Such simple words, Freedom and Necessity. What do they mean? Their meanings seem obvious, right? Well, not quite. Freedom to what? Freedom from what? What is necessary, really? Are there conditions or limitations? Read the fine print, there are always conditions.
Freedom
We could go back to the various origins of the idea of freedom, but let’s stick to the here and now. ‘Freedom’ is a word that generates images of personal liberty, the ability to do whatever one wants. What does it take to have freedom? Personal wealth? Well, I would consider quite a few billionaires I know enough about to conclude that they are far from free, even when jetting from one continent to another to ‘enjoy’ that 250-foot long super yacht. Most of these guys have ‘everything’ they ever wanted, except more money, which they never stop wanting, since until they are number one they will feel inadequate.
‘Freedom from want’ seems to make people happier, up to a point. The research shows that happiness increases with income up to a point around $75,000- or maybe $100,000- with inflation. Then what? After that, happiness plateau’s out and in some cases sinks in response to the difficulties of having to handle too much money, and debt.
Consider the poor lottery winner who now has to decide what to do with a million dollars a year (or whatever) as the financial jackals begin to circle around her/him. Not a pretty sight. A significant percentage of ‘winners’ lose most of the money they had won, are ripped off by ‘financial advisors,’ and/or retreat to their former lives. Some wish they had never won. Wealth is not freedom; it is economic and political power. And power is a relationship with others, which always involves obligations, commitments, and demands. Managing power is a lot of work, especially for the inexperienced.
Are Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk free? Not really, since they appear so entangled in their own web of compulsive power-seeking, in which they simply control a lot of tools and toys to deploy in their struggles, with which others are not burdened. So-called success does not seem to dissipate greed.
What about political freedom? Too many people confuse political power with political freedom. I would suggest that political freedom is primarily the lack of oppression. Now, that can be seen in very different ways. Too many envision their own political freedom as the extent to which they are able to oppress others.
The MAGA Republicans who rioted and stormed the nation’s capital, killing and maiming police officers and threatening the legislators who had assembled to accept the electoral votes from the various states and declare the new president, seemed to believe that they were defending freedom and trying to ‘take back America.’ One must ask, “from whom or from what?” “Well, that [imaginary] conspiracy of vote-changing pedophiles, of course! Q-anon told me! So did our fearless leader who is trying to save the nation.”
Well, I would suggest that freedom does not extend to the autocratic attempt to impose the loser/narcissist/sociopath former president as a new dictator despite over 60 judges (several who were Trump appointees) ruling that the claims of frivolous lawsuits (unsupported by any evidence whatsoever) are without merit.
Yes, freedom does have boundaries, most of which are found at the point where the person exercising his/her freedom begins to impinge on the freedom of others. In that, of course, I am not imparting any new knowledge. The principle is a bedrock foundation of democracy. Without the civility that implies, we are lost. The autocrat replaces civility with the force of violence.
Necessity
Necessity is not always in the eye of the beholder. Some folks are blind to facts or simply refuse to consider them because from their worldview, their unsubstantiated beliefs are quite enough, especially if they serve their material interest or their illusions. It is, however, objectively necessary for humans to live in direct relation to the ‘facts of life’ in Nature, if we are to survive even a few decades more without even worse killer-heat, mass flooding, food-insecurity, resource wars, and even starvation. That direct relation between humans and Nature has been masked far too long.
Unfortunately, too many ‘modern’ people have partaken of the industrial-consumer culture so long, that they have become mentally isolated from the material facts of life within the Earth System (where we all live). Their perception of Nature is that of the tourist, who looks at his/her habitat or the habitat of others as an entertainment, a thing out there with which we have no relation, obligation, or responsibility, as if we were mere observers of our own lives.
So much of what the industrial-consumer culture presents as ‘necessary,’ are so only in the eye of the beholder. What is really necessary?
Not the latest smartphone or smartwatch with too many ‘features’ to count, or ever use.
Not single-use plastic bags, clamshells, or other wraps that grandma never needed.
Not that multimillion dollar executive salary, based on who you know (or anything else).
Not the designer or designer knock-off apparel of celebrities that so many emulate.
Not another ‘Big Gulp’ toxic chemical laces ‘drink’ from the ‘convenience store.’
Not the 45-minute commute in that 4wd heavy-duty pickup truck at less than 10 mpg.
Not any of the other meaningless ‘consumer products’ that so many cannot resist.
Well, the list seems boundless, so I will stop with this very short sample. From the stifled worldview of many industrial consumers, life would be so boring without all the stuff that excites them for a while, then goes into the storage locker before being retired to the landfill.
The world is engulfed with what George Carlen wisely called “stuff,” and it cannot tolerate any more polluting every habitat of every species, including us. At some point as we rapidly approach the end of the industrial era, the necessity of a reality check will set in. I just hope it is before we pass too many tipping points, points of no return.
Reality
One of the reasons so many folks feel so entitled these days is that they have lived in a culture that encourages ego anxiety and insists that only by having much more of the stuff offered by the corporate economy than others, can a person achieve an adequate self-concept. Sorry. The biophysical reality around us—not the social reality that was constructed to keep the behemoth going—just does not work that way. The so-called mainstream economy of the so-called ‘developed nations’ has driven the entire world to the precipice of collapse.
Why? Simply because the ideology of the global corporate political economy insists that the only road to ‘progress’ is by endless growth within the confines of a finite planet. A reality check is the first step on the road to human survival.
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 