There is a never-ending battle against those who think – no, who are sure – they know what is best for us.
It is a great problem, this claim by others to determine exactly how we should live our lives. At a most important level, of course, such a claim has led historically to the imposition of various kinds of autocratic rule causing untold misery to countless generations. The ill-fated attempt in the Soviet Union to control and direct men’s lives “for their own good” only came unstuck after more than 70 years. The implacable resolve of a self-selected few to give the mass of citizens what they, the few, considered best for them, the masses, led to one of humanity’s more deadly misadventures. And, sadly there never will be a time when unshakeable convictions of this kind are out of fashion.
And, what is more, we forever live with the same problem in a minor key. It is the problem of the deluge of ‘advice’ we receive from this, that, and the other ‘expert’ about what is and what is not good for us. We are constantly instructed to do what, they say, is good for us or not to do what, they say, is bad for us. If all this was delivered in the form of mild advice from a friend it wouldn’t be so bad, but what is objectionable is the
