I flipped on the television after an escape to Brontëland and saw Andrew Cuomo talking. Behind him, on a screen, a sentence attributed to Edward Gibbon:
When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then [they] ceased to be free.But it’s not from Edward Gibbon. It’s from Edith Hamilton, sort of, by way of Margaret Thatcher. Background here.
I know the idea from a different part of the political spectrum, as expressed by Julius Lester, who contrasts “freedom from” and “freedom to” in a discussion of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The best way to use one’s freedom right now, if your life and work allow it, is to stay home. That’s the freedom of being responsible, to oneself and to others.
[The they in brackets (parentheses on the screen) takes the place of Athens.]
comments: 6
This observation from Benito Cereno struck me when I re-read the novella recently: "Seeking to conquer a larger liberty, man but extends the empire of necessity." Like many statements of the kind it can be turned to various purposes.
I think I see what you mean. I can already hear someone attaching that sentence to talk of “burdensome regulations.”
Molly Ivins said (I paraphrase),
When you give up freedom to be safe,
you are not safer. You are just less free.
It sounds to me like Molly Ivins is talking about Patriot Act stuff (?). That sounds right to me. But I can guess what she’d say about Georgia and bowling alleys and tattoo parlors.
I think the video when I heard her say that––attached to her story about how a harmless snake can "scare you so bad you'll hurt yourself"––was in speech after 9/11, yes.
But I found a 1993 article on the theme of given up freedom for the (illusion of) safety--in this case, re "Crime in America":
"I have never been nose-to-nose with a chicken snake myself, but I always took Johnny's word for it that it will just scare the living daylights out of you. It scared the boys so bad, they both tried to exit the hen house at the same time, doing considerable damage to themselves and the hen house door in the process.
"Miz Faulk, a-watching this from the porch, laughed and said, 'Boys, boys, what is wrong with you? You know perfectly well a chicken snake will not hurt you.'
"Which is when Boots Cooper made the immortal observation, 'Yes, ma'am, but there's some things'll scare you so bad you'll hurt yourself.'
"And that's what we do over and over in this country.
We get scared so bad that we hurt ourselves. Scared of communism or the tide of illegal aliens or pornography or crime or some other menace, we think the only way to protect ourselves is to give up some of our freedom, sacrifice some of our constitutional rights."
https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19930405&slug=1694350
Thanks for that context, Fresca.
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