Taking Personal Responsible Action.

By late 1968 I had lost all trust in the world’s political, economic, moral and intellectual leaders though I continue to take an interest in what they are doing and saying. I had been an organiser of cultural events on campuses, adult educator and finally a sociology academic. I thought that by teasing their representatives that I encountered I might be able to find out by their reactions whether I was just deluded in my radical opinions. I chose an unusual course of action. Whilst teaching at the University of NSW in Sydney I started a fun revolution and out-manoeuvred the radical student movements inspired by Mao Tse Dong, Che Guevara, and the 1968 Paris student uprisings. My own inspiration came more from popular culture and from Dubcek and the Czechoslovakian people’s handling of the Russian invasion. I also staged therapeutic psychodramas involving the whole university. My ridicule of the bureaucratic rigidity and lack of creativity of the academic staff and the evangelical puritanism of the student radicals led to my academic position becoming untenable but fortunately the university and student administrations came to my rescue. At my request they jointly appointed me to the radically new role of official Wizard of the University of NSW, with a small honorarium. I regard this as a truly ground-breaking event which only took place because of the remarkable circumstances at that time.