Freedom?
The questions below are provided by our very own favorite shaggy-haired musician, Chris B. Be sure to comment on other people's comments, keeping in mind that this is a discussion, not a Q &A session.
Is freedom inherited or gained? Do you think that 100 years from now people will look back and say "Why did they do that?" about something as we say when we look at slavery? If so, what, and if not, why not?
Is freedom inherited or gained? Do you think that 100 years from now people will look back and say "Why did they do that?" about something as we say when we look at slavery? If so, what, and if not, why not?
posted by Kristin L | 3:34 PM
8 Comments:
I think freedom is both inherited and gained, just like Kelly said. We're pretty lucky not to have to fight for our basic freedoms, but some stuff we do fight for and this is what makes our generation unique. If we want things like social change and I know many teenagers want opportunities for things adults get, we have to fight for them and even though this isn't exactly the same as slavery, its still a fight for freedom in a way.
I don't think there is anything going on right now as drastically wrong as slavery, just little things. Also, I think in the future generations will look back on the problems we are ignoring (like AIDS starvation in Africa) and say, "Why didn't they do anything?" We look back at the Holocaust and say things like this, so who knows what people will say in the future.
I agree with Kelly about how freedom can both be inherited and gained. Also like she said, I think that in America many people inherit freedom. However, I also think that this “inherited freedom” is not inherited equally. Here in America everyone is said to have free speech and everyone’s ideas are considered equally correct/important. However, when someone says something that many people agree with, their ideas get slammed down again and again and considered stupid and ignorant and are not taken into account. This is like what happened last night on the blog with how Kyle said that Douglass wrote the book only for monetary gain. Only like one or two people tried to see and argue the way Kyle saw things. Everyone has equal rights and la-de-da until someone disagrees with what we think, and when this happens that person must fight to gain their freedoms.
I do think that when people look back on the decisions that are being made right now they will have many things to say “Why did they DO that?” about. I’m not really sure what they will say that about though. I could be about the big issues about abortion or the new scientific advances. Now that I think about though, I think they will ask that question about our involvement in the Middle East and other countries. In that wonderful packet The Lonely Superpower that Knaflc gave us it talks about our involvement in various countries. In almost every country that we lend a helping hand toward, American forces never come back out; this might lead to some problems. Therefore I think that political issues might be one of the big things that people might regret in the future…hmmm
To begin, there is a difference between physical freedom and an inherent mental freedom. While one can gain a physical freedom (as in slavery) I don't think that mental freedom can necessarily be "gained." If you look at Douglass' life, for example, even when he was stripped of all his basic rights, he still had the freedom over his body to decide whether to live or die, and whether to succumb or to struggle. He could not make decisions regarding his line of work, salary, or living situations until after he was freed, but he was never forced by an outside influence to not think, or not to breathe. With regard to physical freedom, I like Jordyn's idea that freedom is not just "gained." In order for one to "gain," another must "give." It is a two-sided process.
I wonder where the United States will be globally 100 years from now (Knafelc’s lectures on China are starting to affect me.) If we are still in a strong position of power, I think that we will still have the same attitude that we have embraced throughout our existence: “why didn’t we do more in this and that area?” America has a trend to skim over major events that are occurring NOW and instead criticize the lack of action that our forefathers and predecessors took (an example is the Civil Rights movement and the Civil War. The slave owners were criticized, yet we as a nation turned a blind eye toward blatant racism until it was too obvious to ignore.)
It is really quite cyclical.
Hoo boy, do I ever have a lot to say! I'll try to make this as coherent as possible.
Though I agree with the thought that freedom is both inherited and gained presented in the first few comments, I disagree with how the ladies described it. I believe freedom can be inherited, as in the United States like Kelly mentioned, but I think in any country, including the US our freedom must be gained and constantly zealously fought for. The day that we become complacent is the day that we allow our freedoms to be taken away from us. As Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." This is where my philosophy, surprisingly, begins to differ from Jordyn's. I interpreted her blog as saying that we must be careful with our liberties lest they be taken from us. I am thouroughly opposed to this. When given the chance to sacrifice your liberty for security, you must break through the langorous contenment of complacency just as B-Frank advocates. It is my opinion that we must constantly push authority to see what is acceptable. I am certainly not saying you should go about this with pernicious intentions, but it is surely something that done now and again to make sure we have a strong grasp on our freedom.
Here I must tragically disagree with Jordyn again (though I do like her line about seeing imperfections perfectly, much as I believe that is impossible). Human rights abuses today seem to me just as common as they were in the time of slavery, only today they are veiled under the impenetrable cloak of righteousness and political correctness. Civil rights and common respect are frequently not afforded to hispanics, the youth, homosexuals, the elderly, and the disabled. In place of real issues, our legislature wastes much of its time on frivolity. Fanatics of every race and creed, be they evangelical or islamic, preach fire and brimstone to those who don't conform with as much fervor and intolerance as Jonathan Edwards. We must remove the veil from our society and discuss the important issues; years from now we will have wished we did.
If I have offended anyone who bothered to read this comment then know it was not my intention, and I would love to discuss it with you if you have any questions.
Like most that have commented before me, freedom can be inherited and gained. Since we were born in America we have inherited our freedom but our founding fathers were the ones that gained the freedom that we inherit. They worked and fought risking everything in hopes one day the people after them will have freedom. To inherit freedom someone at some point had to gain the freedom for us to have. I also agree that there are still many people that don't have freedom even in the U.S. and we should be constantly pushing the boundaries to gain freedom for the ones that don't have it. We have the ability so we should try to help others who can't fight for it themselves.
Most of America is oblivious to the problems that plague the world; we need to open our eyes and see that people are suffering and are without freedom. America is one of the most powerfull nations and with that we need to help the people who don't have power. This way maybe we can prevent the question "Why did they do that" 100 hundred years from now. I'm sure all the problems will not be solved but if we just open our eyes and see what's going on we can get a better grasp of the situations in the world and attempt to keep from making big mistakes that people will look back on.
I agree that freedom can be both gained and inherited. By having parents who are American citizens and/ or being born in America we are given rights and freedom that many other countries don’t have. I think that it is possible to gain more freedom then we currently have by fighting for what we believe in.
I think that people will look back and ask, “Why did they do that?” They might ask this about social changes and I think that they will look at the Iraq war and ask about some specific events leading up to the war and during the war. I don’t think that they will really understand why we acted as we did on Sep. 11 and the weeks following similar to how our generation looks at the events at Pearl Harbor.
I agree with Emily that we have mental and physical freedoms, but I disagree that mental freedom is always present. I believe that just as we gain physical freedom, we must work to gain mental freedom. People can live their entire lives in America with every right that we have, but still feel condemned. It is a bit like transcendentalism and quiet desperation. I think that some people, through psychological "actions" and thoughts, make themselves theoretical "prisoners of life". In that case, I do believe that we have to work at mental freedom, and allow ourselves to be our own self. Sadly, I think few people live truely free. I think that we condemn ourselves to society, allowing ourselves to, instead of being "free," conform to the general mold of others.
Adressing the future: People will question our actions, there is no doubt, but they do not have the right, in my mind, to criticize our actions. Will we be any different? Are we different, now, than we were 100 years ago? I don't think the validation of our actions will ever change, just the actions themselves change.
Also, a question:
What if society digresses? Is there always a price of progress? What if they say, "Why didn't they do that?" instead of "Why did they do that?"
I agree with those (which is pretty much everyone) with the fact that we can both inherit and gain our freedom. However, freedom is only inherited because people in the past have gained it. (It differs in other countries, but right now I’m just speaking of America).I like Jordyn’s definition that freedom is being able to act without restraint. But what kind of freedoms are we talking about here? Is it those five basic freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution? Is it freedom from slavery? Or just freedom, as adults, to make our own decisions? Yes, the freedoms, made by the government are inherited because those laws were made by our founding fathers and in my opinion, they will always be in place. However, other types of freedom, in social situation for example, are defiantly gained; you must build trust to gain freedom.
On the subject of "Why did they do that?" I think that this question will be asked numerous times in the future. I you asked anyone of older generations, I’m sure they could come up with more then one way how the government “messed-up” when they were kids. Everyone has regrets in their past, but you should not try to forget these mistakes. Instead, people, individuals and the government, should try to learn from these mistakes to help better future generations. By looking and the effects of the Cold war, abolitionism and other large events in American history, I think that the US has done a fairly good job of fixing their mistakes.
-Sorry, for that I do tend to ramble a bit.
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