Fernando Savater: Freedom | Opinion

Antoine Augustin Parmentier was a pharmacist and gardener, but above all an ingenious man. He was convinced that the potato, used in the 18th century only to feed livestock or decorate a garden with its flowers, could be a healthy and nutritious food. But the people did not want to eat potatoes: the clergymen maintained that what grew underground was the devil’s thing, the rebels considered it a mess they gave to beggars to humiliate them. Better to die haughtily of hunger. Parmentier turned to Louis XVI, who wasn’t very supportive either, but at least he put a potato flower on his lapel (they didn’t cut off his head for that, but for other signs of bonhomie). The tenacious Parmentier asked the king for the exclusivity of the cultivation of the tuber and then he made publicity: he planted it in his field of Sablons (more or less where the Eiffel Tower is now) and put up fierce guards that prevented the common people from approaching his plants to steal cuttings. But they kept watch only during the day and took discreet bribes on Parmentier’s advice: at night, everyone could walk into the Sablons and take whatever they wanted. Convinced of stealing a treasure that was denied to them, the smart guys took it upon themselves to spread the potato throughout the country. The philanthropist had done his job.

We need other Parmentiers to convince those reluctant to get the covid-19 vaccine and end this plague as with others. But, ah, the dumbest ones invoke their freedom to refuse, as if being free consisted of rejecting rational rules and running red lights. I do not know if so many crimes are committed in the name of freedom as Madame Roland said, but of course a lot of nonsense.