 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
The prospect filled me with horror, but what filled me with even more horror was the fact that the anticipation of carnage was delightful to something like ninety per cent of the population. I had to revise my views on human nature. ... I had supposed that intellectuals frequently loved truth, but I found here again that not ten per cent of them prefer truth to popularity.
Source： The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, v.2 chap. 1:The First War, 1968
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This was Russell's statement at the outbreak of World War I. Humanity experienced the tragedy of World War II, and the desire to avoid major wars spread throughout the world. However, regionally limited wars have continued to occur frequently after World War II. The phenomenon that many of those who were opposed to war, once their country becomes involved in war, become “thoughtless” and turn to support (or at least passive support) for war remains the same as ever.
Trouble is, as the munitions industry grows in size, there are certain forces that expect war to break out in order to sustain the industry. Typical examples are the major shareholders of the military industry. There are quite a few military commentators who argue that in order to maintain the huge U.S. military industry, it is necessary to clean out its inventory of missiles and ammunition every decade or so, hoping that a major conflict will break out somewhere in the world, or sometimes even stir up a conflict.
In the case of Japan's military industry, it is not allowed to buy or sell weapons directly to countries in conflict. However, the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty allows the sale of arms and ammunition to and from the U.S., which greatly benefited Japan during the Korean War and Vietnam War and contributed to Japan's economic development. In this way, war crimes committed by the U.S. military (e.g., the Vietnam War) are not relevant to Japan, and Japan “enjoys peace” as a “peace-loving country". In addition, although Japan is the “only A-bombed country” and opposes nuclear weapons, it continues to say that U.S. “nuclear weapons” are a “necessary evil” because they have greatly contributed to Japan's defense.
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