PROMPT:
American essayist and social critic H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) wrote, “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.” In a well-written essay, examine the extent to which Mencken’s observation applies to contemporary society, supporting your position with appropriate evidence.
To even begin examining Mencken claim, first two words must be defined: "free", "safe." To be "free" is to be capable of living without obligation towards another existence. On the other hand, to be "safe" is to be capable of living without fear towards another existence. Being "safe" can be in regards towards nature, other nations, social groups or even other individuals. It is for this "want" of safety that man had originally built houses. Those personal shelters that protected him from the calamities of mother earth eventually progressed to groups of homes--entire civilizations--which kept the hims safe from Them. But even within the nation, man didn't feel "safe". So he erected barriers (or fences) to keep his neighbor out.
From the lips of the future president of 2016, "The fact is, since then, many killings, murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall and it has to be built quickly." In this quote President Trump is clearly addressing the safety of the American People. Clearly Trump realizes that Mencken's principle is correct about man naturally "wanting to be safe" instead of "free." Understanding this concept, the candidate embellishes this fear of poisons entering and wealth exiting the U.S. system ( a [h]uge** portion of the candidate's campaign) which effectively gains him multitudes of votes despite his incompetence, immaturity and lack of experiences in any sort of politics.
Jokes aside, realistically speaking, feeling "safe" is ephemeral. It will never last. Now note, "safe" is a feeling, which interestingly enough, is a noun but appears as a gerund. As students of the English language we can all agree that the suffix "-ing" provides motion, existentialism in the moment. Fear will always exist, because no matter how many walls you throw up to divide yourself from the external world, internally your sub-conscience will create paranoia. Because if there were no reason for growth or development, well then, there would be no reason to exist in the first place. Therefore the feeling of comfort and safety contradicts life as a whole.
In retrospect, the inner soul must present these fears in order to live.
Human is really two existences, symbiotically co-existing as one physical form--
the Soul and the Man.
So yes, the average man chooses this false sense of security, because even though the feeling is momentary, at least he still experiences something aside from the perpetual fear that flows through life. The average man cannot want freedom, because he will always be indebted to the demons inside that breathe out his fears just so he can continue living (which like feeling, is short-lived [oh snap its a pun within a pun {and an aside, within an aside, within another aside #PARATHETICAL-CEPTION}]).
At the end of the day (or at the end of my life), no matter how much life I live or how hard I try to break away, I really could never be "free", can I? I will always indebted to the monster inside me,
and I think I'd known that from the start.
Footnote:
**I'm mocking Donald Trump's accent or style of speech, he tends to say "yuuge" instead of huge
