A Conversation with Lord Sumption
All despotisms – or almost all despotisms – believe that it is for the good of the people that they are being deprived of their freedom of action.
All despotisms – or almost all despotisms – believe that it is for the good of the people that they are being deprived of their freedom of action.
We find ourselves in an emergency situation. The world is tottering between two visions of human life. One centers on freedom and all its creativity, including cities, arts, friendships, technology, and great lives. The other centers on despotism and the relentless drive back to a state of nature: foraging for food, living in rural settings, stuck in one place, and dying young.
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No matter how much the public narrative tries to ignore it, no matter how much the media attempts to suppress serious discussion, critical voices are becoming louder by the day. Ever more people in both the old and the new Europe are demanding their fundamental rights and freedoms back.
To today’s Americans, appearances are everything — we are afraid to be different, lest it make our friends uncomfortable (maybe we will lose one, whatever will we do?!) We have ceased caring about truth and authenticity entirely. We have tacitly agreed as a society that true things should be hidden whenever they conflict with what is “popular”; with what everyone “smart” and “cool” is doing. Anyone acting outside of these boundaries — the “eccentrics” of centuries past, considered by Mill to be geniuses — are today’s untouchables.
Free people of the world are duly warned: embark on this path at your own risk. What you take for granted today may well be gone for good
They were assigned to the frontlines. They bore the burden, not only of doing the work but of being exposed to the virus and gaining natural immunities that the ruling class now tells them does not count for real immunity. Do they have reason to be resentful? The answer is clearly yes.
The stay-at-home orders issued in the Spring of 2020 should be politically unforgivable, no matter what happened after. Never, never in a free society! Sadly that was just the start of it.
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At a time of crisis, such as during a pandemic, is exactly when such institutions are even more needed than ever, and when faced with uncertainty, many seek the comfort and support of religious institutions.Yet during the pandemic and the lockdowns, religious institutions were only too willing to shut themselves down, close their doors, and therefore abandon those that depended on them.
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Their singular obsession, emotional intensity, and size lead to crowds sometimes attaining great power and dictating directions that can change the course of history for a whole country, or even for the world. The inherent danger is that their obsession blinds them to everything else that matters in normal times.
In a 6-3 decision, the highest court has called out the out-of-control agency that has been imposing itself on all aspects of American life for this past year. The majority opinion makes for fascinating reading, if only because the author or authors (the opinion is unsigned) expresses genuine alarm at the same reality that has wrecked the lives of billions of people all over the world. Our basic rights and liberties have been trampled on by states presuming no limits on their powers, and there has heretofore been very little in the way of judicial resistance.
There really must not be a living soul around who believes that these sheets of clear plastic, sitting on every surface and hanging from ceilings in retail environments all over the country, really protect anyone from the coronavirus. Surely not.
In this interview with Unherd, conducted by Freddie Sayers, Jay Bhattacharya reflects on the aftermath and how events have transpired since the document was signed and promulgated. He speaks to a range of issues from lockdowns to vaccines and mandates.
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