This article is a companion to the one featuring Rafael Sabatini’s wise words on the subject of equality as a by-product of envy.
There are some related ideas in Mr Standfast, one of John Buchan’s Richard Hannay spy thrillers. Buchan suggests that humanitarianism and pacifism are a by-product of hatred:
“'Hazlitt was the academic Radical of his day,' he said. 'He is always lashing himself into a state of theoretical fury over abuses he has never encountered in person.
Men who are up against the real thing save their breath for action.'“
These words were written over 100 years ago, but they are still very relevant. They probably always were and always will be.
I have seen for myself that some people ignore the suffering around them that they could or should be doing something about in favour of getting all worked up and ranting on about some injustice far away.
Getting things the wrong way round is a characteristic of evil.
And yes, letting off steam is often a substitute for action; the real activists just get on with it. The more noise some people make, the less they actually achieve. As Shakespeare put it in Macbeth:
“It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”
Another quotation from Mr Standfast says it all:
“I hate more than I love. All we humanitarians and pacifists have hatred as our mainspring. Odd, isn't it, for people who preach brotherly love? But it's the truth. We're full of hate towards everything that doesn't square in with our ideas, everything that jars on our lady-like nerves.
Fellows like you are so in love with their cause that they've no time or inclination to detest what thwarts them. We've no cause—only negatives, and that means hatred, and self-torture, and a beastly jaundice of soul.”
John Buchan died in 1940 so never lived to see what life in the 21st century is like, but he could be describing many of the people and causes of today.
For example, people who promote diversity are often outraged when others disagree with them. Then we have the ‘snowflake generation’ who get upset very easily and need their safe spaces!
I don’t agree that all humanitarians, pacifists and other such activists are mainly motivated by hatred, but I have seen for myself a lot of what looks to me like displaced anger, not to mention mean-spiritedness and envy, in many such people. They look for something to get angry about and reasons to try to destroy people they hate; helping the identified victims is just a pretext.
As for what John Buchan says about loving the cause, assuming that this includes feeling passionate about wanting to get involved and make a positive difference, I know from experience that people with personal reasons for supporting a particular campaign are much more effective than people who are just jumping on the bandwagon of any old cause.
John Buchan knew what he was talking about.
