Timothy Snyder's new book: On Freedom "our problem is us"

[Fiendish Thingy]

https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2024/11/14/Timothy-Snyder-Our-Problem-Is-Us/

(The Tyee is a Canadian progressive news site)

But many children chafe at the limits put on them and imagine themselves happier if only they didn’t have to obey their parents and teachers. Some never grow out of that attitude. Negative freedom is, according to Snyder, “freedom from” some external barrier — freedom from government on our backs, from tedious regulation and red tape, from expensive groceries and unwanted immigrants and refugees.

But negative freedom has consequences. When we think we’ve freed ourselves from our imagined burdens, we soon miss them. We feel the absence of government services; if our groceries are cheaper because they’re no longer inspected, they may also infect us with listeria. Or the groceries may be more expensive than ever because the immigrants and refugees who grew them, packed them, shipped them and put them on our supermarket shelves are now gone forever.

Snyder cites Freedom House, an organization that ranks over 200 countries by their people’s access to political rights, civil liberties and internet freedom. It ranks the United States as “free” with a score of 83, like Romania and South Korea.

Canada’s score is 97, just behind Sweden’s 99 and Finland’s 100.

(Snip)

He goes on: “Freedom from is a conceptual trap. It is also a political trap, in that it involves self-deception, contains no program for its own realization, and offers opportunities to tyrants. Both a philosophy and a politics of freedom have to begin with freedom to.”

(Bolding is mine)

Much more at link. Looks like his new book is going on my Xmas list…

[Tadpole Raisin]

1. Highly recommend. nt

[Biophilic]

2. Definitely sounds like a book I want to read. Thanks.