Mill on the Individual

Following is a very interesting passage from Berlin's book on liberty where he talks about John Stuart Mill and his ideas. Even though they were laid down a long time ago they appear just as relevant now. In a society which I fundamentally see as getting more homogenized, in which the space within which an Individual can be both creative and destructive, harbor unappetizing views which go against the grain and be independent, is continuously decreasing, where the very idea of tolerance of those notions which we find absolutely abhorrent is being seen as debatable, the following thoughts appear very relevant. If I were to point out one distinctive barometer of the sophistication of civilization of a society I'd say it is how fiercely it protects the freedoms of those whose ideas it finds the most detestable. With this, on to the passage:

Mill's overmastering desire for variety and individuality for their own sake emerges in many shapes. He notes that 'Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest' - an apparent 'truism' which nevertheless, he declares, 'stands... opposed to the general tendency of existing opinion and practice'... He remarks that it is the habit of his time to impose conformity to an 'approved standard', namely to desire nothing strongly. Its ideal of character is to be without any marked character; to maim by compression,..., every part of human nature which stands out prominently, and tends to make the person markedly dissimilar in outline to commonplace humanity... 'Comparatively speaking, they now read the same things, go to the same places, have their hopes and fears directed to the same objects, have the same rights and liberties, and the same means of asserting them... All the political changes of the age promote this assimilation, since they all tend to raise the low and to lower the high. Every extension of education promotes it, because education brings people under common influence... Improvements in means of communication promote it, as does the ascendancy of public opinion. There is so great a mass of influences hostile to Individuality that 'In this age, the mere example of nonconformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom is itself a service.' Conformity, and the intolerance which is its offensive and defensive arm, are for Mill always detestable, and peculiarly horrifying in an age which thinks itself enlightened... Mill's suspicion of democracy as the only just, and yet potentially the most oppressive, form of government springs from the same roots. He wondered uneasily whether centralization of authority and the inevitable dependence of each on all and 'surveillance of each and all' would not end by grinding all down into 'a tame uniformity of thought, dealings and actions', and produce 'automatons in human form'... Men's disposition to impose their own views on others is so strong that, in Mill's view, only want of power restricts it; this power is growing; hence unless further barriers are erected it will increase, leading to a proliferation of 'conformers', 'time-servers', hypocrites,.. and finally to a society where timidity has killed independent thought.