Heartening to see, but do they fully understand what they are standing against? Much as I hate to say it, many of these people either fully supported the policies and politicians all the way up to lockdown. We need a movement that doesn’t form until after the crisis is at our doorstep. We need a movement based on principle. Through the use a philosophical framework, we would better recognize the early steps taken toward totalitarianism.

Digression: here is a paradox that I’ve been obsessing over for 18 months now. Let’s say, in a semi-free society, a philosophical freedom group does exist, and does operate effectively by stopping totalitarianism before it takes hold. They do this for decades, and by now, no one is alive who has much memory of totalitarianism itself. These newer generations of people look at the freedom fighters with scorn and ridicule, believing their task to be pointless. “It will never happen here!” they say, when in reality a genocidal totalitarianism may have been snuffed out before it could grow to its full potential.

This is the same scenario that Nassim Taleb used in one of his earlier books, but applied to jetliner cockpit security. If 747 cockpits had been totally secured from outside entry by a group of well-organized, effective activists, the 9/11 attacks would have never happened. The activists would have in effect prevented the deaths of 3,000 innocents, but no one would recognize it as such. They would instead be on the receiving end of ridicule for forcing a seemingly useless policy onto the airline industry.

Author: S. Smith