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everyone knows this, and he expressed immense contrition. I think it's reasonable to assume he means it.
He's the opposite of Unkle Ted. Ted lived what he preached. Freddie is that which Ted tended to despise. Ted wanted to destroy the systems and disavowed material possessions or any semblance of a normal life; Freddie makes a good living at it and benefits from the continuation of the system even if he has some well-justified gripes about it. Freddie has never been a 'tear-it-down' type guy in any of his writings. I don't think he has ever been sold on the ability of individuals or organizations to make any sort of sweeping societal change, but rather his philosophy is about optimizing one's personal situation based on the constraints and rules imposed by society, than any impetus to create a new or better society. His views are more nihilistic in this sense than revolutionary.
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