difficulty are essential. They will find plenty of exercise in aggressively participating in the competition between human living on the one hand, and arbitrary power and brute force, on the other.

Precis

Civilized Culture and Brute Force

Aggressiveness is a natural instinct with men, animals and plants. In a forest vegetative growth tries to occupy every inch of place, animal’s kingdom and birds ransack forest to find eatables. Mankind behaves likewise in its own social sphere. In America and similar countries where land is virgin, competition is less and luxurious goods are in plenty. This will, however, not continue for a long period.

Struggle for existence ultimately makes everyone tough. People should, therefore, train themselves to be hardy. There is no place in this world for a person who cannot face difficult life and cannot stand all kinds of trials, troubles and tribulations. Whether one is a sportsman, a businessman or an artist, toughness of life does not spare anyone. Comfortable life does not make a complete man. Man in the habit of leading a luxurious life may happen to be hard in other direction. Weakness of character results when a person moves in a society. This weakness can be overcome during the academic career.

Love of calmness and peace do not indicate a soft life. Only a tough man can defy the norms of social life. This is an achievement and cannot be regarded as cowardice or idleness. Civilization requires competitive spirit to be channelized for noble purposes. Animal use of power reigns supreme where culture has no value. Cunningness, cruelty and war, which results in tremendous waste of all kinds of resources, constitute some or the other form of brutality. War can be overcome by strength and not weakness. The latter is an invitation to war. Brutality is the result of self-interest and indiscipline. Unless these can be overcome, culture cannot hold charge of brutality, people should dissociate with such of the activities as are responsible for the exploitation of labour. Cultural forces in this way can affect the economic sphere.

When cheap goods are purchased from a market, brutality holds its upper hand over civilized culture. This can be avoided only by refusing to buy the goods produced by the exploitation of labour. This requires great vigilance, which is often lacking in people. To obviate the possibility of brutality taking an upper hand in society, forces of civilized culture should be encouraged. Luxurious life can result in neglect of masses and habitual use of power. Constitutions do riot hold out any hope in this respect. The desired effects can be achieved only by the cultivation of cultural values. Luxurious life in the States, as elsewhere, should not neglect the strong traits of character.