It is true: nothing seems so intolerable and so revolting as the oppression that wants to take away from man what is perhaps the only thing truly his: the freedom to think. Such violence is nothing but an onslaught that, when carried out, results in the annulment of the individual. A whipped, mutilated or violated man does not lose, in any way, that which consists in his essence, therefore these aggressions seem much lighter when we confront them with the suppression of his thought. That is to say: man, forbidden to think freely, loses his human dimension and comes close to being an animal.
Honor Claims Civil Disobedience
There is, as Thoreau says, a time when honor claims intransigent civil disobedience, even though the punishment for such behavior is jail or the gallows. This thing called democracy perhaps sums up its value in having replaced declared tyrannies, or rather, in having the knowledge of the latter made “democrats” out of many men of valor. So we see that, in practice, tyranny has done nothing but change its name. It is impossible not to think of Kafka when we confront such democracy with the solitary individual. If we think, for example, of the immense oppressive power of the State machine or, more specifically, of the enlightened ones in robes, who enforce whatever they want, we see on the other side a nothing on his knees, tied up and under the double threat of the whip and the gag. Yet now, in a mix of Kafkaesque plot and nuances of Orwell and Huxley, oppression is delivered in packages as affable as they are false. To understand it and accept it willingly is to throw honor and the faculty of thought in the trash.
There Is a Tension that Precedes Moments Known to Be “Important”…
There is a tension that precedes moments known to be “important” that not only disturbs the mental balance, but accentuates the propensity to sudden and radical acts. It is as if this apprehension displaces discernment and puts the mind in a state of alertness that resembles that of the soldier on the battlefield, always on the verge of a violent impulse. So that besides it is just being cautious when experiencing it, more important is attention to, noticing it in other people, not being stupid enough to trigger it.
Traditions and Crisis
It has already been wisely noted that in times of crisis a nation has no choice but to cling to the past. In the despair of uncertainty thrown open by the crisis, tradition emerges as a safe haven, and thus it is overcome all the more easily the more solid a people’s past is, the more ingrained and present it is in the present stage. From this it is evident that there are more and less vulnerable nations; it is impressive, however, when we notice that the so-called less vulnerable ones, even for a short period, become the negation of what they have always been, seeming to break the historical link that defines them. We automatically think: and then, what will it be? But it is curious to note that, more often than not, due to conjunctures that perhaps escape our reasoning, the traditions—always them—appear reinvigorated, and end up as saviors of a future that seemed to be summarized in chaos.