Made for Freedom by Jutta Burggraf

Author:Jutta Burggraf [Burggraf, Jutta]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scepter
Published: 2012-09-27T08:28:51+00:00

7.

OBSTACLES IN THE ROAD

THOUGH WE HAVE NEVER HAD SUCH an acute and well- developed sense of freedom as we do now, it hasn't been able to prevent the emergence of "new forms of social and psychic slavery" in societies so extensively ruled by the means of communication.

EXTERNAL PRESSURES

Chains of gold bind large sectors of today's globalized world. There is a tyranny of the masses and of social conventions. It is not difficult to see a powerful collectivist current at work, operating to rob us of the most private part of our selves for the sake of egalitarianism and uniformity—if not among everyone, then at least among those linked to particular parties, associations, communities, Web pages, or golf clubs. It's stylish to sing the same song, dress alike, and use the same prefabricated arguments expressed with the same words, the same looks, and even the same smiles. A woman who had lived for several decades in Africa that returned recently to Spain was surprised in the airport to see "waves of yellow and blue." That summer, all the women had yellow and blue dresses, slacks, skirts, blouses, jackets, raincoats, hats, shoes, bags, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings.

Many people don't notice their chains. They readily adapt themselves to the general spirit as they encounter it. Their feelings, thoughts, and words aren't their own; they are premade feelings, thoughts, and phrases spread abroad in thousands of newspapers and magazines, on the radio, television, and the Internet. Romano Guardini spoke of the "phenomenon of automatism" as characterizing not just the world of technology, but our whole way of living. Once people begin to think and act on their own and hold opinions different from those generally accepted by the system—closed in on itself and refusing to recognize anything it might find bothersome—they are simply rejected.

We cannot deny that the world can indeed be a difficult place. For example, in not a few Western societies that think of themselves as free there is real, overt interference in the exercise of personal rights. Conscientious objection to unjust laws is not tolerated. A mayor who refuses to solemnize a "marriage" between homosexual persons must be prepared to be persona non grata from that moment on: ridiculed, admonished, and in some European countries even dismissed from his post. And this is just one example among many.

Now and then it's useful to recall the famous novel 1984. Decades ago, George Orwell gave a graphic account of the horror of a possible future world order based on lies and psychological violence, "a world of fear and treachery, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. ... If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face—forever." The people in this story are controlled by fear of the all-powerful figure of Big Brother. The protagonist is persecuted and mentally tortured until he loses all creativity and the power to rebel. At the

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