AP

True freedom means doing what I tell you

The Victorian public can finally breathe a sigh of relief: Dr Jereth Kok has been found guilty of professional misconduct. Not that the sheepish people who were his former patients will appreciate the important work that the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) has just done – protecting them from having to think themselves.

Some of these people don’t know when they are supposed to be offended. And if they don’t know when to be offended, then they need VCAT to tell them when it is appropriate.

The doctor has a list of crimes. One of them was to post a meme that was sceptical of COVID-19 responses. He failed to run it past the ABC’s Fact Check first. Now he is getting what was coming to him.

Dr Kok is one of a class of Victorians who is unlikely to pay any homage whatsoever to the proposed statue of former Premier Dan Andrews, the man who saved Victorians from themselves.

Should you be sick with a fever, or be struggling with a child who is unwell, your first need is not a doctor who works at the coalface, but more unelected bureaucrats who run our tribunals and anti-discrimination boards.

VCAT was actually far too lenient. Threats to public safety can only be combatted with a good dose of re-education. Which they will pay for themselves, of course.

All societies down through history have had to deal with people who don’t know what’s good for them. It reminds me of the story of the all-wise, all-humble, Ape in The Last Battle:

“There! You see!” said the Ape. “It’s all arranged. And all for your own good. We’ll be able, with the money you earn, to make Narnia a country worth living in. There’ll be oranges and bananas pouring in—and roads and big cities and schools and offices and whips and muzzles and saddles and cages and kennels and prisons—Oh, everything.”

“But we don’t want all those things,” said an old Bear. “We want to be free. And we want to hear Aslan speak himself.”

“Now don’t you start arguing,” said the Ape, “for it’s a thing I won’t stand. I’m a Man: you’re only a fat, stupid old Bear. What do you know about freedom? You think freedom means doing what you like. Well, you’re wrong. That isn’t true freedom. True freedom means doing what I tell you.”

“H-n-n-h,” grunted the Bear and scratched its head; it found this sort of thing hard to understand.”

– Graham Barnes