Jack Freestone Quotes

“China is my immovable feast.”
― Jack Freestone

“China is my moveable feast.”
― Jack Freestone

“I often wonder whether popular opinion supported by rigorous laws, peer pressure, controls on us are weakening the human race.

Where has all the passion gone? Where has all the unique individual character gone? Where have all the larger-than-life people gone?

Where are the Ian Curtis’s? The David Byrnes? The Holly Johnsons? The Charlie Chaplins, the John McEnroes, the Picassos, the Marilyn Monroes, the Audrey Hepburns, the Humphrey Bogarts, the John Lenons, the Charles Bukowskis, the JFKs, the Mohammed Alis, the Bruce Lees, the Elvis Presleys, the Martin Luther Kings, the Ghandis, the Jesus Christs, the Hemingways, the James Bonds, the Jimi Hendrixs, the Churchills, the Stalins, the Hitlers, the Chairman Maos, the Pink Floyds, the James Deans, the Jim Morrissons, the Mozarts, the Beethovens, the Shakespeares, the Oscar Wildes, the Leonardo Da Vincis, the Van Goghs?

Have they all been swallowed up by globalisation, by the average opinion, by Oprah Winfrey’s in crowd and her infamous make or break book lists?

Bukowski put the lack of future talent down to increased communication in the world. TV, internet, making us all the same.

Are people such as Mike Tyson, Mickey Rourke and Liam Gallagher examples of the last watered-down remnants of a strong passionate human race? The last glowing embers in a forest fire to die just before the dawn?

The deletion of individualism, is something that can be seen in China. I have noticed it with my older students, when I ask them a question.

At first, no one will put their hand up. Then, when pushed, perhaps the class leader or monitor will raise their hand. At this point most of them follow and put their hands up. Communism in a nutshell. Follow the leader. Group thinking, and mentality.

And this mentality, makes the masses of people in China easier to control.

But reverting to my previous observation, related to the lack of individual talent in the West, perhaps the West are blindly following this model without really knowing it.”
― Jack Freestone, The Fake Celebrity in China