Democracy is far too important to be the preserve of the elite | Giles Fraser: Loose canon
Towards the end of CS Lewis's The Silver Chair there is a fascinating little exchange between a rather dour marsh-wiggle called Puddleglum and a brilliant sorceress that has imprisoned him and his friends below ground. Tightening her grip on their minds, the witch tries to convince Puddleglum that there is no such thing as above ground, that Narnia and Aslan are all fantasies, that his quest for something better is hopeless. The friends are close to being persuaded when Puddleglum finds some inner strength to resist. His argument is stuttering. He admits that maybe he's wrong and a dreamer. Yet his made-up world feels a lot more inspiring than the apparently real one described by the witch. "That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia."
I write in half-defence of what is now being called "post-truth politics". In half-defence only because - obviously - I'm not enthusiastic about defending Trump-like liars and political frauds, or the idea that people in power can say anything they like regardless of its truth. But still, there is something about Puddleglum's answer that represents a noble suspicion of what is asserted as established and uncontestable reality by intellectual elites.
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