If I Were the Devil

• PAUL HARVEY’S ‘IF I WERE THE DEVIL’ TRANSCRIPT
  If I were the devil … If I were the Prince of Darkness, I’d want to engulf the whole world in darkness. And I’d have a third of it’s real estate, and four-fifths of its population, but I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree — Thee. So I’d set about however necessary to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first — I’d begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: ‘Do as you please.’
  
  “To the young, I would whisper that ‘The Bible is a myth.’ I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what’s bad is good, and what’s good is ‘square.’ And the old, I would teach to pray, after me, ‘Our Father, which art in Washington…’
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  “And then I’d get organized. I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa. I’d pedal narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills.
  
  “If I were the devil I’d soon have families that war with themselves, churches at war with themselves, and nations at war with themselves; until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flames. If I were the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellects, but neglect to discipline emotions — just let those run wild, until before you knew it, you’d have to have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door.
  
  “Within a decade I’d have prisons overflowing, I’d have judges promoting pornography — soon I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls, and church money. If I were the devil I’d make the symbols of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle.
  
  “If I were the devil I’d take from those, and who have, and give to those wanted until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And what do you bet? I could get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich? I would caution against extremes and hard work, in Patriotism, in moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging is more fun, that what you see on the TV is the way to be. And thus I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure. In other words, if I were the devil I’d just keep right on doing on what he’s doing. Paul Harvey, good day.”

  
  

  I have to confess that I always enjoyed listening to Paul Harvey on the radio.   I didn't always agree with his observations but he was certainly entertaining and worth listening to most of the time.    I have seen this "If I were the Devil" transcript from 1965 posted on Facebook and elsewhere.   It seems to me that one of our biggest problems in the world today is that too many otherwise educated and intelligent people believe in the "Devil" in the first place.   Rick Santorum blamed the devil for our problems during the Republican primaries.    Did we really need a President who believes that?   Really, the Devil . . .  Lucifer . . . . The Prince of Darkness?   This is 2012 for crying out loud.    We need to get past all these Bronze Age superstitions.    Most of the conflict in the world today is caused by people who believe in superstition related to the alleged Cosmic Battle between Good and Evil and the purported supernatural protagonists thereof.   I'm sorry, I have heard all the arguments, I have read Paul Harvey's cautionary tale, but I think it is all baloney.   There is indeed a lot of evil in the world today, the shootings last Friday in Newtown, Mass., being Exhibit A.   But blaming some hypothetical Satanic Underlord is sheer nonsense.   The blame for the evils in our society today belongs on us, plain and simple.   We have free will.   Some of us just don't always use it wisely.   A good place to start trying to improve things would be to keep our focus on the natural world that we know we have instead of some hypothetical after-world that we may or may not have.   Each of us has the personal responsibility to conduct ourselves in an ethical and common sense manner in the interest of the greater good of us all.   That's all there is to it in my opinion.