Utopia promises a risk-free existence.
Concerning this thought, I found the linked article interesting.
It is about a Czech multi-millionaire taking his $3 million USD Bugatti Chiron out on the German A2 Autobahn for a little 230 MPH exercise trot.
Even though this motorway has no speed limit (I’ve actually driven it at 140 MPH and got passed by a monster Mercedes cruiser like I was sitting still), the German Transport Authority got their knickers in a twist after he posted a video of his 4:50 AM recreation of Cannonball Run to YouTube.
There was a time when accepting risk for yourself and minimizing it for others was the rule of the day. The Transport Authority accused the Chiron owner of breaking the following law: “Anyone participating in traffic must behave in such a way that no other person is harmed, endangered or obstructed or inconvenienced more than is unavoidable under the circumstances.”
It would seem that this would be about protecting everybody, including the driver, from the risk of an unexpected meeting with a 250 MPH Chiron on the A2.
But the same governments that put on their crankypants over things like this and mask compliance are the ones not seeking a risk-free existence for people living under their governance, they are perfectly ok with forcing people to accept risks they want accepted and, in many cases, create or induce.
They were OK with locking small businesses down and leaving “big box” stores open. They see logic in allowing leftist protests to continue but sporting events to be prohibited. Perfectly fine with firing heath care workers who did not want to be inoculated while allowing Covid positive workers to continue if they took the approved tests and had the proper papers.
That is pretty much how I know what the Democrats and the global progressive/Great Reset movement do not really have Utopia in mind.
Now it seems that we are never expected to personally accept risk, much less evaluate it.
One is supposed to wait to be told what the risks are and what to do about them. A lot of “believe the science” is just this.
One of the hallmarks of contemporary progressivism is the idea that somehow the mere implementation of progressive (i.e., collectivist) policies will alleviate risk to some group. Their vision is that a world without risk prevents persecution or oppression of people who won’t accept risk by those who do. Considering the traditional perspectives of risk vs. reward, the left seems to believe the people who accept the greater risk are rewarded disproportionally. But then progressives do believe in “zero sum” games – that one cannot succeed unless they diminish another. When one wins, that win comes at the expense of another – and that isn’t “fair”.
This concept fits well in the ethos of those who are true believers in progressivism, as well as those who are simply assuaging guilt of some sort or seek a feeling of self-importance or smug superiority over their fellow citizens.
In a society that was founded on self-reliance, self-determination, independence and freedom where opportunities are equal, how do you keep a movement like this alive?
Here’s how – you manufacture some sort of risk, persecution, or oppression. You create the concept that there are just too many risks with too much complexity for the individual to evaluate on their own, so the government must intervene to “protect” them from complexities that they can’t possibly comprehend, understand, or for which to prepare as an individual…all the while perpetuating those same complexities. They play off social and economic class against each other, then convince the citizenry that there are crises so big that all must sacrifice some of their freedoms and treasure to resolve them.
The left can always create the concept of a risk being too big to overcome for the individual and a government “too big to fail” prepared to deal with the risk. Totalitarian movements always feature this type of monstrous risk/class envy proposition. They sell their intrusion into private life and control over the citizens as the removal of risk. You can’t possibly plan for your retirement or manage your own eating habits or health – and you certainly do not have the capacity to make medical decisions for yourself.
It is pretty demeaning and offensive when you think about it…but people are buying this lie about themselves. It is unbelievable.
Please don’t believe it, don’t buy into this lie that is “too big to fail” – it is the same as a mafia protection racket. If you don’t pay, they will eventually break your kneecaps.
Freedom means accessing, accepting and defeating the risks of life, not having collective government sand off the rough edges for us.