 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
After the second world war Montgomery issued a proclamation telling German parents to explain to their children that British soldiers could not smile at them because of the wickedness of their fathers and mothers. This was, on both occasions, bad psychology and bad politics, of a sort that is encouraged by belief in the doctrine of “sin”. We are all what our circumstances have made us, and if that is unsatisfactory to our neighbours, it is for them to find ways of improving us. It is very seldom that moral reprobation is the best way of achieving this object.
Source: Bertrand Russell: Russell: Human Society in Ethics and Politics, (1954), chapter 7：sin
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* a brief comment: original text in Japanese, translated with DeepL.com (free version)
People (or countries or people) in a privileged environment do not care much about people (or countries or people) in a less privileged environment. It is natural for those who are less fortunate to want to change (improve) their environment (situation) if they feel that it is the fault of those who are more fortunate (or of the country or people who are more privileged) that such an unfavorable environment persists.
People in developed countries are able to purchase cheap products through cheap labor in "developing countries" (partly through exploitation). However, if those who benefit from economic disparity and wealth disparity are not aware of the exploitation in the "developing world," they will tend to resent the vulnerable people in the "developing world" (even if they are welcomed by politicians and entrepreneurs in the "developing world").