Freedom and Anxiety

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

ILLUSTRATION. An anti-hoax themed mural under the Rawa Buntu flyover, Serpong, South Tangerang, Monday (11/3/2019).

Anxiety has clouded the world, triggering primordial sentiments across the globe. Fanning the flames of hostility against those that are "different" have become an epidemic, even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic that has struck all nations, religions, ideologies and economies.

The flow of globalization has freed the public sphere and intensified interaction between societies. Freedom and interaction raise many expectations. In fact, these high expectations are not always in line with fulfilling the expectations for justice. It is this wide gap between freedom and justice that breeds anxiety and violence.