Opinion Freedom’s borderline

Two sides of freedom: Freedom has both a negative and positive side. According to 20th century German philosopher Erich Fromm,the positive “freedom to” and negative “freedom from” have evolved with human beings,distinguishing them from other species. British socio-political theorist Sir Isaiah Berlin proposes in the last century a frontier between areas of private life and public authority. He said,“The liberty of some must depend on the restraint of others.” Indeed,what right do inconsiderate individuals have to disturb peace in the world? You’d answer “no right” but who’s going to control them and how? Let’s look at how unlimited freedom leads to excesses that are irreversible.

Political excesses = being tyrannised: From being wild hunter gatherers,human beings opted for civilisation. This means living in society with an accepted set of regulations. It’s human nature to want to rebel,but to handle that freedom requires discipline within a pre-determined boundary. Communism swept a large part of the globe to abolish feudalism in the name of freedom. According to The Black Book of Communism authored by many European academics,edited by Stéphane Courtois,the excesses under Communist regimes have taken 94 million lives. Democracy is a great liberating step from other forms of subjugation like dictatorships,but to what extent can democracy operate without controls?

Controlling nature = global warming: Ever since scientific inventions started tampering with nature for delivering a better life,surely scientists knew the repercussions of this freedom to live well? Using fossil fuels for power generation,running vehicles,CFCs for refrigerants have led to unwarranted emission of green house gases like carbon dioxide and methane. The ill effect of freedom we’re suffering is from deforestation,over-population,rising temperatures melting glaciers and polar ice caps. The domino effect is decreased fresh water availability,destroyed animal habitats,rise of sea levels,greater atmospheric moisture leading to flooding of rivers and marshlands,hurricanes,typhoons and risk of tsunamis. OXFAM examined over 6,000 climate-related disasters,and found about 252 million people affected in the last 20 years by natural disasters,not including non-weather emergencies like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. They predict 54% increase by 2015,to 375 million every year. So people misusing liberty are depleting the earth’s ozone layer.

Overeating = Obesity: When you can’t resist tasty,affordable food that’s at arm’s length,enjoy huge quantities of processed food and fizzy drinks,what’s the ricochet we can expect? Obesity. Because the US has the world largest economy with GDP $14.59 trillion,should Americans eat without restraint? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2010 finding,35.7 per cent American adults and 17 per cent American children are obese. In 2000,obesity’s direct medical cost was $61 billion,and estimated indirect economic loss $117 billion. That’s the cost of freedom of overindulgence.

Spending beyond means = Americans become homeless: In a housing market frenzy,US banks loaned money to people without verifying if they can repay the loans. When the economy nose-dived,homeowners started foreclosing their loans,leading to panic among banks,and bankruptcies. The recessionary impact from crossing the borderline of affordability continues. Freedom in spending has resulted in people becoming homeless and jobless. But control over such liberty is possible as Germany has demonstrated with a better economy in the global recession situation.

Today’s Germany knows how to control freedom: Many cars can rev up to 250 km per hour speed,but apart from Germany,the world’s only country with no speed limit on the highway,can you drive at 250 kmph anywhere else? Being disciplined,Germans maintain highway rules without abusing the freedom to speed. In fact Germany’s road fatalities in 2010 decreased by 70 per cent,from 1470 to 430 in 20 years. Per 100,000 inhabitants,Germany has 7.2 fatalities while Bangladesh has 6,300,Ethiopia 11,000,India 350,and China 36. This shows that when rights are exercised responsibly,people enjoy positive freedom.

Like cars,perhaps the Internet world really needs a governor as freedom’s borderline to save people’s lives.

Shombit Sengupta is an international creative business strategy consultant to top management. Reach him at http://www.shiningconsulting.com