Fear v Free - Quareness Series 208th "Lecture".
I read somewhere that we could all embrace autonomy and bow out of the fear around us by living as local as possible...in the great nearby instead of the great beyond. None of us really lives in a global relationship but rather with the people in our lives. Indeed we could reasonably say that whenever there's a global crisis that only lends itself to a global solution, we see power telling us what to do because we can't really do anything about it ourselves. Ultimately such crises get used to control our conduct.
In order to offset such "globalised" fears, it's helpful to be aware of the strategies most frequently used by the media and political elites to manipulate the masses. In this regard what we have been witnessing now for some time would appear to be an organised campaign to immerse society in collective fear as a way of understanding life e.g. promoting information with a strong emotional charge, pushing the notion of a naive public incapable of taking responsibility or deciding for themselves, claiming to know people better than they know themselves, etc. The likely ultimate offspring of such ongoing manipulation is a widespread societal depression filled with people with an alarming fear of living that makes it practically impossible for them to face the difficulties of their daily lives.
This "off" state of affairs might now prompt some "awkward" questions:
- Does a growing proportion of society support mandatory surveillance e.g. to reduce "unapproved" activity?
- Is there substantial growing support for suppression of "false information"?
- Does a growing number believe free speech should be legal "only under certain circumstances"?
- Is subjugation becoming the norm and freedom the exception?
Perhaps relying on undeserved authority to eradicate “false information” etc. is not the height of prudence and maybe we need to be a lot more mindful and careful about what we might wish for.
And here's a final thought - could it be that as long as most people can be frightened, almost everyone can be subjugated?
Sean.
Dean of Quareness.
July, 2024.