The assumption is, that the possession of material commodities is what makes men happy. It is thought that a man who has two rooms and two beds and two loaves must be twice as happy as someone who has one room, one bed, and one loaf of bread.
Now seriously! What gave him that idea? No matter how many rooms or beds you have, you will end up using just one! So how does that make you happier? If at all, it will make you sadder to see how alone you are when the next room is empty, and the next bed is unused!
When a man moves into a large house in a more genteel quarter, he reflects that 'better' people will call on his wife, and some unprosperous cronies of former days can be dropped. When he sends his son to a good school or an expensive university, he consoles himself for the heavy fees by thoughts of the social kudos to be gained. /p>
Now, its pretty obvious that the thought that people have a heart might not have struck Mr. Russell. Couldn't it be that the man sent his son (which I'm surprised the CBSE didn't change to daughter) to an expensive school because he wanted him to get the best education possible? And why will he want people to call on his wife and not him anyway? A larger house can be bought for better comfort, don't you think? Why does it just have to be to show off? Some people might genuinely feel more 'spaced' out!
The greater ferocity to modern war can be attributable to machines, which operate in three different ways. First, they make it possible to have larger armies. Secondly, they facilitate a cheap Press, which flourishes by appealing to men's baser passions. Thirdly - and this is the point that concerns us - they starve the anarchic, spontaneous side of human nature, which works underground, producing an obscure discontent, to which the thought of war appeals as affording possible relief.
Huh!? No, I literally mean HUH?? Which anarchic side is he talking about? The one which makes us go 'Whooptidoo!' at 12:30 in the morning? Oh wait! Normal people don't do that! What are man's baser passions? To create war? I don't think so. If he needs a change, there are a thousand things to be done except fight. Video Games! XBox, Playstation! Every heard of those things? Television! C'mon, the football game Saturday evening! Which planet are you from boy!!
But orthodox psychoanalysis has unduly simplified our unconscious purposes, which are numerous, and differ from one person to another.
Now, who the hell talks like that!? Oh wait! I know....! 3 Clues! He's white, his idea of dancing is Neo's style of dodging bullets, and we all call him horsey! Any guesses? ;)
Bertrand Russell once wrote an essay on An Outline Of Intellectual Rubbish. Now I don't know if he wrote that before he wrote this, but surely something is amiss over here! The rest is just werid ballyhoo which I really don't want to type out and analyse! All this struck me when I was reading the chapter, and to save myself from falling asleep, I decided to share these sudden realisations with you all! Please feel free to rant about this essay, I shall print them and mail them to CBSE if I have enough! :)
Filed Under: essay, bertrand russel