Freedom!

Why do those who most use the word 'freedom' get agitated when they notice anyone actually trying to be free?








"Those who see their lives as spoiled and wasted crave equality and fraternity more than they do freedom. If they clamor for freedom, it is but freedom to establish equality and uniformity. The passion for equality is partly a passion for anonymity: to be one thread of the many which make up a tunic; one thread not distinguishable from the others. No one can then point us out, measure us against others and expose our inferiority.
They who clamor loudest for freedom are often the ones least likely to be happy in a free society. The frustrated, oppressed by their shortcomings, blame their failure on existing restraints. Actually, their innermost desire is for an end to the "free for all." They want to eliminate free competition and the ruthless testing to which the individual is continually subjected in a free society"- Eric Hoffer

Freedom is a word made for feeling good.
And it feels good to say it,
Like it feels good to wave the flag.
It seems that those who use the word the most are politicians,
Who need votes and say things to make voters feel good.
On listening to the rest of the words one begins to understand,
That most of the time the concept of Freedom,
Has been cleverly confounded with the notion of free enterprise,
Which is often an enemy of human freedom.
Free enterprise gives us polluted air and water and earth.
It presents jobs that are harmful to health and sanity.
It promotes war.
What has this to do with Freedom?
The freedom to bare tooth and claw for constant use seems diabolically inefficient.
And it has been made quite illegal for individuals.
Yet it remains routine for governments and corporations.
Communism and Capitalism happily coexist as two sides of the same materialist coin.

"We're all normal and we want our freedom. Freedom. Freedom. Freedom. I want my freedom. All of God's chillun' gotta have dere freedom. " -Arthur Lee, The Red Telephone, Love Forever Changes

"Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does."- John-Paul Sartre, Existentialism, 1947