Enemy of the People, Act

¶ … Enemy of the People, Act

Scene. Dr. Stockman's school house. The ragamuffin students all sit in a semicircle, while he sits behind a large wooden desk. As the curtain rises, he is already in the middle of a lecture.)

STOCKMAN:... And so you can see how the political system has failed. The majority cannot rule -- it is incapable of ruling. The majority is nothing but a trained dog which the rulers keep at their sides to frighten the lone righteous intellectual. The majority rules? This is nothing more or less than rule by mob, and history has always shown us that mobs are not guided by reason or by the best interest of society, but by the inflaming words of one or two people, or even of an idea. Mobs -- majorities -- are the ones who perform lynchings, who kill prophets, who tear down their own civilizations in blind rages. We should not be ruled by the majority, but by intellect and sense. For not only does the majority serve as nothing more or less than a tool in the hands of the political leaders, it also encourages them to listen to nothing but their own conservatism. The majority, being large, is slow to change -- and so leaders are encouraged to be slow to change. They become complacent in their rules. (Petra enters, standing near the doorway) I tell you again, only a minority of people are intelligent and thoughtful -- all others are either stupid by nature and breeding, or by choice. If only a minority are intelligent, than NO majority, however well formed, can ever be comprised of the most intelligent decision makers. It stands to reason -- Petra, dear, did you want something?

PETRA: You are brilliant as always father... But mother says there is an important letter for you.

STOCKMAN: How is Miss Shelley today?

PETRA: Her condition appears to be improving -- though I fear the Rabbi is getting far worse.

STOCKMAN: Give me the letter. (he reads it)

Aha! You see, students, how standing alone can prove itself. This is a letter from an important lawyer in London, who represents the estates of Mr. And Mrs. Fraudian... It appears they will be suing the commissioners of the baths for the costs of medical care, and the wrongful death of the wife from typhoid. They wish me to testify. Why, when this hits the papers -- and surely it will, in London in nowhere else -- then we will see how the market regulates these things!

You will observe how easily the majority is swayed, even sometimes with good reason. When they discover that these cesspools have been killing people, why certainly something will come of that!

PETRA: Oh, and father-- surely the Rabbi will die as well, and then there will be even more publicity!

STOCKMAN: We can only hope, my dear.

PETRA: Miss Shelley says she plans on writing about this episode for a women's health magazine in Paris!

STOCKMAN: I will take doubly good care of her

PETRA: She is most pleased with the care you have already taken. Why, she has already given me a ten pound gratuity, twice, for taking such care in changing her bedpans and bringing her soup.

STOCKMAN: Note this as well, class, that even in adversity the strong man figures out how to survive. Why, if it were not for the poisoned baths I would not have a single patient!

PETRA: But the market is not always good, farther. It is this same market that drove us into this lonely exile. The market makes it so people "do not dare" to associate with us... does it not?

STOCKMAN: That is so, the market may make cowards of all of us, ere long. The man who stops and considers how each action will effect his bottom line may refrain from taking actions he should take, and may begin to take actions he should not... all to please the fickle and evil majority. All that we can do is our absolute best... And we should hope that the market rewards our good work with fair reward, but we should not be surprised if the market only punishes us for failing to put finances before the Right.

Yet when the market works, this is how it works -- that people recognize and desire quality, and are willing to give more and spend more to achieve it.

STUDENT: And can the political system work the same way that an ideal market system works? Can people recognize and reward quality?

STOCKMAN: It is possible, of course. In an ideal system, beaurocrats would be guided by the best and the wisest minority, chosen by those elected by the majority. They would have information unavailable to the public, and they would have incentives to use it -- either because quality was rewarded or from sheer public love. In an ideal system, the slow moving majority would not serve to destroy progress, but only to ground its excesses and make a creative challenge. In an ideal system, those who recognized truth would themselves be recognized... In an ideal situation, in short, I would be mayor!

And what would I be?

STOCKMAN: Why.... whatever you had the will to be, of course.

PETRA: Father... what are you going to do about the letter?

STOCKMAN: Of course, I must respond! I must go to London and testify about the sickness that is eating up our fair town... And not just the sickness of the baths, but the sickness of the soul! The syncopathy, the blinded majority, the corrupted leaders (of which my brother is only the worst)

PETRA: Hurrah!

STUDENT: Will they listen in London? Will they respond as they did here, and label you an enemy of the people?

STOCKMAN: Surely not! Surely in London, at least, they have tamed the wild majority, subjugated it to the will of their masters -- what other purpose could they have for their towers and their famous pillories?