Quotes from his rectorial speech include: “Alienation is the precise and correctly applied word for describing the major social problems in Britain today. People feel alienated by society".
“Today it is more widespread, more pervasive, than ever before. Let me at the outset define what I mean by alienation. It is the cry of men who feel themselves the victims of blind economic forces beyond their control.
“It’s the frustration of ordinary people excluded from the processes decision making. The feeling of despair and hopelessness that pervades people who feel, with justification that they have no real say in shaping or determining their own destinies.
“It is expressed by those young people who want to opt out of society, by drop-outs, the so-called maladjusted, those who seek to escape permanently from the reality of society through intoxicants and narcotics.
“Society and prevailing sense of values leads to another form of alienation. It alienates some from humanity. It partially dehumanises some people, making them insensitive, ruthless in their handling of fellow human beings self-centred and grasping.
“The irony is they are often considered normal and well adjusted. It is my sincere contention that anyone who can be totally adjusted to our society is in greater need of psychiatric analysis and treatment than anyone else.
"…the big challenge to our civilisation is not the OZ magazine nor is it permissiveness – although I agree our society is too permissive.
“Any society, which, for example, permits over a million people to be unemployed is far too permissive for my liking.”
“The challenge we face is to root out anything and everything that distorts and devalues human relations.”
“To the students I address this appeal – reject these attitudes – reject the values and false morality that underline these attitudes. A rat race is for rats. We are not rats. We are human beings.
“Reject the insidious pressures of society that would blunt your critical faculties to all the happenings around you that would caution silence in the face of injustices lest you jeopardise your changes of promotions and self advancement.
“This is how it starts and before you know where you are you are a fully-paid up member of the rat pack.
“The price is too high. It entails a loss of your dignity and human spirit. Or as Christ put it: ‘What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul.’
“Profit is the sole criterion used by the establishment to evaluate economic activity. From the rat race we have come to lame ducks. A vocabulary in vogue is a giveaway. It is more reminiscent of a human menagerie than human society.“
“My conclusion is to reaffirm what I hope and certainly intend to be the spirit permeating the address. It’s an affirmation of faith in humanity.
“All that is good in man’s heritage involves recognition of our common humanity – an unashamed acknowledgement that man is good by nature.
"It’s my belief that all the factors to make a practical reality of such a world are maturing now. I would like to think that our generation took mankind some way along the road toward this goal. It’s a goal worth fighting for."
See http://www.unisonnw.org.uk/roots/List/Great_speakers.asp
See full speech at http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/man-is-a-social-being-real-fulfilment-for-any-person-lies-in-service-to-his-fellow-men-and-women-1.1047993
