The Lunatic Fringe in the Middle

§ 1    So You Call It ….Freedom? Did It Come With A Manual?

Everybody in America knows the word.

Everybody in America knows for sure that they deserve it.

They know they must protect it. They must fight for it.
They even know that they must defend everybody’s right to have it.

A great many of them just don’t know what the heck it REALLY is.

I, mean, what is freedom, really?

Without flying into existentialism, dogma, or spiritualism, I’m just going to go out on a limb here and say that it all starts with our understanding of the word ‘free’.

Regardless of what a dictionary might say (I won’t bother to quote one, so look it up yourself!!), there are three colloquial uses or understandings of the same word here.

What “free” means depends on what’s going on with someone at the time. If you are oriented towards money or possessions, “free” means something for nothing. If you’re feeling oppressed, “free” means the lack of restrictions or barriers. If you are the type of person that cherishes creativity and accomplishment or ambition, “free” likely means an open field of opportunity.

I’m going to shake that tiny branch I’m hanging from and say that the monetary use of the word is one of our many English conundrums. I have no desire to count how many words we use to mean several things. So let’s forget about this version of the word. Likewise, the idea that one requires freedom to create implies that there is some restriction present already, meaning the artist feels creatively oppressed. So really, I believe, only the oppressive definition of the word “free” actually applies.

That, I fear, is where all the arguments start. (And the wars!)

Freedom, as a concept, is not quite as simple and one-sided as people would like to think. The idea that freedom is it’s own separate thing to covet and win has caused more death and destruction than anything our technology or pollution could ever do. The very idea that freedom is a philosophical opinion, to be applied as we see fit, is, by itself, so bogus it has to be the most embarrassing axiom in all of creation.

The TRUTH about “freedom” (the state of being free), is that it is not a belief – IT IS A LAW OF PHYSICS. It is, in fact, no more variable than the Laws of Gravity and Action/Reaction. Something must give in every case, or disaster will occur.

Consider this, if you will:

Let’s say I walked up to you, out of nowhere, a total stranger, and hit you over the head with a baseball bat.

Now, I think we both agree that’s a rotten thing to do, but why?

You, see, if I walk up with the idea that I’m free to swing my bat anywhere I darn well please, this impacts greatly on your right to live a baseball-bat impairment-free life. This also means that you would have the similar right to drop a grand piano on my head. These expressions of freedom all dance around the same issue – what rights we believe we have.

Logic alone dictates that one cannot be free from injury, and yet, free to do harm. If you feel you have the right to kill, then you surrender the right to live. You are only free to live as long as all agree they have no right to kill. To harm someone intentionally is to deny the other side of the “freedom” coin:

Responsibility.

Without responsibility, freedom does not work at all. To be truly free from being hurt, everyone must believe that they have no right to injure. The two ideas are as simple and permanently connected as they could possibly be.

You cannot separate freedom from responsibility. If you do so for the sake of an endeavor, you have left no choice for those whose freedom you have abridged. They must conclude that, if they are not free from your abuse, they must be free to abuse you in return. If they cannot have safety from you, you cannot have safety from them. This is the most basic level of human survivalism. This is also, historically, humanity’s biggest stumbling block.

This is the Paradox of “Freedom”.

Knowledge, ethics, and self-discipline are the tools that enable the Paradox to work.
To wit:

• To study and learn to understand the past of your art or skill will give you more freedom to create and improve, having the vocabulary to use and create with, in addition to your own imagination and perspective.
• To refrain from embellishing a business deal unfairly will inevitably protect you from an angry client suing you over a lie.
• To curtail a voluntary freedom, such as turning your cell-phone off in a theater, will guarantee that you will not be ushered out for disturbing the audience during the show.

So if you’re concerned about a particular “freedom”, ask yourself if you’d like that done to you. If you wouldn’t, then give it a miss. Then you will unravel the paradox of freedom and be given the greatest power that humanity has to wield honorably in the name of justice.

Respect.

 
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