 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
Men whose circumstances have always been more comfortable than those of the majority are, as a rule, incapable of sympathy with those who are less fortunate. Sometimes they are frankly callous, sometimes they adopt the more nauseous view that happiness depends upon the soul and is independent of material well-being, so that they are doing no real harm to the poor in taking more than their share of this world's goods.
Source: Bertrand Russell: On economic security (written in June 1, 1932 and pub. in Mortals and Others, v.1, 1975.
More info.: https://russell-j.com/ESECRITY.HTM
* a brief comment (Translated with DeepL.com)
It is not uncommon for a person born and raised in a wealthy family to have his or her father's company go bankrupt or to have his or her life completely changed by a serious illness. It is also not uncommon for people to live a blessed life without such circumstances.
The saying goes that ‘Life is unpredictable.’, but this cannot be said of politicians who deal with the public at large. Japan is dominated by ‘hereditary politicians’ (1/3 of the LDP's parliamentarians are hereditary), who, although they may have some superficial understanding in their heads, have a major flaw: they ‘cannot feel much sympathy or empathy for the less fortunate (than themselves)’.