Russell’s Conclusion
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatsoever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed, in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
Bertrand Russell, a.k.a. Bertrand Arthur William third Earl Russell, made this comment in passing in Marriage and Morals (1929), a work whose liberal views on divorce, adultery and homosexuality so outraged widely held public opinion, especially in the United States, that his appointment in 1940 to teach philosophy at the City University of New York was canceled, following a campaign of abuse by religious leaders, politicians and the press.
The attacks on Russell culminated in a taxpayer’s suit in Brooklyn demanding that his appointment be revoked. The plaintiff’s lawyer characterised Russell as “lecherous, libidinous, lustful, venerous, erotomaniac, aphrodisiac, irreverent, narrow-minded, untruthful and bereft of moral fibre.” (Another shocking example of immorality from this same work: “Marriage is for women the commonest mode of livelihood, and the total amount of undesired sex endured by women is probably greater in marriage than in prostitution.”) The judge ruled in favour of the plaintiff, voiding Russell’s appointment because among other things it would create “a chair of indecency”, tend to bring students “and in some cases their parents and guardians into conflict with Penal Law”, and even lead in some way (the judge did not explain exactly how) to “abduction” and rape. This strange decision was never appealed because Mayor Fiorello La Guardia did not want to pursue a case that had become a political hot potato. Meantime the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia got the city off the hook by offering Russell another appointment.
Ten years later, in 1950, Russell received the Nobel Prize for Literature for his significant writings “as the champion of humanity and freedom of thought.” When he returned to New York later that year to lecture at Columbia University, he was greeted with thunderous acclaim by the students. The minions of public morality chose to remain silent, but it would be too much to hope that they did so out of any real embarrassment.
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