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Saturday, July 05, 2008

Freedom Sandwich


Yesterday, on the anniversary of America's indepencence, I wanted to write a piece on freedom, but kind of got stuck.

At first I wanted to write about the countries that still are not free, like China, where bloggers are now resorting to writing backwards in order to beat censorship and report about what is really going on behind the Great Firewall.

Or perhaps focusing on who is and isn't totally free yet.

Then thinking about the US, the myth of freedom here, and the reality that we aren't totally free as some may believe, maybe focusing on why we are not free, as this report may explain.

Or go more in depth about the freedom of the press, and what responsibilities come along with it in relation to self-censorship and its ethical and moral implications, focusing on the list of censored news stories.

Or perhaps a piece on economic freedom and what organizations like The Green Children Foundation are doing to help people living in third world countries overcome poverty, while still keeping their dignity, in the form of microcredit loans.

Or perhaps how the price of oil can threaten democracy in places where the whole concept of freedom is still fairly new and still on shakey ground. The article is from 2006, when the price of oil was much lower than it is now, so most likely the situation is much worse today than it was at the time the article was written.

Or artistic and educational freedom, and focus on books that have been banned throughout history, for one reason or another.

Or psychological freedom, and how the fear of failure holds so many people back and prevents them from living up to their full potential. (Unfortunately, something I have first-hand experience with)

Or the desire for financial freedom, and the rising number of "get rich on the internet by blogging about how to make money blogging" websites that are popping up every day.

Or freedom of information, and the threat of censorship from ISP's and their desire to do away with net neutrality to boost profits, cut costs, and control what you see and do on the internet, and decide who can and will be able to profit online.

Since I couldn't make up my mind as to what direction I wanted to go with this freedom piece, I decided to give you a little slice of everything I was thinking about yesterday, just in time for lunch.

Enjoy your "freedom sandwich".

Take it slow, one bite at a time, don't eat too fast...it's ok to save some for later.

2 comments:

Crock said...

I'm going to tie this comment in with what I was going to write in your blog entry about commenting on other people blog's, yet as I am male, half asleep and cannot multi-task especially well right now - and this comment is about freedom too, of sorts, I'll post it here instead. Does that make sense? No. I'm just as confused don't worry. You'll have to excuse me as I've not long risen from my pit and I've had no caffeine yet.

Freedom of speech is more than likely a compensation for the freedom of thought which some people rarely use. Freedom of speech allegedly allows me to sit down in front of my PC and type things I've never read about but know everything about at the same time. Unless of course I'm in China, where typing the words government, politics and Western Culture may get me arrested.

PS. Thank you for adding me to your list. I'll try not get arrested as Carlin did. Or maybe I might. Depends on my mood.

There, that's all I have right now. I am spent.

App said...

Concerning whatever freedoms one might have (and in particular, freedom of thought), if unused, they tend to waste away, just like the muscles of a body builder that gives up weight lifting.

To keep one's freedoms and keep them fit, one must exercise their rights as often as possible (as an individual and/or as a society), otherwise there will come a day that those freedoms that you took for granted (thinking that they would always be there), will be taken away because you allowed them to atrophy to an unusable state.

I hope if you do decide to get arrested, like George Carlin, that you excersize your right to a fair trial. I also hope whatever you get arrested for is worth it and brings you as much fame and financial freedom as it did for him. :-)