On the record
Unfreedom means to him a denial of his experience, a refusal on the part of organized society to satisfy what he cannot help taking to be the lesson of his life.
Said by
Harold J. Laski
Source
gutenberg.orgHarold J. Laski: “Unfreedom means to him a denial of his experience, a refusal on the part of organized society to satisfy what he cannot…”
Editor's note · Context
In this quote, Laski defines unfreedom as a denial of personal experience and societal failure to acknowledge individual lessons.
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More from Harold J. Laski
To deny novelty or grievance a right of expression is a certain, if, indeed, an ultimate, validation of the truth they contain.
Ultimately, that denial is always made upon the same ground: it is insisted that the doctrines or practices attacked are subversive of the civil order.
The intolerance may be Catholic, when it insists that a unity of outlook is essential for the preservation of society; or it may be Protestant when, as with Calvin and the Socinians, it holds that the blasphemous nature of the belief…
We grant it in religion to deny it in politics; we grant it in politics, to deny it in economic matters.
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