'Loose Talk'
By Benjamin Benedict

To clamp down on freedom is a natural inclination of authority, which always tends towards the notion that it knows what is best, because after all that is why it is there. Also, authority feels that if it gives us an inch, we’ll take a mile. Authority is not altogether wrong on either of those assumptions. It is not altogether right either.

My generation blew the chance of greater freedom by not being able to handle it. The sixties ended in Altmont, Manson, Kent State, and the deaths of Janice, Jimi and Jim, and instead of leading to a more enlightened, freer society, it led to the indulgence and nihilism of the seventies and eighties. This in turn has caused the regimentation of the Western World, where misinformation or selective information is used to present things in such a way that it will give more control to authority and less to us. We have simply shown ourselves ill equipped to deal with things as independent, contributive members of society. We have also shown ourselves hopeless at penetrating the smoke screens that those in authority and their ‘qualified experts’ place before us

The situation has been worsened by the outbreak of terrorist insurgency, but things were going that way, anyway. Let us ask ourselves some questions about some of the countries that are or have been infected by terrorism. For example, can our sympathy with the Palestinians be maintained in the face of their two main political parties indulging in gun battles with each other? Is this the sign of a country that is ready for self-government? Or, why is it fine for Ghadafi to exercise a benign dictatorship over Libya, but not for Musharraf in a nuclear armed and terrorist infested Pakistan?  

Michael Butler in his comment on the Chalmers Johnson book ‘Nemesis’ - The Last Days of the American Republic wrote, ‘Still it is so important that you discover what is happening to the world under the aegis of American drive for world hegemony’. America is the only nation capable of making such a drive and I cannot help feel that there is a real necessity for it, but ironically when ‘Democracy’ is attached to the need for worldwide co-operation, it can simply open the door to those who seek less of it.

The time has long gone for us to expect anything other than a propagandist view, whether it is on speed cameras or global warming. If I said, as Heather Mills has, that eating less meat would do more to reduce your carbon footprint than taking less plane flights, I would be going in the face of what everyone wants to hear and therefore what represents the popular platform on that issue. If I were to say, ‘Speed cameras should work on a cars average speed over a distance of at least half a mile, not on its speed at a single point’, in spite of the obvious fact that the single point system is far more dangerous with cars slowing down for the camera and then inevitably speeding up again, the authorities would not be happy with an average speed system because they would not catch so many of us out, and that is what they truly love. It is not so much the money as to have us in their grasp.

In America, there is a great perception of this loss of liberty, but the mainstream sees it as a States Side phenomenon. But look for instance at the UK. It is being politically welded to Europe when it is patently obvious that the great majority of its citizens want only a trading relationship with that Continent. It doesn’t matter what they want. It is happening anyway. Wherever you look in the world the progression is towards less freedom, not more. We are conjuring up a world where kids have to be in school until eighteen and then have to work for forty plus years to ensure that they will have enough money to round off this glorious adventure. It is all a horrendous mistake.

Freedom is not just about our rights it is about our lives. All those years ago, I guess I was one of those who tuned in, turned on and dropped out. It wasn’t a smart thing to do, but it added great richness to my life, and without that experience I don’t see how I could possibly be writing this today. Freedom is not just about what they say you can or cannot do, it is about what you do.

At the end of the day, doing good works, being politically aware or being socially responsible is not enough. Freedom is something that you must indulge in. Being free is subjective, and it can only be had if you reach out and take it. Let’s all work at being as free as we can, whether they say it’s OK or not. The rest will follow.

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