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John Norman
21 May 2006
Catching up again...
I was just listening to the major evening news bulletin on the BBC, and after the piece on John Norman (yes, honestly - a nest of Goreans has been dug up in Darlington, and even Radio 4 has noticed), they had a piece on Bhutan. Where, quite genuinely, rather than pursuing Gross National Product, the government has a policy of pursuing Gross National Happiness. It is Utilitarianism, as near as it's ever been tried on earth. I had no idea that John Stuart Mill had reached so far.
Mind you, of course Mill also wrote on the Subjection of Women, and how this was a Bad Thing: "it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality, admitting no power or privilege on the one side, nor disability on the other." I guess we can be fairly sure he hasn't reached as far as John Norman.
© Chaz Brenchley 2006
Reproduced here by permission of Chaz Brenchley, who asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.