Freedom and Democracy

Erich Fromm

The essay “Freedom and Democracy” is taken from Erich Fromm’s famous work The Fear of Freedom. This essay is about the thought process of the modern world. He begins the essay by stating that the individuals feel powerless and alone, anxious and insecure due to the modern industrial systems. The developments instead of making humans to feel powerful, leave them with many psychological problems. In this essay he looks at five major aspects and its impact towards the degradation of human psyche. They are 1) freedom of expression, 2) originality discouraged, 3) Confusing Issues, 4) loss of self, 5) sacrifice.

1) Freedom of Expression:

The modern humans think proudly that they have their individuality and thus they are uncontrollable by any external authority. Hence they believe that they have complete freedom to express their thoughts and feelings which again guarantee about their individuality. Contradictorily in reality societies in general discourage emotions. Emotions are viewed as being unbalanced and humans are suggested to live without emotions. However avoiding emotions completely is impossible which may pave way for the cheap sentimental movies and songs. The writer insists upon the importance of emotion by describing about a tabooed emotion i.e. the sense of tragedy. Suppression of the sense of tragedy affects the root of personality. The writer is of the view that awareness of death and tragic aspects of life are the basic characteristic of human. He gives example of the practice of coping with the problem of death from various cultures. Both the Greeks and the Christianity religion look at death as a shadow that promises life after death. Only the Jews accepted death realistically. The society instead of allowing humans to be aware of death, suppresses it subconsciously. The denial of sad expressions about death leaves human to live with the fear of death. With this example, Fromm tries to project that the present society lacks freedom of expression.

2. Originality Discouraged:

This sub-heading is the continuation of the previous one. Like emotions, original thinking is also misrepresented in the society. Children are filled with curiosity to know the world both physically and intellectually. But their curiosity/interest is not taken seriously and forces them to have modern education. Fromm believes that education discourages original thinking and on the other hand it insists on filling mind with readymade thoughts. Thus modern education maimed independent thinking of the children.

          Fromm explains some of the educational methods that discourage original thinking. 1) The importance given to knowledge of facts. Here knowledge of a person is assessed based on more number of information/facts one knows. Thus information alone becomes knowledge which in reality is an obstacle to thinking. Hence one should maintain balance between information and thinking. 2) Considering all truth as connected: truth in reality is based on the interest and need of individuals. Some even may try to conceal truth. Without interest no one will be finding truth and altogether every human will have a need to find truth.

3. Confusing Issues:

 Another big problem with the present society is to confuse the issues. Even a smaller problem is made as a complicated one which cannot be understood by a common person. It is projected in a way that only a specialist can understand. Continuous flow of information stop humans from giving specific importance to one fact. Thus ability to think critically is paralysed with the constructed ideas of the world. Radio, TV and Newspapers play a crucial role in the construction of such notions. News about some serious issue is interrupted by advertisements for a fancy or luxurious item. This disturbs one’s genuine emotion towards the issue. It leads to change in the attitude of humans and they look at everything with indifference. In the name of freedom humans break the structure of life and he/she looks at it as a piece and not as a whole.

Humans lack originality not only in feeling or thinking but also in the act of willing. Whatever humans have as their desire is not originally theirs but the societies. From education to luxury house and car, they live with the thought of others. When they realise that they do not need those assumed ambitions, they reject such thought which made them tired or depressed. Later, again they start to work towards aims which they assume as theirs. This proves that even human ambitions are not original.

4. Loss of Self:

The next concept loss of self leaves one to doubt his/her own identity. The negative freedom what the modern human celebrate leaves him/her to be an isolated and weak self. Due to the feeling of isolation and to avoid loneliness, they try to keep themselves engaged with continuous work. Spontaneous realisation of the self is the only way through which humans can get out such lonely feel. Love is the basic component of such spontaneous realisation. Here love does not mean possession of others or dissolution of the self in another but it is a union of individual with others. Love leads to be in oneness and at the same time it maintains individuality. Another component of spontaneous realisation is work. Fromm looks at work as a creation where humans and nature become one in the act of creation. He rejects the other views of work such as relationship to nature, activity to escape from aloneness. Thus work and love maintains the individuality of the self and unites the self with humans and nature. It enables human to understand the act of living and positive freedom. Positive freedom implies that individual self is the higher power and each human is the center of his/her life.

5. Sacrifice:

Many misunderstand freedom as non-submission to any power that excludes sacrifice. Even sacrifice is misunderstood by many today. Fromm talks about two types of sacrifice. 1). It is seen as a tragic fact of life where physical self conflicts with mental self. But through sacrifice the physical self will integrate with the spiritual self. 2). It is preached in the modern worlds by Fascist. Here sacrifice is not a tragic fact whereas an aim and it is contradictory to the real sacrifice. In the name of sacrifice suicide is committed. Instead of developing the self, it reduces the self to nothing. The real purpose of sacrifice is to bring integrity whereas the second type proves lack of morality.

Certain words in languages are used to hide the true meaning of a word. Fromm brings out difference between Democracy and Fascism. Democracy works for the welfare of the individuals by developing economic, political and cultural condition. Whereas Fascism forces individuals to subordinate for unnecessary purposes and through this weakens the development of individuality. When humans subordinate economic machine by mastering society, they can escape from aloneness and the feeling of powerlessness. Today’s human have better economic condition but they do not find meaning in life. It leaves them as automaton. Fromm recommends to be a human again by developing faith in life and truth and realisation of self.