Most men who have realized the existence of this monster apparently try to meet it by joining the Labour Party. There is nothing immoral about that, but I pin my faith to the less dogmatic method of general education. It is curious, by the way, to note that the devil is historically associated with knowledge and not with ignorance. It would take too long to explain how this bogey came to be hoisted, but it is still very commonly made use of to frighten children, and my true purpose is to plead that it is only a bogey, and that ignorance is the devil’s most effective weapon.
The devil’s advocate might argue much as follows:
1. “You don’t really like the ‘vulgar’—they are not as interesting as your own friends.
2. “It will come to nothing. What is the ultimate value of ‘free discussion’ and ‘reasoning without prejudice’ among people who don’t read and can’t think?
3. “In so far as you do succeed, you will merely make them miserable: as thus:
‘Happiness is the end of life.
‘It consists of (a) the admiring contemplation of the truly admirable, and the delighted companionship of the truly delightful. This is the best. (b) The second best is to enjoy in imagination what you know to be imaginary. (c) The third best is to enjoy mistakenly what is in fact non-existent or ugly.
‘There is no other good.’
“All this is A B C, and no longer worth arguing about. Then imagine a man well content with a mistaken religion, a dreary home, and an unlovely wife (and this describes nearly all mankind). What happens when you educate him? It is difficult for him to change his wife, very difficult to change his religion, and impossibly difficult to change his home—and the man is uprooted and miserable for life.”