Here’s something to listen to for Sunday afternoon: A lecture Prof. Paul Rahe gave about tyranny this spring, distinguishing the ancient & modern types of tyranny, & then further looking at the distinct types within modern tyranny. Ancient tyranny was primarily a consequence of the conflict among ambitious men—what happens when one wins? Unlike sports, there’s no rematch, or at any rate the winner has a strong desire to avoid it & the means are often at hand. In that sense, tyranny was only dangerous to ambitious men. It reduced everyone else to private life, but it often provided safety & the various good things that depend on it. Prof. Rahe thus comes to a very important point: Almost all men at all times & almost all men today are ruled despotically, as the master rules the slaves. That’s strong evidence that tyranny is in some sense natural; of course, the emergence of ambitious men is also evidence of natural superiority in various important respects.
Modern tyranny is different to ancient tyranny because it adds to the desire of the tyrant to be held in awe by all the ideological power of creating revolutions & totalitarianism; the means at the disposal of the tyrant not only reduce the people to private life, but can invade private life as well, through doctrines, espionage, & the other institutions of modern life. But this can be taken further, given our digital technology—tyranny can penetrate not just the home, but to some extent the human mind. How can we defend human nature in such a predicament? Listen to Prof. Rahe’s lecture & consider what can be done in favor of freedom.