By William Markiewicz
The Vatican's mea culpa concerning Galileo was received rather humorously by the world media but I am not impressed with our own score on freedom of expression. The current very insidious danger lies in "correct political thinking," shameless bastard of all past dictatorships. It represents a paternalistic lack of trust in human intelligence.
Cowardice has always been humanity's biggest threat. Oppression originated in the fear of opposition. Who should, for instance, be afraid of "hate propaganda?" Coexistence in society always carries certain risks and not accepting them presents more danger than the risks themselves. Everybody should have rights to come out of the closet. Those who disagree should remember that the unwanted go underground, and, in the long run, the underground always wins.
Fear of weapons is another sign of our times. In Switzerland everybody, by law, has a weapon at home. Still, violent crimes are rare there and those which are committed are done with the aid of knives or hatchets, not with bullets.
All kinds of special interest groups based on sex, creed, race, . . . seek special rights, leaving in shadow those who really need protection. Children, old people and sick people are totally under the power of the stronger ones precisely because they cannot impose themselves by lobbying.
Those who cannot find jobs because of discrimination or other, more objective reasons, should be encouraged toward self-employment, cooperativism for example, rather than to seek special status. Granting "special rights" attacks self reliance.
Lack of fear, lack of aggressivity, sense of responsibility, all this can be achieved on an individual and collective scale through education. Law, yes, but turned inward rather than outward. Fighting spirit, yes, but not beyond the boundary of self-defence. Outside protection is always unstable protection; those who rely too much on it, learn at their own expense that the wheel of history turns, and does not always favor the same ones... Self defence on the other hand should never be confounded with bullyism; intelligence's role is to protect us from all the extremes.
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"; very well intentioned people standing on guard for "correct political thought" push us toward the dull, unbalanced "yang" only world, sort of neo-communism where nothing very good nor very bad happens. Conformism is a grave for the mind. But the mind doesn't go very easily to the grave. This kind of universe is the generator and accumulator of hidden tensions which, when they explode, bring big surprises and shake the world.
Back to the index of the Vagabond
William Markiewicz