[Blog] What is freedom?
freedom = The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants.The power of self-determination attributed to the will; the quality of being independent of fate or necessity.
Are we really free? Or we’re just constraint by the rules of the society? Either written as letter of law or unspoken, but known by all.
To live in a society we need to have rules. Every group of people or animals have their own rules. But doesn’t that mean that living within those rules restricts our freedom? We have to act in a certain way, we are bound to think in a particular way because of the rules set by the society?
The society, the group will say: “Of course not! You can do whatever you want, you can say whatever you want". But the second you cross some boundaries, you become a pariah. You become the outcast. The society will start to ignore, will start to push you out, or worse. They will exclude you out of the society. And you’ll become alone, outside of the group.
This was true in the ancient times as it is now. If you didn’t abide by the rules of the tribe, you were kicked out. Nowadays, if you don’t abide by the rules of the tribe, you aren’t kicked out, but maybe you won’t find a job, your business will fail, you’ll become a pariah in the society or worse. You’ll be imprisoned.
Even on the internet. We like to think that the internet is truly the land of the free. But is it? The internet as rules as well. The big sites have rules, the small websites have rules. And if you don’t comply with them, you’re out.
In reality, freedom as the definition says doesn’t exist. There is freedom, but within the limits. Limits set by the society. And if we want to live in that said society we need to stick within the limits. Or make our own society.
Freedom is a myth. But at least is a beautiful one.
Image source:Pixabay
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I ponder the concept of freedom or liberty quite often. I feel as though we are all ultimately as free as we want to be, but so is everyone else. If the majority of people want to dictate how far any other person's freedoms can go before they feel threatened or infringed upon, they will often take the perceived threat's freedom. It's an interesting dynamic and it's all ultimately about balance I suppose. I'd much rather see victimless crimes abolished than more and more rules put into place to restrict freedom for everyone. Like laws that send people to jail for consuming plants because other people are overly judgmental about the practice seem completely silly to me. On the other hand, laws that strike down hard on imposing or breaking down another person's free will (such as assault or rape) seem very logical to me. I suppose in the end though, everyone is free to do what the wish, but the consequences may be what dissuade them from pursuing certain things.
Thank you @clayboyn for this insightful comment.
I agree with you in all you said. Indeed the consequences of the actions may dissuade the freedom, hence even though we are free to do whatever we want, there are certain barriers that encourage us not do so.
This post has been selected for curation by @msp-curation by @clayboyn and has been upvoted and will be featured in the weekly philosophy curation post. It will also be considered for the official @minnowsupport curation post and if selected will be resteemed from the main account. Feel free to join us on Discord!
Really well stated @sstefan! I just found your post through @clayboyn's curation.
Being part of existence means to be bound by some rules and conditions. If 'freedom' is to be able to do what we want; well, then we are imprisoned by almost everything - longevity, physics, genes, society, government... Truly if we want to push the idea of freedom to its absolute, then the only freedom we have is to not exist. This is of course a dark tunnel, and i'm only entertaining a thought...
On the other hand, the good news, is that we will always keep pushing our limits in all directions and in every aspect of our being for as long as humanity lives. On the whole, we see freedom is expanding, and people today have more rights than ever before, and that is something worthy of appreciation and protection.
❤️