The Dark Side of Freedom

Once upon a time I once wrote a thread about the double-edged sword of freedom. I wrote it in another forum more as an editorial than an article for discussion. I write this now to stimulate dialogue.

Freedom is a wonderful thing. We love freedom. We embrace freedom. We love freedom so much that we try to thrust it upon other countries!

“Here! Take it! Taste the Freedom!”

We all look at freedom as a gift! A wonderful treasure to hold sacred and share at the same time.

But what we don’t often talk about, is the dark side to freedom. The dirty, nasty, disgusting side of freedom. We ignore it or hide it like a defect in a perfect society. We’re embarrassed by it. We are ashamed of it.

The First Amendment gives us freedom of expression. We see it in stirring speeches made to make all weep. We see it in art, dance, poetry, song, and screen. We love the beautiful freedom of speech, because we can sing whatever we wish!

Yet there is a dark side. We see it in the KKK, NBP, Westboro Baptist, OWS, The Tea Party. We see free expression that we don’t like. We see the free expression of hate and fear. We see people express hurtful things.
We loathe this dark side, this evil twin of free speech. We see people cry out for silence! To shut them up. “Stop saying things we hate to hear!”
Oh really.

The Second Amendment gives us the right to bear arms! We can hunt, play at the range, collect, or even defend against tyranny. Us. The little people. We have been charged with defending freedom against tyranny. A noble cause. Not one saved for the elite, but something we can all share. A great and proud responsibility!

Yet there is a dark side. A sick and disgusting, twisted side that exposes the dark nature of evil. It is a shameful aspect that we try to separate from the freedoms that we all enjoy.

But we can’t separate it. It’s like taking a piece of paper and drawing a law-abiding gun owner on one side and on the reverse, drawing a gun-toting killer, then only shredding one side of the paper. We can’t hide or ignore or make illegal just one side without denying the freedoms to the other side of the paper.

We have to accept the fact that as long as we have our freedoms, we will have to have the dark side to our freedoms as well. You can’t ban one without banning the other.

PC/hate speech? Is just speech. Gun control laws to stop the terrible things that happen? Only inhibits the good side of freedom as well.

Well ATS, what do you say? Do we acknowledge all freedoms or deny them? Do we have too much freedom? What is too much?

Thank you for reading.

beez

Unfortunately I feel that as a civilization we have misconstrued freedom with democracy. What we have now on this planet is a bunch of oligarchies masquerading as democracies. A sense of false freedom. Sure we have the right to vote, do want we want but in the end the same people are running everything - badly.

reply to post by RedShirt73

Agreed. But do we ultimately want fewer liberties or more?

Think people need to stop looking to the dark side of freedom- Government, and start looking to the light side of freedom within ones self.

The self where everyone is their own masters, slave to no one.

Originally posted by neo96
Think people need to stop looking to the dark side of freedom- Government, and start looking to the light side of freedom within ones self.

The self where everyone is their own masters, slave to no one.

We need to stop trying to legislate the dark side of freedom. Because, in the end, all freedoms, liberties will be affected.

reply to post by beezzer

We need to stop trying to legislate the dark side of freedom. Because, in the end, all freedoms, liberties will be affected.

Yeah they do never understood how Government can "give" freedoms where people already had them it implies that all our rights come from them when they never have.

Originally posted by neo96
reply to post by beezzer

 

We need to stop trying to legislate the dark side of freedom. Because, in the end, all freedoms, liberties will be affected.

Yeah they do never understood how Government can "give" freedoms where people already had them it implies that all our rights come from them when they never have.

True dat!

You are only as free as you make yourself.

Likewise, you are only limited by the freedoms you deny yourself. Words on paper mean nothing to the truly free.

reply to post by HauntWok


True freedom comes from the people. When you have corporations, lobby groups of all kinds, superpacs, etc. essentially dictating government policy and laws true freedom gets lost in the shuffle.

Originally posted by HauntWok
You are only as free as you make yourself.

Likewise, you are only limited by the freedoms you deny yourself. Words on paper mean nothing to the truly free.

Also true (dat).

But those words on paper can become an annoyance!

reply to post by beezzer

But those words on paper can become an annoyance!

Only if you allow them to annoy you. Otherwise they can do nothing to you.

If we want true freedom, we have to accept the dark side. You can't just have it all good. I doubt there is much gang violence or school shootings in North Korea, but you'd rather take the freedoms you have in America. It's like crime is a part of living in a free society. We just have to accept it. North Koreons don't have the freedom to commit crime.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


I wish I could star you 100 times! Absolutely!

Yes, there are horrible things that come with freedom. But to lose freedom because horrible things happen is, well, nuts!

Freedom is a POWER, to do as one wish, BUT comes with RESPONSIBLITIES to OTHERS, for none is an island or born out of a rock.

When we deny that RESPONSIBLITY, we only succumb to the dark side - to be selfish and enact the 7 deadly crimes against humanity our ancestors warned us about.

Originally posted by SeekerofTruth101
Freedom is a POWER, to do as one wish, BUT comes with RESPONSIBLITIES to OTHERS, for none is an island or born out of a rock.

When we deny that RESPONSIBLITY, we only succumb to the dark side - to be selfish and enact the 7 deadly crimes against humanity our ancestors warned us about.

And a person should be punished if they abuse those responsibilities!

Originally posted by beezzer

Originally posted by SeekerofTruth101
Freedom is a POWER, to do as one wish, BUT comes with RESPONSIBLITIES to OTHERS, for none is an island or born out of a rock.

When we deny that RESPONSIBLITY, we only succumb to the dark side - to be selfish and enact the 7 deadly crimes against humanity our ancestors warned us about.

And a person should be punished if they abuse those responsibilities!

Agreed. Unfortunately the ones who deserve to be tried in a court of law are also the ones creating the laws of the land. A catch-22 if you will.

reply to post by beezzer


Yes they do and are punished by society, so long as such a society is RULED BY LAW - a constitution that ALL, or at least 75% agrees to, and enforced by authorities appointed by the elected.

If we fail to adhere to the rule of law, elections and abiddance to the rule of law even if we are free to protest, then we will only regress back to the jungles and cannot lay claims to being civilised.

Legislators are important, for they represent us, but equally too grassroots, as a means for checks and balances to ensure legislator TRULY represents the majority and not the minority or his own personal agenda, such as what the New York mayor Bloomberg is doing or trying to do.

reply to post by SeekerofTruth101


But don't you feel that the balances inherent to a healthy system are absent now? We're at a point where they are inhibiting rights and liberties just to appease a small minority that doesn't like the "dark side" of freedoms.