Anonymong

Something that I’ve been struggling with for a while is how to respond to the apparent constant salami slicing of our freedoms without sounding like chicken little, and I’m increasingly convinced that it cant be done.

The problem is the creeping nature of the beast as so well expounded by Leg Iron

“The Creeper is a slow and insidious technique. On trains, it started with one no-smoking carriage. On buses, it started with smokers at the back and upstairs on the double deckers. It was not a new technique even then because, as the Filthy Smoker’s post reminded me, it had already been used – and is still going – on seat belts.”

The problem is as Leg Iron expounds that each individual step seems quite reasonable and well nothing much to object to then the scope increases or there’s a bit more compulsion and on it creeps. If at any point an idea is objected to too strongly it’s just shelved for a bit until the noise dies down then brought back, each time fewer people object as it got dropped the last time and the objectors looked like loons. Or the idea is floated by some thing tank or pressure group not anyone in power so why object to some random idea being floated by some random group, except it gets people used to that idea, then it becomes normal and the people that object are seen as reactionary and a bit bonkers.

So we now have people calling to ban smoking in cars for the children (not houses yet…), people being arrested for selling legal products, a call to ban alcohol advertising before 9pm (remember when tobacco was advertised on tv?), not to mention calls for controls on knives, salt, fat and having fun generally – or if you must have fun perhaps you could just not breed? None of this is of course aimed at ordinary people.

This could all be just unrelated puritanism and empire building or it could be about controlling the population, it is after all much easier to control people that have done something wrong or can be accused of it. But at that point it I start reaching for my tinfoil hat, as I really don’t think the government or any organisation is that organised. Of course if they were they’d want us to think they weren’t.

I have though I think reached a plausible answer, it isn’t planned it just the organic natural direction in which the state tends to head unless constantly challenged. Assuming the best of intentions from everyone in the state unless curtailed it’s always going to head towards authoritarianism as it’s made up of people that want to improve things, that think they know best, and we just need convincing. Each step could be taken in good faith but just like with us that just makes the next step seem reasonable, if we just get people to stop doing X then Y lives will be saved that must be a good thing! We select our leaders to be risk adverse and so we end up with a nannied controlled curtailed country.
The problem is of course that a risk adverse culture much like a risk adverse person won’t achieve much and will collapse.

So all that said I think all that one can do is accept that sometimes you maybe should be wearing a tinfoil hat and certainly people are going to thing you should be, but keep responding to every kite flown no matter how many times it gets hauled back in for later. With luck eventually enough people will realise they’ve been denormalised and kick the state back down for a while. Unless of course we’ve finally managed to select so well for the risk adverse that the majority really do want every aspect of their lives controlled*.

* I’m sure I read similar fears very recently but I can’t remember where so sorry no link.

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