Liberty starts in the mind

Black and white thinking is one of the greatest dangers to society. It’s why the UK is in the mess that it is. Unfortunately it is due to having too many lazy and ignorant people in the population. People who expect easy answers because anything too difficult or abstract proves impossible for them to digest and comprehend. But, as I’m very fond of saying, nothing is ever black and white. What’s to be done about it? I’m not totally sure. Somehow we need to educate people. And when I say educate I mean help them to be able to think critically and in abstract ways. Education is not about filling peoples’ heads with assorted ‘facts’. Education should be about setting people free. I doubt I’ll live to see an educated populace. I’m not sure it will ever happen. I’m not sure people want to be set free. 

 Liberty starts in the mind.

Can we ever be free?

Most pseudo-libertarians have a tendency to be either right-wing nutters or canon-fodder shielding and doing the donkey-work for right-wing nutters. They spout off about freedom without really having a sustainable philosophy to perpetuate their vision, if you can call it a vision. Pseudo-libertarianism is an act of irony. They preach a warped dogma that can never be fulfilled. They preach freedom from law; a perverted form of anarchy.

True freedom is not about one group of people having the ‘freedom’ to oppress another group of people. True freedom can only ever be equality. Without equality there is only subjugation.

Can we ever be free without equality?

Absolutely not!

But we need more than just equality of economic and cultural opportunity. We need equality of thought and opinion. We need a vox populi not conditioned or manipulated by a small minority. The Media controls or at the very least sets the agenda for ‘public opinion’. And, whilst The Media is in the hands of a small elitist reactionary minority we will never be free.

Free press my arse

Freedom is one of those words that are often bandied about by the right as justification for their actions. When right-wingers use the term what they really mean is ‘the freedom to exploit or oppress others’. And so it is with our press. We don’t have a free press in this country. We have a press of vested interests. We have a press that is owned by a rich, powerful and minute minority, a press that wants to reduce the power of government. In other words a press that wants to reduce the power of the people. The press isn’t free. It is very much un-free. Beholden to their rich masters. We are deluding ourselves if we think that our press represents a vast cross-section of society. It doesn’t and it probably never will. I also happen to think that the newspaper has had its day. It is now in decline and the Murdoch mess has hastened the process. The ‘free press’ has only ever been the stuff of dreams and never a reality.

".... you should understand
That those who own the papers also own this land
And they'd rather you believe
In coronation street capers
In the war of circulation, it sells newspapers
Could it be an infringement
Of the freedom of the press
To print pictures of women in states of undress


When you wake up to the fact
That you paper is tory
Just remember, there are two sides to every story"

It Says Here – by Billy Bragg

Liberty is only ever secular

“Democracy can never flourish if the workings of a state or the major influences within that society are not secular.” *

It should be every person’s right not to follow, or for that matter to be able to follow a religion or belief system of their choosing. It must wholly a personal issue. As soon as religions try to indoctrinate, coerce or oppress people then liberty is lost.

Unfortunately in undemocratic Britain we still have institutionalised religion. Despite its influence declining the C of E still has connections with government. Parents are allowed to brain-wash their children and get state help with that brain-washing through the religious school system.

My big fear is that with the cuts in public services the only charities that are well funded enough to take up any of the slack will be religious based ones. My even bigger fear is that, as part of the Big Society, Tories will turn a blind eye or even encourage religious groups to provide services and proselytise. Vulnerable people will be at the mercy of god-botherers of all shapes and perversions. Liberty for the disadvantaged will not be an option.

*a quote by me on Twitter on 14/3/11

Liberty and freedom

As a libertarian I resent the way that the words ‘liberty’ and ‘freedom’ have been hijacked by the right and used in a fashion that is opposite to what they actually mean; in true 'Orwellian newspeak' stylee.

In reality there is only one true freedom, and that is the philosophical and political doctrine of anarchy. I’m not an anarchist, I certainly wouldn’t advocate such a philosophy, and I can’t imagine any jumped up little tory would do so either. When the right use these words, what they are really saying is, that they want the freedom to oppress, and be at liberty to exploit others less fortunate than themselves.


As Craig Murray wrote on his blog back in May:

There has been a fashion in the blogosphere which needs to be challenged. Blogs of an extreme right wing cast have started to call themselves "Libertarian".

The peculiar thing is, that these neo-con "Libertarians" have, by and large, little or no concern for civil liberties. Very few of these "Libertarians" blogged about the shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes, against detention without trial for 42 days, about police violence at the G20 summit. These "Libertarians" do not want to see Guantanamo closed, and are quite happy with extraordinary rendition and the use of torture. Not only will you search the large majority of them in vain for any condemnation of the use of torture in the "War on Terror", but some of them - like Charles Crawford, for instance - have actively blogged in favour of the use of torture.

Libertarians in favour of detention without trial? Libertarians for Guantanamo?

Libertarians for Torture?

The liberty bodice brigade

‘Liberty’ and ‘freedom’ are two very powerful and emotive words that rational left thinking people should hold very dear, yet we allow the right, and more often the extreme right to hijack them. In true Orwellian newspeak stylee they bandy them around to add weight to their arguments, and we allow them to wear them like they own them. I’m sure you know the type of people I mean. They are those that Monty Python (or was it I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again?) said droned on and on until they fell over backwards. They are inbreeds and their lackeys, and they oppose all change. They protested about the legalisation of homosexuality. They want to bring back hanging. They don’t believe in equal opportunities. They are usually racist. They want out of the European Union. They don’t want to pay taxes unless it’s for ‘defence’ or the police. They think blood sports are good clean fun, that health and safety is a joke, and that the law is there just to keep little people in their place.

They portray advances towards civilisation and democracy as attacks on personal liberty and the erosion of freedom. Their idea of freedom is the freedom to oppress and exploit others. They appear in various guises from Tory party member, to Daily Mail reader via UKIP and the BNP. They are the land-owners, the pro-hunting lobby and the anti smoking ban whingers. They believe that fat cat captains of industry should be paid obscene amounts, whilst at the same time suggesting that the pittance of a minimum wage is ruining business. They are reactionary knob-heads, and they are holding this country back. A plague on all their houses!

Of course in reality there is only one true freedom, and that is anarchy. A concept most of the liberty bodice brigade just couldn’t comprehend.