I have been reading both Henri de Lubac’s «Augustinianism and Modern Theology», a historical overview of the evolution of the idea of nature and grace in Catholic theology from Augustine to modern times, and Georges Bernanos’s «La liberté, pour quoi faire?» (Liberty, for What?), a book that serves as a sort of sequel to his France Against the Robots. It continues his critique of the dissipation of liberties in favor of the centralization of power in the hands of the state and capital, achieved by undermining the value of culture and substituting it with mass propaganda. It’s funny to see how a book written in the 1940s is more relevant today than ever.
“But what do you have to lose? How important is it to you to be instantly recognized, thanks to the simplest and most infallible means? Only the criminal gains an advantage by hiding….”
He did not fail to acknowledge the value of reasoning, but he was not convinced. At that time, indeed, Mr. Bertillon’s procedure only threatened the criminal, and it still does today. It was the meaning of the word criminal that expanded prodigiously, eventually coming to designate any citizen who was unfavorable to the Regime, the System, the Party, or to the man who embodies them. […]
The idea that a citizen who had never before been involved with his country’s justice system should remain perfectly free to disguise his identity if he so wished—whether because he was the sole judge or simply out of pleasure, and that any indiscretion by a police officer in this realm could not be tolerated without very serious reasons—is an idea that no longer surfaces in anyone’s mind. It may not be far off the day when it will seem as natural to leave the key in the lock—so that the police can enter our homes day and night—as it is to open our wallets at any request. And when the State deems it more practical, in order to save the time of its countless inspectors, to impose an external mark upon us, why should we hesitate to let ourselves be branded with iron, on the cheek or the buttocks, like the herd? The purge of dissenters, so dear to totalitarian regimes, would then be immensely facilitated.
Georges Bernanos - France Against the Robots
I have been reading both Henri de Lubac’s «Augustinianism and Modern Theology», a historical overview of the evolution of the idea of nature and grace in Catholic theology from Augustine to modern times, and Georges Bernanos’s «La liberté, pour quoi faire?» (Liberty, for What?), a book that serves as a sort of sequel to his France Against the Robots. It continues his critique of the dissipation of liberties in favor of the centralization of power in the hands of the state and capital, achieved by undermining the value of culture and substituting it with mass propaganda. It’s funny to see how a book written in the 1940s is more relevant today than ever.