(I switched around the paragraphs)
Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
Of course there will always be cultural, familial, ethical and social restrictions upon all who chose to live among other human beings; that goes almost without saying, and necessary limits upon our personal actions in so far as these actions affect other people with whom we come into contact.
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Agreed. One has at the very least an obligation to feed and clothe and keep healthy one's body. Social systems, small and large, follows right after. To be completely free, you'd have to be either in incorporeal or dead.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
When I say freedom vs. security, I mean the freedom to live without unnecessary government intrusion upon our private lives; the freedom to choose how we live, how we express our religious sentiments or lack thereof, how we chose to seek happiness and contentment. The freedom I speak of is the freedom to criticize those government policies with which we disagree without fear of censorship or imprisonment such as occurs today in China, or death, as occurs today in Iraq, or banishment as in the former Soviet Union, or being hauled before committees and pressured to inform on like-minded friends and colleagues, as happened in the United States during the McCarthy era.
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Just a note - being a citizen of a country with a welfare system - that while I can see that in theory, you may be more 'free' in USA, as in you have less of a social system, I have always felt more free in practise, as I have less to worry about (if I get sick, lose my job, that my (hypothetical) children get a good education, etc.) and probably more free time (in general) to pursue my own interests.
If I may drag in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, then it seems to me that the society I live in frees me (somewhat) from the lower needs and frees me to pursue the higher needs. Of course, if I lived in USA, I'd have more freedom to make a load of money and thus free myself that way. That's just not a universally realistic option - we can't all be
that rich.
Not looking for a great discussion, as I think your position is equally valid. It's just something I wonder about, because I really don't understand it - I would guess you have as much problems understanding me
I have been brought up with a set of morals and ethics that makes me believe that such a society is unfair and unequal and creates more human suffering than is 'necessary' now that we have means to do better.