{"id":575,"date":"2026-02-06T06:30:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T06:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dannytri.org\/myblog\/?p=575"},"modified":"2026-02-06T06:30:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T06:30:36","slug":"bertrand-russell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dannytri.org\/myblog\/healthandfitness\/bertrand-russell\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0Bertrand Russell"},"content":{"rendered":"

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One person can make a difference: \u201cSuppose you are an American, interested in a Presidential election. If you are a Senator or a Congressman, you can have a considerable influence, but the odds are about 100,000 to 1 that you are neither. If you are a politician you can do something. But if you are an ordinary citizen you can only vote. And I do not think there has ever been a Presidential election where one man\u2019s abstention would have altered the result. And so you feel as powerless as if you lived under a dictatorship. You are, of course, committing the classical fallacy of the heap, but most people\u2019s minds work that way.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u2015Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society (1952), Ch. IV: Democracy and Scientific Technique, p. 61<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Russell continues:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cIt may seem to you conceited to suppose that you personally can do anything important toward improving the lot of mankind. This is a fallacy. A good society is produced only by good individuals, just as truly as a majority in a election is produced by the votes of single electors. Everybody can do something toward creating in his own environment with kindly feelings rather than anger, reasonableness rather than hysteria, and happiness rather than misery.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u2014 Bertrand Russell, A Fresh Look at Empiricism (1927-1942), Part X. Appendixes, Essay 6: A Philosophy for You in These Times (1941), p. 639<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Image: Bertrand Russell leading an anti-nuclear sit-down protest in London on 18 February 1961. Russell, then 88 years old, was a leading figure in the Committee of 100, a group advocating for non-violent civil disobedience against nuclear weapons.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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