Freedom in a Time of Crisis aka Coronavirus Tip Number Three
During any crisis and panic, there comes a push to silence those who do not attend and spread the viral speech. This is normal. What we can not do is to allow the speech of the "dissident" to be silenced or curtailed.
Speech (communication) is a natural freedom. All animals have it (the ability to make noise and communicate in other ways). And speech has allowed animals to be effective and to survive for hundreds of millions of years (otherwise, the world of animals would be mute, if that were more effective than speech).
And, for humans to be effective, we much accept that, no matter what we believe, and no matter what we are told, and no matter what family, friends and neighbors insist is "right", we must protect the ability of all to speech, no matter if we like what they say, and especially if we do not like what they say.
Throughout the world, next to the freedom of movement, the freedom of speech (and its tool, press) is the most fought for freedom of them all. Our ancestors fought wars, succeeded at revolutions, and survived because of it. We can not allow ourselves fall into the trap of thinking that "this time, it is different, and it is okay if we give up our freedoms because this is an unprecedented crisis".
Listen, this choice we are making, this choice we 99% are making right now, to stop almost all economic activity, to social distance one another, to panic, is all so the inevitable deaths of a few of us, so those deaths, and those losses, occur a few weeks or months later than if we do nothing at all. Everyone dies. Loss is painful. And yes, we fear for our own deaths, as all animals do and must.
But this choice to creating prisons of the mind, forcing us to stay in our homes, and to bully/cajole/humiliate/threaten, comes from fear, of the unknown, of the future, of loss, and of death. And, it is a choice.
So, let us not be hasty in our panic and the pressure of society to lock ourselves away in prison bars made of our own thoughts and beliefs; and to attempt to lock away others in those sorts of bars as well.
What freedoms the deer has, the bird has, the fish has, these are the same freedoms we must preserve for ourselves as well. Freedom, in the broadest sense, is the ability to do as one wills and what one has the power to do.
Those few Founders, who were able to convince the others to codify many freedoms in these national constitutions, are the very ones whose ideas we now defend.
All this said, do not mistake our insistence that freedom be protected, for our compassion for the panicked plea for us all to keep our 1-meter, or even 6-foot social distance isolation bubble. (I certainly don't want you any closer to me right now than that either, thank you very much. lol)
This may not be the most elegant way of saying this, or the most effective, but perhaps save this seed in the back of your mind and see if it grows, especially as we are "asked" to curtail more and more of your, and my, freedoms.
#freedomofmovement #freedomofspeech #freedomofpress #freedomofexpression #freedomofreligion #freedomofthought #freedom #freewill
Coda: This is not my first publication regarding freedom. Several others are here: https://valuesystem.livejournal.com/tag/freedom and, if you scroll down, the ones from around 2006, and from that set, the one titled "Freedom of Speech - Do You Have It".
Created by Aaron Wayne Wissner 202003171147 GMT
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Speech (communication) is a natural freedom. All animals have it (the ability to make noise and communicate in other ways). And speech has allowed animals to be effective and to survive for hundreds of millions of years (otherwise, the world of animals would be mute, if that were more effective than speech).
And, for humans to be effective, we much accept that, no matter what we believe, and no matter what we are told, and no matter what family, friends and neighbors insist is "right", we must protect the ability of all to speech, no matter if we like what they say, and especially if we do not like what they say.
Throughout the world, next to the freedom of movement, the freedom of speech (and its tool, press) is the most fought for freedom of them all. Our ancestors fought wars, succeeded at revolutions, and survived because of it. We can not allow ourselves fall into the trap of thinking that "this time, it is different, and it is okay if we give up our freedoms because this is an unprecedented crisis".
Listen, this choice we are making, this choice we 99% are making right now, to stop almost all economic activity, to social distance one another, to panic, is all so the inevitable deaths of a few of us, so those deaths, and those losses, occur a few weeks or months later than if we do nothing at all. Everyone dies. Loss is painful. And yes, we fear for our own deaths, as all animals do and must.
But this choice to creating prisons of the mind, forcing us to stay in our homes, and to bully/cajole/humiliate/threaten, comes from fear, of the unknown, of the future, of loss, and of death. And, it is a choice.
So, let us not be hasty in our panic and the pressure of society to lock ourselves away in prison bars made of our own thoughts and beliefs; and to attempt to lock away others in those sorts of bars as well.
What freedoms the deer has, the bird has, the fish has, these are the same freedoms we must preserve for ourselves as well. Freedom, in the broadest sense, is the ability to do as one wills and what one has the power to do.
Those few Founders, who were able to convince the others to codify many freedoms in these national constitutions, are the very ones whose ideas we now defend.
All this said, do not mistake our insistence that freedom be protected, for our compassion for the panicked plea for us all to keep our 1-meter, or even 6-foot social distance isolation bubble. (I certainly don't want you any closer to me right now than that either, thank you very much. lol)
This may not be the most elegant way of saying this, or the most effective, but perhaps save this seed in the back of your mind and see if it grows, especially as we are "asked" to curtail more and more of your, and my, freedoms.
#freedomofmovement #freedomofspeech #freedomofpress #freedomofexpression #freedomofreligion #freedomofthought #freedom #freewill
Coda: This is not my first publication regarding freedom. Several others are here: https://valuesystem.livejournal.com/tag/freedom and, if you scroll down, the ones from around 2006, and from that set, the one titled "Freedom of Speech - Do You Have It".
Created by Aaron Wayne Wissner 202003171147 GMT
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