Brief Eulogy of Freedom 3000B.C.E Enlightenment is perceived as the doctrine of Hinduism. “You are only as free as you can perceive, but you are going to come back several times until you perceive it right” 1290 B.C.E Moses frees the Israelites as the first real illustration of freedom, almost killing them in the process by the Red Sea. Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and takes as many Hebrews as slaves. 50 years later Hebrew are liberated to rebuild Jerusalem. Romans, epitome of civilization, take slaves, states, beheaded, martyred, and adopt the religion of Moses The Roman church introduces religion as salvation to the people The papacy and the church overrides any constitution and taxes the people heavily, and establishes its own army and torts 551 B.C.E Confucius introduced confusion as an effective means of government and natural social leadership. The first form of capitalism 221 B.C.E The emperor of the first Chinese dynasty (Qin dynasty) executes Confucians (bashing their heads with big clubs), but establishes a great wall to free Chinese provinces from the barbarians. Feudal and hereditary socio-economy system continues. Enlightenment era. Erasmus introduces a perception called humanity Modern imperialists like the British and Portuguese enslave certain states simultaneously spreading code of ethics and democracy, while the French were infiltrating cultures to spread the importance of culture 1776-America is established, a group of slave owners who wanted to be free Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery. He was immediately shot...for reasons unclear America as leader of the free world buys up all the guns in the world and remains a superpower, liberating other states from trouble. A single government called U.N is established who is supposed to preach humanity, freedom, and corruption 101. 2006 C.E The Arabs riots every where in respect to cartoons of the holy prophet, not withstanding the fact that these cartoons where drawn in the West, the crown jewel of freedom and free speech. The West however, leaders of the free world, would regulate drugs, alcohol, tobacco, prostitution, medicine, cock fighting, and even telephone and internet use. Tobacco being legalized however only after the Kennedys had a strong hold on alcohol manufacture and distribution. Closing prayers and remarks Is freedom dead? It really was never alive to begin with.I may be a slave to alcohol but we are working on our relationship.
There were many instances of freedom. The pioneers who moved westward across the North American plains had little or no strings attached to them by any authorities. Early America overall itself is a good example minus the unnecessary slavery which was a legacy of British colonialism. Some of the ancient tribes or clans before the era of massive organized religions probably enjoyed quite a bit of individual liberty. The ancient Greek polis was probably pretty free for everyone overall. The trend overall is a reduction of liberty when uniform control gets extended over a larger body of people, or when people come from a multitude of backgrounds of conflicting ideals, but live under the same goverment. We could someday reorganize for highly localized independence of like people but this primitive and barbaric era of globalisation of authority, bloated church or temple power and international corporate exploitation will thwart anyone who dares such heresy. Welcome to the Dark Ages II.
"Freedom" to the average person who doesn't spend much time thinking about it consciously, rather than to a philosopher, is really the freedom to make choices about his own life. Yet those choices are highly constrained by the natural and social environment in which he lives. Neolithic hunter-gatherers had a work week that has been estimated at around eighteen hours. They got to spend the rest of their lives doing "whatever they wanted." Of course there was no music, theater, or literature as we know it to spend their time on, and not much art. No really special food. No ability to travel beyond walking speed and with the supplies they could carry or rustle up on the trail. Not many interesting ideas to jawbone, since they'd probably die without talking to more than the couple of hundred people in their tribe. Not even any pets until dogs domesticated themselves toward the end of the Neolithic Era. Today I have a forty-hour work week plus the ten hours I spend getting there and back. I don't spend eighteen hours hunting and gathering food but I do spend considerable time laying in supplies at the supermarket, the gas station, and Costco. But I have 400 channels of cable TV, entire libraries full of books, concerts and theaters to attend. My wife makes sumptuous food from a dozen different countries and we have restaurants that cover the ones she hasn't mastered yet. I've tasted many of those cuisines in the countries that produced them. I've met thousands of people to exchange ideas with, especially since the invention of the internet. We have eleven dogs plus pets of several other species. This life offers a bounty of choices. I wouldn't trade it for a Neolithic existence, obsessed with survival, deprived of all but the most basic natural stimulation, stifled in a tiny community of people who don't know anything I don't know. Who is more free? As Oscar Mandel put it, "Freedom is that particular form of slavery which we happen to enjoy."
GO and live naked in the woods... and you will be free.. until you run into other people... in which case.. you will have to deal with them... and during that time... you are not free... willingly or not.. you become part of a social order... no matter how chaotic. -MT
