A discussion on a radio show led to this statement being made: "how hard it is to pass on traditional values in an age when children are encouraged to think for themselves."
The free thinking society; has it been a success?

Thinking myself a liberal, I was surprised to note that I saw that increased social freedoms had actually appeared to have made society worse than better.

The Pope has apparently expressed a preference for a lack of creative and free thought, as it makes people question the fundamental principles and supernatural miracles at the heart of the Church.

He wants people to stop thinking and just accept. While it's obvious preposterous to encourage people not to think, I reckon he's got the right idea, in terms of building a 'brand'. After all, he has basically spent most of his life working for the inquisition.

People enter into a faith to fill a gap or wound in their life. The idea of faith is based on blind acceptance, so if you want to belong, just accept everything you're told. This is a tenet of a religion as far as I'm concerned, that's one reason why I don't ascribe to one. Completely free thinking in religion might well bring about its end.

Could the same argument be made for free thinking in society, then?

I don't see that allowing children to think freely has made the world a better, more open place. I would say that by asking "why?" and being encouraged to "Do what thou wilt" to quote the chaotic Aleister Crowley, is not going to bring any amount of social order.

In a recent documentary about Thatcher's Britain, BBC correspondent, Andrew Marr, observed that while Thatcher's reforms had allowed people more freedoms than they had before in business, they had not used these freedoms to create a stable society. Rather they squandered their money on emblems of wealth and power. It also brought in a greater cut-throat aspect to the business world and brought a lot more money to a much smaller group of people, initially at least.

Put simply, if people are left to their own devices, they will act like rats.

I seem to see the populous as little more than a mob. A mob that are being controlled by the media, because the government that used to control them has opted for a hands-off or softly-softly approach. Any attempt by a government to wrest some degree of social power back is met with scornful headlines of a "nanny state".

People are scared of thinking. They want to be told what to do. They are scared of change, they want it to be nice and safe and simple all the time.

The model of society shown in 'Brave New World' is the one I see us moving towards - from conception we are geared towards fulfilling a role and everything around us is designed to help us to do that with a precise carefree regularity. In the story, free thinkers are rounded up and shipped off to an otherwise unused part of the world.

However, in the brave new world that we seem to be creating, any free thinkers would probably be killed off or brainwashed, a la '1984', rather than being sent away to some new Australia of thought.

I realise it seems I have a very poor view of our society. Oh well, chin up, eh?

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