Is "freedom" fiction?
Ahh, thank you for tuning in for yet another cortex neuro-electric storm, fueled by one of the only socially acceptable and legal drugs of current times; "coffee"!
::Disclaimer: at current moment it is not illegal to consume coffee in public or in the privacy of your own home....perhaps in the future, the Christian Coalition will deem caffeine a deadly threat to the malleable minds of its youth and have one of their "Angels of Ignorance" or "Preachers of Pestilence" elected into office to ban said caffeine...::
So it goes...
"The Land of the Free", "Free Will", "Free Spirit", "Free Parking"... I believe in only one of these, because I can show you where to park your Civic for free if you're ever in Ybor City, "Land of the Parking Meter & $10 lot".
"Don, what are you saying?! We live in the wonderful utopian land of the United States of America, the 'land of the frickin free'. Hey, if you don't like it, get the fuck out!"
Now, now, John Q. American... I'm not saying that I think the U.S. sucks, I probably wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the world (but then again, I've never lived in another country; however, Canada and Australia don't seem that bad...hmmm).
Perhaps we're going back to Philosophy 101 when I ask:
"What the fuck is freedom anyway?"
When we say we are "free", what is it that we are free from? and to throw an M-80 on the fire...
Do people even want to be free, or even more provocative, SHOULD people be free? Or, is it just some idealistic mental illusion?
Do you think people only want freedom within parameters of control?
For example, you can put a baby in a crib and let the baby be free to do what he/she wills; however, the little snot can only do it in the confines of the crib. Adults in the world have a similar crib and it's made out of "laws" and "social/political pressure".
Are we any more free than the baby in the crib?
Okay, I've got to get some coffee because I need to get "regular".
::Disclaimer: at current moment it is not illegal to consume coffee in public or in the privacy of your own home....perhaps in the future, the Christian Coalition will deem caffeine a deadly threat to the malleable minds of its youth and have one of their "Angels of Ignorance" or "Preachers of Pestilence" elected into office to ban said caffeine...::
So it goes...
"The Land of the Free", "Free Will", "Free Spirit", "Free Parking"... I believe in only one of these, because I can show you where to park your Civic for free if you're ever in Ybor City, "Land of the Parking Meter & $10 lot".
"Don, what are you saying?! We live in the wonderful utopian land of the United States of America, the 'land of the frickin free'. Hey, if you don't like it, get the fuck out!"
Now, now, John Q. American... I'm not saying that I think the U.S. sucks, I probably wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the world (but then again, I've never lived in another country; however, Canada and Australia don't seem that bad...hmmm).
Perhaps we're going back to Philosophy 101 when I ask:
"What the fuck is freedom anyway?"
When we say we are "free", what is it that we are free from? and to throw an M-80 on the fire...
Do people even want to be free, or even more provocative, SHOULD people be free? Or, is it just some idealistic mental illusion?
Do you think people only want freedom within parameters of control?
For example, you can put a baby in a crib and let the baby be free to do what he/she wills; however, the little snot can only do it in the confines of the crib. Adults in the world have a similar crib and it's made out of "laws" and "social/political pressure".
Are we any more free than the baby in the crib?
Okay, I've got to get some coffee because I need to get "regular".
posted by Don the "Head Chimp" at
8:03 AM
6 Comments:
Well one thing is for sure we are not free from spam. However Freedom is not an illusion. I'm free to do what ever it is that I want. I've never been forced to do anything I didn't want to do by our government. Granted there are certain hoops and back alleys one must pass through to do certain things, other than that things are ok. I really think the problem is that there are two many people(warm bodies) in this world. The more people we have the more people to b1tch about inane things. Also laws are to generalized, specifically laws drawn up to prevent people from certain things that may cause them to break an actual law - circular logic, it works people. But the bottom line is I believe that we all need to contribute to the general population. We should all pay taxes, we should all really figure out what people believe in and vote for who we believe is right. I don't believe in voting for a label (Democrat, GOP, Green, NORML). People who do that are idiots. I also think that people should break the laws they find to be wrong. So please walk your aligator down the right side of Rochester Road!
By
Anonymous, at 10:09 AM
I prefer to be referred to as "Jane Q. American", thank you. ;)
Technically, we are free. At least freer than most other countries. I am free to spit on whomever I choose; though they are then free to give me an assbeating. Justin Timberlake is free to suck at everything he attempts.
The crazy Nazi-esque right-wingers are free to decide who should die and who should live Abortion Vs. Death Penalty). But the people in power are free to override that decision.
The social mores of this country put people on the Sex Offenders List by peeing on the side of the road. It's all society, dude. If an argument is compelling enough, you are free to get away with damn near everything.
As for me, I am free to hump as many individuals as I choose, smoke a carton of fags one after the other, and then run my car into an abandoned building.
That was the long way of getting to what I mean.
In short: We do not have a draft. We do not have a dictator. You're basically free to do whatever (or whomever- you know, whatever) you please; as long as it does not infringe on the health, safety, and/or rights of others.
Our country really isn't that bad. I could name a thousand in which they have it worse. So we have a president who isn't the brightest star in the sky. We may be in an unnecessary war. However, I will argue that every one of those soldiers are there by their own volition. Sure, some of them "had" to, you may argue. They had no where else to go -- they grew up in Flint or something. But, they made the choice, and that choice was because of freedom. They certainly didn't have to.
They were free to make a choice.
I don't know if I gave you what you wanted, or not. I have had barely any caffiene, I have to watch "Monster's Ball" (don't ask), and I have to take my 60 year old pervert of a father to dinner tonight.
And if he talks about Fox News one more time, I am going to ladle out his brains with a silver spoon.
Peace!
By
Anonymous, at 3:07 PM
Is Freedom worth the Beating?
Sure, we're all free to do what we will in this country; You could spit on someone, sure. Justin Timberlake works hard at sucking, absolutely. Etc.
However, society has created laws which serve as the bars upon our crib. There are variations upon the control and extent of those laws across countries, and yes, we are relatively free in what we'd like to do.
Where is the line between laws created for safety's sake, and laws created to control ideas and people's rights?
Can you imagine a nation, or world, for that matter without law and order? Probably not. However, true freedom would be without law and society, true freedom is without un-natural restriction or imposition.
Natural limitations will always impact our ability to do certain things (i.e.- such as the laws of physics, etc.), so that type of restriction doesn't really count.
My point is that we are only as free as we're allowed by our laws that we have deemed necessary for society to function.
If we break the law we are punished. You could be charged with assault for spitting on someone. Justin Timberlake could be arrested or given a citation if his shit is so bad it injured or offended somebody else. (I've personally have been injured listening to some of his work with N'Sync, and I'm contemplating filing charges!)
In a way, we can never be completely free because we want a society with laws that work to both protect and limit our freedoms, while those who enforce the law dispense punishment on those who violate those said laws.
The irony is that we want freedom, but fear the repercusions of total freedom.
So where does that leave us?
Content with doing anything we want within the confines of our cribs...
By
Don the "Head Chimp", at 4:00 PM
I don't think you can justify a belief in both cause and effect relationships and free will.
By
D a n i e l, at 5:53 PM
File charges! File charges!
In America, you're free to file charges!
By
Anonymous, at 9:58 PM
Freedom of the Free
Freedom is a perspective and philosophical issue.
Philosophically, Dan is correct; "we are never free in the realm of cause and effect". Why do things occur? Causation. I believe a Rush song lyric goes: "Even if you choose not to choose, you still have made a choice".
Freedom is really a matter of relative perspective, not an objective reality.
Next time you think you ARE "free", think of what goes into your decisions or the circumstances, and decide whether or not you compromised or made a decision that was thought out; if you did, it was not completely free of causation.
Next time you think you are NOT free, as an American, conduct a reality check by thinking of the thousands of inocent people murdered in other countries throughout the course of power struggles between different groups day after day throughout all of history and the future.
By
Don the "Head Chimp", at 10:51 AM
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