Truemors
Freedom/Liberty, The abused Ideal.
By, Uwe Paschen.
How often have we heard those words and used them our self?
They can be traced back to the antiquity and yet many do not know their origine even less their meaning or true value, or do we?
Liberty for instance comes from the Latin languish and the ancient Roman culture, the word then Liberta, was the name of a Goddess, namely Liberta, representing Freedom, or autonomy. Still in those days, Freedom was associated with being a Roman Citizen in good standing and with all the rights, privileges and duties that came with it. Being Free, meant not being a Slave or Gladiator nor a Legionnaire, but a Roman Citizen in good standing.
Liberty and Freedom in Modern English may be similar, are however not synonyms and do not mean exactly the same thing there for.
Freedom it self, finds its root not in Latin but in German and Euro/Hindu languishes.
Free coming from the word Frieden, Meaning Peace and Dom finds its origine in Doman meaning Love.
There for, Freedom would really literally mean Peace and Love.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/stromberg/stromberg14.html
The interesting thing is that the French, Spanish and Portuguese have adopted the Latin word Liberte, Where as the Anglo Saxon have adopted both the Germanic Word and the Latin as well, making it at first a little confusing maybe, yet interesting.
Much has been written and debated about the two Words and their definition, as well as their manning, emotional and literal.
What I am more interested in though is the modern use or misuse of the Word and concept of Freedom and what it really is or may be or if it is even realistic or just a utopia.
Many have tried to define Freedom and it real meaning as well as its possible applications. Yet none has defied it better then Voltaire did, at least as far as I am concerned.
Voltaire said about Freedom the following, “The Freedom of the one does start where the Freedom of the other would end, and the freedom of the other would start where the Freedom of the One would end!” Making Freedom an illusion and a utopia.
http://www.thecaveonline.com/APEH/voltairebiography.html
I, tried to build on to Voltaire his philosophy and adapt it to a modern working concept that could be used in multiple application and came to the conclusion that Freedom may be best seen as “a razor sharp sword on wish we have to balance justice, equality and duty.”
So, what is Freedom then? Are we free to Take, Say, Do, Feel, go, be … as we please?
If so then we do not actually have freedom but anarchy and in sort the law of the Jungle, where the wildest, strongest and meanest beast reigns over all and does what ever it wants. By inflicting fear, injustice, and enslaving others for its own benefit, this can hardly be defined as freedom though and yet it is largely exactly, what is happening in today’s western societies.
The great battle in the American independence and the French Revolution, as well as the Russian Revolution and the Frankfurter Uprising and the British Worker movement was not meant to impose or to implement anarchy, but freedom!
Meaning stoping Slavery, Injustice, Oppression and abuse of a few over the masses.
Yet today we are moving right back into the system against wish our forbearer have fought so hard against and written those great constitutions such as the American, French, German and Russian Constitution that where real master pieces of what Humanity should be. Inscribed in them the Words, Freedom, Equality, Justice, Fraternity and Duty.
No where it said in any of the funding constitutions, that we want anarchy or abuse from any one over any one. Yet, in the name of Freedom this is exactly what has happened over the past 60 years
We have forgotten that freedom does imply the position and practice of a great sense of responsibility and duty as well as Justice, compassion and equality. With out those, Freedom can simply not be. Our present evolution is going toward Tyranny, Feudalism and anarchies not towards Freedom though. In fact, we may be less free today then we where two generations ago and even less then we had been eight generations ago.
Do we want to be Free or Slaves? Should we want to be free, then we are certainly on the wrong pass and may want to change course in a hurry.
Should we want to be Slaves, we just keep going in the direction we have been going for the past two generations and we will get there rather sooner then latter.
I for one would like us to change course and head back towards Voltaire and Nietzsche their philosophies. So we may one day achieve a Just, Equal and Fraternal World.
http://www.answers.com/topic/liberty
http://www.popline.org/docs/1043/095126.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_(philosophy)
http://www.voltairenet.org/article133815.html
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=RBjgOCZXX1A (Video)
http://www.island-of-freedom.com/KANT.HTM
http://www.quoteworld.org/category/freedom/author/albert-einstein
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Social_Democratic_Party_of_Germany
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/brandt_willy.shtml
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