With Freedom Comes Responsibility

 

Lessons from the Bronwyn Bishop and Adam Goode's Saga's.

We live in a great and free society but with this freedom (Which leads to the  greatness) comes a burden and responsibility on each and every one of us which is inherent to the maintenance of the very  freedoms we enjoy.

Unlike totalitarian or police states which rely on coercion and enforcement for their functioning, ours is a society which has developed a code of conduct and norms hard won and developed over hundreds of years.  We  live, work and function in relative freedom from oppressive policies or strictures and the glue which hold this 'utopia' together is the responsibility we take up when we embrace this freedom. (no matter that we may not be cognisant of this responsibility)

This freedom also gives us the confidence to follows the norms of Natural Justice or in other words to follow what we know is inherently right or wrong. Thus we are emboldened to do the right thing by our neighbour, business associate, or stranger. Not because we have to but because it is the right thing to do. ( For an example of what happens to societies where this freedom is absent look at The Nazi era, Uganda under Idi Amin, The Rwandan Genocide, The wars in the former Yugoslavia, The Russian Federation under Putin,  and any number of Middle Eastern Dictatorships.) 

Thus we will freely help those who are less well off then us, we will volunteer to take care of our less fortunate citizens, we will be kind to our neighbour, we will pay our dues and taxes, we will obey the regulations and strictures that make all our lives function better even though they are often irritating and irksome at the time. We will even volunteer to die or suffer hardship for our country or society to preserve its integrity and 'liberty'. This is our responsibility our duty to a free and just society. Without it cynicism, cronyism, corruption, nepotism, elitism, and intolerance flourish and destroy this 'good society.'

That is why the term 'The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance' is apt and is not saying we have to be ready with the gun more importantly it means  we have to be ready with the , voice ,pen and heart to stand up for what is right. We have to never let go of the thought that this fragile freedom that surrounds and sustains us is maintained by good people doing the right thing individually and collectively 'most of the time'. This is a very fragile thing easily destroyed! If it is let go or slips from our  grasp than we are on a long slide into barbarism and chaos as was and is endured by the afar mentioned times, states and countries.

The Honourable  Bronwyn Bishop The Speaker of Parliament  excesses in office have been well documented.  She did hold one of the most important posts in the land a position honoured by the blood and sacrifice of many people over the years as they stood up for democracy,  the rule of law and the fight for a just system of Parliamentary democracy against terrible tyranny. She should have been one of the standard bearers for the responsibilities inherent in the freedoms we enjoy. Instead she is now a byword for excess, partisanship and dishonour which will follow her to the grave. For a just society relies on her citizens  to be hierarchical in their bearing of responsibility or in in other words the higher the attainment of office, reward or status the higher the responsibility to do the right. For paradoxically the higher the office or station the higher is the degree of freedom which is only retrained by the higher calling of responsibility. Taking up 'The Chains of Office' is not just a colloquialism but a real description of what is required in a free and just society. if this is not so than we slip into tyranny and despotism for a cynical society corrupted by 'their betters breach of responsibility' becomes inevitably  in the end less governable and less free.

Adam Goode's is a great footballer, Australian of the Year, Indigenous person and activist, according to people who know him he is also  a good and decent  bloke. All admirable and worthy and enjoyed and pursued  in a free, open, tolerant  society encouraging  diversity and inclusivity. With his status, celebrity, rewards and eminence comes responsibility  which Goode's so obviously broke  with his spear throwing dance and gesture towards a baying crowd of football fans. That this has rebounded on him, the game he plays in and society at large should be no great surprise as the very freedoms we enjoy when sheared of its responsibility descends into the horrible as witnessed by the 'booing' fiasco now being endured by all.

Booing fans themselves are exercising their freedom to make their feelings shown as individuals and as a collective. But each person should examine why and to what end their exercise of this right will lead. The responsibility they take for their actions cannot be excused by the convergence of and convenience of 'crowd behaviour'. For they too have a responsibility to do the right by each other and to those whom they have made stars or celebrities.

Is it racist as claimed by some? I do not know but many celebrities and football stars of the past have been shunned , booed or abused  when they have stepped over the line as perceived by their 'fans'.

It is instructive that Fan is short for Fanatic.

Think on it: Do you think a Hitler/Sadam /Putin would worry or be coerced into replacing a corrupt Speaker, Crony or Ally?

Do you think they will be erecting barbed wire fences or segregating the crowds at the football as they do in some countries?

Thus we come to this but do not despair because we can only have this conversation in a society where "With Freedom Comes Responsibility'.

Bronwyn Bishop Saga
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bronwyn-bishop-would-retire-on-a-salary-of-225000-a-year-plus-free-flights-20150805-gis178.html


Adam Goode's  The War Dance

http://www.smh.com.au/afl/sydney-swans/sydney-swans-adam-goodes-celebrates-goal-with-indigenous-war-dance-ruffles-feathers-20150529-ghczbr.html

fan (n.2)

"devotee," 1889, American English, originally of baseball enthusiasts, probably a shortening of fanatic, but it may be influenced by the fancy, a collective term for followers of a certain hobby or sport (especially boxing); see fancy (n.). There is an isolated use from 1682, but the modern word likely is a late 19c. formation. Fan mail attested from 1920, in a Hollywood context; Fan club attested by 1930.