An analysis of the illusion of freedom

POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Friday, April 24, 2026 16:13
VIEWED: 7512
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DREAMTROVE

Friday, February 17, 2006 5:59 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by... oh you know already:

This is why schools refuse to teach pro se law the the sheeple, since that would disrupt the slave plantation.

I really agree. More extreme than I would have put it, but I think the state education is geared towards producing obedient sheep, or as Joss put it "Mindless Automatons."

Quote:
The purpose of the One-Eyed-Cyclops-Of-Death is to brainwash the sheeple that they must confess all their victimless-crimes to every cop they meet, then plead guilty to every non-crime - that it's actually unpatriotic to put up a legal defense using the Constitutions and The Law as the Founding Fathers intended.

An interesting point. The Cyclops sometimes dishes out firefly. But i don't actually own a cyclops. I was spared. They didn't have it in town when I was a kid. I remember when the guy came in, selling it. Some folks bought it, others didn't. We didn't. Folks that did now live in trailers. I guess my gut is to say PN is basically right here. I think that the idiot box does a lot more training on how you should respect and worship cops because they secure your freedom from the vicious, and virtually non-existant, criminals. I guess some of you live in cities and maybe have crime. He we still have harassment. Lately we have drug traffickers, which I can't stand, of course, but the cops do nothing about it. Nothing at all. Cocaine dealer on the hill, they can't be bothered. Someone going 55 in a 35, haul their ass away.

PIRATEJENNY

Friday, February 17, 2006 9:29 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Jonus:
One day it's gonna be like the Independents vs. Alliance. I can't wait.

Attack me, not my opinion.

in away its already like that now!!

PIRATEJENNY

Friday, February 17, 2006 9:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
Free software,free society.

Free as in freedom, not beer.

Freedom isn't free . Freedom cost a buck O five!!

SIGNYM

Friday, February 17, 2006 1:53 PM

Didn't have much time for a thought-out answer before, but....

Some of what we're doing is a redux of Rousseau's The Social Contract: Man is born into a state of freedom but gives up some of those freedoms in order to obtain the benefits of living in society. If you want to drive, you must stop at stop signs and drive on the correct side of the road lest you scare (at the least) and kill (at the worst) your fellow humans. My right to swing my fist ends at your nose. You can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater and so forth and so on. Fair enough.

The limitations only get worse as population densities increase and resources diminish: You shouldn't spit gum on the common sidewalk or create a ruckus when others are trying to sleep or wear really really strong perfume in a elevator. My logging affects your water quality. If you really want to do away with these limitations then you have think about drastic population reduction so that space can be reserved for people who want to live at a primitive level by themselves.

But there are other- many other- limitations that only benefit the powerful and are meant to promote and maintain a state of inequality. Property laws benefit those with the most property. Intellectual property laws benefit those with the most money. Capitalism benefits the capitalist. Corporations enjoy a legal status that no other organizations or individuals can attain.

We're gulled into thinking that we can never change this, that this all results from "human nature" or that it follows some sort of natural Darwinian law or that it provides the most good for the most people... but that the fundamental structure of our society- one which we have created by our own laws- is somehow out of our hands. And then we're distracted with meaningless choices - as Rue said, Coke or Pepsi- that give us the illusion of freedom while reducing us to powerlessness.

If nothing else, when it is three ayem and it's only you and the dark ceiling above your head, if you can't imagine dethroning the powerful then you're not free. And you're a coward.

---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.

CHRISISALL

Friday, February 17, 2006 4:17 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Zisker:
To sum it up: Freedom (in the modern sense) is the ability to throw your toys down, say "I'm not playing anymore" and walk away. And we don't have that.

Wow Zisker, that was worth the price of admission alone.
Thanks.

Chrisisall

CHRISISALL

Friday, February 17, 2006 4:18 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:

If nothing else, when it is three ayem and it's only you and the dark ceiling above your head, if you can't imagine dethroning the powerful then you're not free. And you're a coward.

*Chrisisall stands and applauds*

RUE

Friday, February 17, 2006 4:23 PM

Quote:
If nothing else, when it is three ayem and it's only you and the dark ceiling above your head, if you can't imagine dethroning the powerful then you're not free. And you're a coward.

Worth repeating.

Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

FLETCH2

Friday, February 17, 2006 7:39 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
If nothing else, when it is three ayem and it's only you and the dark ceiling above your head, if you can't imagine dethroning the powerful then you're not free. And you're a coward.

I don't think of them at all. I don't want to dethrone the powerful, I want nothing to do with them and would prefer it if they recipricate. I saw an interesting interview with Newt Gingrich where he said that Americans don't have a "Social Contract" like may exist in the rest of the world. I forgot what he called it but the crux was that all that was promised for abiding by the rules was equal opertunity. Reminds me of a DS9 episode about the Ferengi, basically Ferengi employers abuse Ferengi employees so the question was raised why dont they object to being exploited and change the system? The answer? Because every downtrodden Ferengi dreams of the day he'll be the boss and in a position to mistreat others for his own profit.

RUE

Friday, February 17, 2006 8:07 PM

You want nothing to do with them but they are doing what they want to you.

They determine your choices, your laws, your knowledge and even your beliefs. They run the economy, the government, the schools, the churches.

You get to decide Pepsi or Coke and therefore think you are free.

My impression is that you live in the UK. Is that true?

Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

SIGNYM

Friday, February 17, 2006 8:27 PM

By "dethroning" I didn't mean "becoming and replacing" I meant "eliminating the position from existance" My statement was badly worded.

Still, it led me realize some things about certain people on the board. They live comfortably with the thought of a very few people having immense power over their lives by various psychological dodges.

Some of them assume that those in power (the President and his Band of Merrie Men, the collective corpraote Boards or whomever) are actually great men- or at least okay men-who lie awake at night and spend at least PART of their time thinking about us in a kindly, concerned way. Some deny that they really are powerless. In their mind, they've got just as much clout as Bill Gates and they think that going toe-to-toe with {insert international corporation here} is a reasonable proposition. In their mind, they are the "winners" in the system. Others think that if they ignore the powerful, the powerful will ignore them. Or that they can somehow create their own "society" w/in the larger society. Or that there is no system at all. Others engage in the illusion of freedom through the endless choices of consumerism, or gun ownership, or even physical fitness.

The concept of owning your society and being able to improve it has gone phfffft On the one hand we're told we're free, but on the other hand we're told that we're at the mercy of unstoppable forces: globalism, competition, "human nature", corruption ... without realizing that we're the ones who keep this whole paradigm going.

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Free as in freedom, not beer.

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