Note 34 — Chapter VII · SOCIAL REFORM[33]

It will not have escaped the careful reader’s notice that the reason why social reform and new economic programmes generally have enjoyed so much favour, particularly with the mass of superficial mankind, is that in the midst of misery, they seem to offer immediate “practical” remedies. That word “practical” is the passport, or rather the password, of most of the stupidest beliefs and practices that succeed in becoming popular. Because deeper remedies, and the deeper causes of unhappiness, do not occur to the superficial minds of the masses in all countries, social reform, which is palpably obvious, is called “practical” and thereby canonised by the crowd.