Taking and selling of freedom

The need for individuals to pull together for both the common good and their longer term individual good means that cheats and freeloaders must be punished. This is an urgent need which lies at the foundation of a healthy society and provides a powerful argument for a measure of coercion in political life. The question is who should do the coercing?

Western societies are commonly described as democracies but in practice the extent to which the people rule is very limited. Instead of rule by the people the deal is that the people let a politcal class rule and manage the economy and society in return for the freedom to live within a framework of consumer goods and private freedoms. Those who have, have the goods and those who have not are brought into the political consensus of passivity by welfare benefits. In return for these benefits those who could if they wished take an active part in political life and make society into a true democracy allow the political class to rule.

In a time of peace and plenty this is not such a bad deal but don't call it democracy.

Political theorists have assumed that democratic freedoms grow with a middle class which can hold the state to account but with the growth see an alternative model in which the freedom to make and spend money is granted in exchange for obedience.

There are many ways the consensus of passivity could end. For example, external threats of the usual kind eg war. External threats of a new kind eg global warming. Internal threats of social division through immigration. Or systemic threats, such as widespread abuse of the welfare system.

The consensus of passivity like every other system will break. The question is how.

Selfish genes and selfish people

The conflict between good and evil, charity and selfishness is an eternal theme in the story of life.

Richard Dawkins has written about the concept of "selfish" genes. But selfish genes don’t mean selfish individuals since one gene on its own will not win the battle for life. The collective of selfish genes in the genome need therefore to work together so that each of them can realise the aim of their selfishness by pulling together so each of them can have a chance of surviving and reproducing.

Working for the common good of the organism means working for the survival of other genes in the hope that they will do the same. There is therefore an obvious incentive to cheat.

It is the same with human societies. It is one of the marks of a healthy society that it, on the hand, encourages co-operation and, on the other, discourages cheats who take advantage of others. If a group or a society is able to suppress "selfishness" that is, actions which encourage others to act in a way which is apparently advantageous to the individual but disadvantageous overall then it will be strong and easily able to overcome "selfish" groups and societies.

It is absolutely vital that the law, the state and public opinion condemn and punish "selfishness".

Compassion post 1950

No previous civilization has accepted the obligation to help human beings whoever they may be. Help was given to narrowly defined groups; the family, the clan, neighbours etc but its scope was narrow. I believe that this was the product of the poverty of all ages before our own.

But now the capitalist cornucopia is overflowing with the good things of life. I have noted elsewhere that the growth of wealth has had pernicious effects. But in this case the growth of discretionary income when combined with the psychological need to avoid pain and feel that one is really a good person at heart has made it possible for people either to give away just a little of their own money or through governments to give away rather larger amounts of other peoples' money. It may not be from pure motives but there is a degree of willingness to help strangers that has never before been present in any society.

But often they are not completely strangers to us. They are not abstract concepts on the other side of the world or on the wrong side of town. We see them on TV and their suffering is brought into our homes. Of course we generally turn away but maudlin emotional appeals touch many of us. The more spectacular the event, the more emotive the images, the more the money rolls in even if there are often more pressing needs elsewhere.

Morality the easy way

One of the most curious developments in social life in the past few years has been the emergence of the 'ethical consumer'. The ethical consumer thinks he can do his bit to change the world by changing what he buys. He thinks that he can "do his bit" to make the world a better place by careful choices about what he buys. But is this more about making him feel good about himself?

Take for example organic food. There is no evidence that organic food is any healthier than the ordinary kind but buying it produces the warm and fuzzy feeling one can’t get from the non-organic variety. Buying organic says you are a good person. It says that you are sensitive and caring about the world around you.

Ethical consumerism makes a mockery of ethics. It is a fashion statement. It is an act of aggression which says “I am a good person and you are a savage”.

The same is true of recycling. Recycling is often uneconomic and can even be damaging to the environment but it is morally good for the same reason that buying organic is good. that it is expensive, wasteful and possibly damaging to the environment is not relevant to why it is done. The point is to be seen to be “doing your bit” to make the world a better place and to make that point as publicly as possible.

Environmentalism has filled the gap by declining ideologies and religions. Like a Bible thumping hypocrites of old it is all about two things. Firstly, self deception and convincing oneself that you are really a good person despite the guilt of being rich in a world of poverty. And secondly, the aggression of being holier than your neighbour.

It is one of the products of growing wealth. In earlier eras few people had the option of being selective about the goods they bought. The little they had went on the essentials of food and shelter. It had to be spent carefully and thrift and economy were what mattered. It is only with the growth of discretionary income in the 20th century that it became possible to conspicuously waste money on organic food.

Imagine a world of drug induced bliss

A drug induced bliss would be empty. We don’t want to be placid, tender, compassionate idiots. If given the option few would choose and those who did; if they still had the possibility of choice in their chosen utopia would want to escape.

We want to experience life but a life that is both fuller and happier.

If we are to be in the universe we must have the possibility of misery. That is the way it is. There is no victory, no sense of achievement without the possibility of defeat – and there can be no happiness without its opposite. And, perhaps unjustly, some will be happier and more successful in finding true happiness and living the good life than others

Remember Nature’s power

Our civilisation is not for ever. The black earth will creep in over the streets. Brambles and nettles will hide the rusting wrecks and rivers will flood our fine streets and at last the last star goes dark.

Stoics and Immortality

Show me a man who though sick is happy, though in danger is happy, though dying is happy, though condemned to exile is happy, though in disrepute is happy. Show him! By the gods, I would fain see a Stoic. — Epictetus

The lesson from looking at the history of the human race and the long, long story of blood-stained evolution is that we must just make the best of our time in the universe. There may be no such thing as a full grown Stoic but at least we can try our best to meet our fate with a positive, strong spirit. Just making the best of it. Not weeping more than we can avoid. And helping our fellow travellers through the valley of the shadow of death.

The journey does not take long. Think of the hundreds of millions of years of life so far on Earth. The forgotten lives of humans and dinosaurs. Your 70 years or 370 years are nothing. Don't worry too much! It will soon be over.

But let us try to remember and give a little bit of immortality to those lives which have returned to dust and live with the awareness of eternity and those who were here before us.