Have you seen memes like these over the last few years?
If you are anything like me, you have seen quite a few. You may have also heard related sentiments expressed in conversations. This is especially (though by no means exclusively) the case among people who have an abiding love of, and concern about, individual freedom.
Getting away from it all
Sometimes, the dream is scaled down and temporary: We just want a break. We feel the urge to simplify. All this technology has begun to weigh on us, and we need a “digital detox.” Or a few weeks in a cabin in the woods just sounds nice. (Cabin-in-the-woods memes and reels are everywhere now!) It is also human nature to worry about the future. We can act on this concern by trying to be prepared for unexpected circumstances and cataclysms. Hence, we get the “prepping” phenomenon. For some, this means storing food and supplies. For others, it means setting up a garden or small farm for increased self-sufficiency. Some of us are aware of the dangers of bigness: big government, big agriculture, big pharma, big food. This spurs us to seek local alternatives. All of these impulses make sense. We know technology is useful, but it also clearly has a dark side, and it all feels like it’s just happening so fast. Too fast. We didn’t evolve for blue light and endorphin cascades and an endless supply of 15-second eye-candy videos. Even without all that, this modern world can just be a bit…much. We didn’t evolve to work interminable hours at weirdly stressful jobs to pay 20 different utility and service bills, either. The prepping urge is entirely rational as well. As we have seen, supply chains and civil order are fragile. Do we listen to our normalcy bias and assume all will be well, or do we hedge our bets and plan for the worst? Food, water, ammunition? A defensible redoubt and a supply of off-grid power? A garden and some chickens? A brief study of history shows that anything can happen…including very bad things. The trend toward localism is also quite rational. It is a good idea to know your neighbors. To know where your food is coming from. To know whom you can count on. And we know for sure that we cannot count on big food, big pharma, or big anything to have our best interests at heart.Getting away from government
And then there’s government. Big government. A government whose operations and growth seem entirely beyond our control. And there are all the other power-players—mega-corporations, billionaire ideologues, central bankers, and Davos megalomaniacs—who use government to impose their agenda on all of us…and profit in the process. Those of us who value freedom believe that governments are too large and government officials have too much power over our lives. Some of us believe that even the smallest government is too large. And over the last five years, it has become clear that there is little that government officials cannot or will not do. Anything is fair game once they declare an “emergency.” Is there any wonder that we have an urge to get away from it all?Getting away from other people
The Covid era taught us that government power is a dangerous and often malign force. Sadly, it also taught us that the bulk of people will not resist government overreach when it comes. Worse still, it showed us that many will comply with it, and even deputize themselves as de facto enforcers of it. As a result, many of us now have a healthy fear not only of government but also of the general public. All of these thoughts lead a lot of us to fantasize about putting a physical buffer zone between ourselves and…everything.Individualistic individuals
This is even further enhanced by certain personality tendencies. Acknowledging, of course, that these are generalizations… People who are more concerned with freedom tend to be more individualistic by nature, and more skeptical of collectivism. We love our friends, and some of us are even quite social, but we are more likely to be wary of large groups and humanity as a whole. (Contrast this with avatars of collectivism such as Marx and Rousseau, who hated individuals but loved "the people" as an abstract concept.) Freedom lovers are also more likely to have an internal rather than an external locus of control—to feel that we are masters of our own destiny rather than victims of circumstance. As such, we are more likely to focus on, and even take pride in, self-reliance. The result is a more pronounced independent streak—one which makes the thought of getting away from it all even more alluring.Questions? Input? Concerns? Feel free to email me at chriscook@theadvocates.org