The-Conquest-of-Happiness-by-Bertrand-Russell

nations, through propaganda they know of the
nefarious practices of all whose skin has a
pigmentation different from their own. Yellows
hate whites, whites hate blacks, and so on. All this
hatred, you may say, is stirred up by propaganda,
but this is a somewhat shallow explanation. Why is
propaganda so much more successful when it stirs
up hatred than when it tries to stir up friendly
feeling? The reason is clearly that the human heart
as modern civilisation has made it is more prone to
hatred than to friendship. And it is prone to hatred
because it is dissatisfied, because it feels deeply,
perhaps even unconsciously, that it has somehow
missed the meaning of life, that perhaps others, but
not we ourselves, have secured the good things
which nature offers man’s enjoyment. The positive
sum of pleasures in a modern man’s life is
undoubtedly greater than was to be found in more
primitive communities, but the consciousness of
what might be has increased even more.
Whenever you happen to take your children to the
Zoo you may observe in the eyes of the apes, when