Index 
Human Rights (Freedom and Security) Thought Process
What is Freedom? Richard Roeper, columnist for the Sun Times wrote a while ago (~ 3-6 months), perhaps facetiously which would better fit my take on him, that “America is the freest nation in the world”. I wondered then and now how such “freedom” is measured? I am sure by some measures that is true, but by many others, not true. So how do we measure freedom? To use freedom "to act" and "from harm" from Atwood's The Handmaiden's Tale There is freedom “from” threat or harm and freedom “to” threaten and harm. There is freedom “from” want and freedom “to” fail. There is freedom from God and freedom from men. There is freedom “from” offensive speech and freedom “to” speak insulting views. There is freedom “from” religion and freedom “to” worship communally. There is freedom “from” attack and freedom "to" kill, perhaps in retribution, both as justice for things and as warnings for others to “toe the line”. There is freedom “to” carry guns and freedom “from” people who carry guns. There is freedom "to" engage your efforts in service to others and freedom "from" unscrupulous enticements. There is freedom “to” use our God-given abilities in service of our own objectives and freedom “from” discrimination on the basis of those abilities. It seems we are tending from desires for “freedom to” (act anyway we want that doesn’t “hurt” others, as indicated in the Bill of Rights) to desires for “freedom from” disagreeable things (mentioned in Chapter 5 of "The Handmaiden's Tale" by Margaret Atwood). So, you see, to quote myself: To add a right you must also add a wrong, and To take away a wrong you must also take away a right. Thought Process: There is freedom to hear a songbird, or run a raging river, if only in our heads; images from vague memories thoroughly stirred with pictures and words from before and after, cascading along the river of “now”; the river swirls in turbulent mixing currents of thought and impression). Despite all the jumpin’ and a hollerin’ on the teeter totter, all remains perfectly balanced at “the way things are”, right now. ALISTMERN we don’t really endorse free speech, rather the freedom to negotiate (legislate) restrictions on speech – likewise freedom in general, and BOY! Do we negotiate. “ALISTMRN” = “At Least It Seems To Me Right Now” (early version of Aphorism 5, which is the best we can ever do) |