Between freedom and fascism:
How much freedom do we want, how much do we say we want, and
how much do we want things decided for us?
A very interesting test case, which we can learn a lot from,
is computer operating systems. Nowhere perhaps is this question more apparent
than in computers where people claim they want to control configuration, but
also want a simple clean interface.
For instance, I lately decided to try out windows 7 release
candidate to see how it is. It is very nice besides one thing which really
annoys me (the task bar in my case) and which can't be configured the way I
want it (the way it was before, unsurprisingly). Then people get upset at the
lack of configuration, and some move to a Mac. This is of course ironic as
Mac's are as close as you can get to fascism where you have almost no choice.
But this lack of choice is also easy and comforting – this is how it is, and as
fascism go they do many things nicely. (A footnote for the computer experts and
mac fanatics out there – perhaps if you know the in and outs of programming you
can configure things; Similarly, being a member of the ruling party in
fascistic regimes you don't need to follow all their rules).
More than the debate mac/pc I think the two options and
people's preferences are illuminating. None of us are free from the pull of
fascism. PC users are not necessarily these free birds while Mac users are
sheep (walking after the “cool”/charismatic shepherd). In all of us there is
this pull for a lack of freedom. But it is also interesting how giving people
some freedom makes them notice most the lack of freedom, and how this
simultaneously leads to wanting to have no freedom.
A precision needs to be made though. It is not merely the
extra freedom of Windows which makes us want to reconfigure things but the fact
that they are done badly. There is a certain perfection in macs where you don't
feel the same need to fiddle with things as they are the way they are.
But these feelings should be analyzed.
I'm not sure where they come from, but I am sure the feeling of perfection is
an illusion. Similarly the feeling of being done badly is also not completely
correct but comes from a different viewpoint and compromises. (After working a
bit in Windows 7 I understand why they did what I don't like. It is still
annoying and they should probably fix it, but it goes with some new things they
did and they don't want to have you have too many things to configure. It's
complicated).
Almost none of us want to decide everything in our lives. A
friend of mine when needing to have a small surgery done was asked to choose
between several possible methods – the doctors wouldn't choose for them. Similarly,
a friend and recent father recounted the many choices they had to make for the
childbirth with almost no guidance from the doctors who don't want to take
responsibility for a choice.
Yes, it is important to have choice
post and to see possibilities,
but is that what people want?
