Speaking of nonsense.
The whole object of your modernity is to shape society and it’s patrons away from their instincts, physical and mental limits and steer them towards being generally weaker by accepting their mediocrity and all it’s traps and pitfalls. The kind of philosophy that applauds all of those trying to rise against what their minds and bodies tell them, trying to overcome their ineptitude to show that they can reach a bar… a bar that is forever being lowered so that more of your “free” people can reach it in the name of making them feel better about themselves. You don’t understand that allowing people to go by instinct and teaching them that when they fail they shouldn’t keep trying, but find something else they are good at instead of giving them participation ribbons and pats on the back to keep trying at something that their mind and body knows it can’t do.
You don’t have the foresight to understand that the mediocrity that you celebrate leads to many more people being in careers and occupations that aren’t fit for. You will begin to produce sub-par products, create sub-par engineered buildings and infrastructure and create masses of people that are so dumbed down by you wanting them all to “feel good about themselves” that you can’t even find the talented ones anymore. This goes for all things in this so called “modern life” we celebrate so highly, we have made it an embarrassment and not a triumph to excel at anything other than occupations meant to entertain (sports, film, media). You are made to feel lesser for being better than other people, you are ashamed to be prideful, you are ashamed to be talented and are taught to hide it or be isolated for your “narcissism”.
We don’t celebrate great mothers and exemplar them, instead teaching that women who otherwise would be great mothers, should try for other careers because being a mother is not a career but a side job. We don’t celebrate great leaders of corporations who find balance in work and family and raise both great businesses and great families. We don’t celebrate the innovators, the radical thinkers, the outlaws who overturn unjust laws… we see only the companies, the money trails, and the movements of the mediocre group of people behind the leaders. We are taught to not have pride, to not hold honor and integrity above being accepted by society and all of it’s current culture and ideology. We must follow, and when we follow we must all be the mediocre. In schools, we share valedictorian with lesser students because we have to prove that all people are equal, we don’t celebrate the beautiful girls in favor of making other lesser girls feel more “accepted”. We accept fat bodies as something not to be ashamed of, we accept stupid people into college on the basis of race instead of achievement, we accept the weak and make the strong feel like they should not try any harder than the bar that is set for everyone else.
It’s a dangerous thing, this Modernity that you speak of. It erodes away at everything we should be celebrating as human kind. This societal shoehorning of the general populace is misguided paternalism in it’s most destructive form, worse than the paternalism of most religions and institutions. Eventually, all we will have left are the heroes of the entertainment world and all the drooling masses who are watching and gobbling up all the bad messages and sitting in the muck of a mediocre society that could have been something great.
Your freedom is a myth. My freedom occurs because I follow my instincts, challenge and test my mind, and know my limits and do not accept what this modern world tries to spoon feed me. I teach my children the same. Accept your instincts, listen to your body, probe and understand your mind in all it’s strengths and weaknesses. Do not fight against your talents, celebrate them and be proud of them and do not accept what society thinks is “best” for you. Because THAT isn’t freedom.