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.”
