delegating thought to committee-loving authorities?

Thought is not democratic.

That might look strange, but there it is. I say this because the opponents of free and independent thinking often utilize the trappings of democracy to stifle an individual's thought. They forget that in a free society, authority -- whether elected, appointed, or popularly acclaimed -- does not convey authority over any individual's thoughts.

It may sound painfully obvious in theory, but in practice the authoritarians just don't get it.

Authoritarian. There's an emotionally loaded word. These days, the people who use it are often referring to Republicans, especially Republicans they deem fascists or pseudo-fascists. You don't want to be called an authoritarian, because it's almost as bad as being called a racist. Yet if you look carefully, it's usually quite apparent that the people who devote their time calling people authoritarians and racists believe very much in authority (particularly of themselves and those they support), as well as systems of identity politics which classify people according to their race and reward some races more than others. This is not to say that there aren't right wing authoritarians, because there are. But to call it a right wing phenomenon is about as illogical as calling racism a right wing phenomenon.

Authority is by no means limited to people elected to office. It often takes the form of people who have apparent authority to speak for others -- especially in organizations. Such people can be more tyrannical than elected officials, because they often gain authority by a willingness to attend endless meetings -- which the people they purport to "lead" do not have time to attend. Thus, individual members of professional organizations can end up discovering that they are being spoken for by people they'd never paid attention to before, and in many cases never heard of. If you're a pediatrician who also belongs to the NRA, you might be shocked to discover that your professional organization favors disarming gun-owning citizens who made the mistake of having children.

I'm a dues-paying member of the California Bar Association, and I am sure I would be at least as shocked to discover what is being advocated in "my" name as a growing group of California veterinarians recently were when they discovered that "their" organization supported California's draconian AB 1634 (the mandatory spay neuter bill, which I have discussed in more posts than I can readily count).

From their recent letter in opposition to the bill:

....We also object to the involvement of our state veterinary association, WITHOUT the input of members.

We oppose Bill AB1634 because:

1. We object to government intervention on this issue
2. We were not consulted nor informed about this bill during its development
3. The bill is poorly designed, cannot successfully be enforced and would be extremely costly to attempt to enforce
4. The bill does not address the true source of pet overpopulation
5. The bill penalizes responsible citizens
6. The bill has a significant negative impact of the California economy
Our concerns regarding AB1634, pending before the State Assembly, include but are not limited to:

1. Veterinarian recommendation: We strongly believe that owners should be allowed to choose, with their veterinarian's guidance, whether their dog or cat should neutered and the appropriate age to do the procedure. This decision should not be mandated by state legislation. [...]

In this instance, the authoritarians are (IMO) a very few veterinarian activists who claim to speak for a group of people who simply practice veterinary medicine, but who never imagined that by doing so, they were giving up any right to think for themselves -- which includes the right to support or oppose legislation.

Yet this law, if passed, would go further, and by intruding on their right to practice veterinary medicine as they see fit, it would intrude on their individual consciences, and individual sense of ethics.

I think it's tyrannical, and I'm glad I'm not a California veterinarian, or I might lose my license by encouraging or advocating illegal conduct.

Fortunately, there's no such organizational tyranny or ethical codes in the blogosphere, although some self-appointed wannabe authoritarian types have tried to create it. (My reactions are here and here, and I especially liked Jeff Jarvis's reaction.) There is, however, no system of real, enforceable authority. No way to tell anyone what to think. No command and control center based on the usual emotional communitarian drivel.

No matter how many meetings such people might attend.

posted by Eric on 05.16.07 at 09:32 AM





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Comments

The problem here is the degree to which any organization can claim to represent its membership. Does the NRA accurately represent the opinions of all its members? Of course not. AARP has had a number of imbroglios when it advocated political positions that portions of the membership disapproved of. We see this kind of problem all the time. The only way to address it is to let the disaffected minority throw the rascals out in the next election (if they have the votes) or leave the organization.

Froblyx   ·  May 16, 2007 11:21 AM

You are so right! Intrigued and want to know more? Read what

href=http://www.librarything.com/author/ruddychristopher>Christopher Ruddy

has to say.

Tori   ·  May 16, 2007 12:38 PM

But Ruddy never told me what was on Vincent Foster's hard drive!

Eric Scheie   ·  May 16, 2007 02:39 PM

That's also why I avoided buying a house in a homeowner's association. It's a government run by those with time to attend meetings. We consulted an English-Greek dictionary and came up with a word for it:

Argocracy: rule by the unemployed

Karl Gallagher   ·  May 16, 2007 02:41 PM

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