The Lamb's Freedom

America's Bitter Harvest

The most conspicuous thing to come out of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions was the death of the word “freedom.” After 9/11, democrats and republicans joined forces to redefine the word into a timid, fear-based concept whose highest values are subjective (and individual) definitions of “comfort” and “safety.” They have succeeded. This ersatz “freedom” is what novelist Mary McCarthy best described as “the lamb’s freedom” in her 1987 essay, “Useless Freedom.”  According to McCarthy, the lambs’ fear of being eaten by predators relegates them to a life of submission—getting nipped at by dogs, eating when the shepherd says so, and making the most of the numbered days until the inevitable pre-Easter slaughter. The lion, McCarthy pointed out, has a much more robust definition of freedom that works off the assumption that true freedom is inherently dangerous. Even the biggest, baddest male lion gets ripped limb from limb by the hyenas if he breaks a leg.  “Do we want a bold society geared to the lion’s freedom, or a mild, timid society based on the lamb’s fear of being eaten?” asked McCarthy.  Sadly, after 9/11, Americans chose the latter and traded what remained of the lion’s freedom for the perceived comfort and safety of the lamb’s freedom.  We got neither. The Techno Authoritarian future that we face is our bitter harvest.

Note to readers: I modified this article after I published it by adding the republicans to the first sentence. I don’t think the republicans are much different from the democrats when it comes to degrading the word freedom.