Freedom: A Great Lie

“But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’— that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.”
― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Ican’t say for sure where the notion of ‘freedom’ originated, I canonly see that it’s pure propaganda. It’s the type of propaganda lotsof people prefer to believe since it dulls the pain of theirexistence in a world that is fundamentally unfree. A world that isfundamentally oppressive and orthodox. A world that doesn’t care ifyou’re free as long as you think you are, so you don’t tear up thesociety you live within that makes the rules that ensure you’re never‘free’. Freedom of action has never existed. Freedom of expressionhas never existed. Freedom of thought only exists until it’s spoke tothe wrong people. The closest anyone ever gets to ‘freedom’ iswillfully choosing the path they follow, whether that path iscontained within the rules outlined by their society and is deemed‘acceptable’ or not contained within those rules and considered‘unacceptable’, which leads to them being punished in some way. Thisis an idea I’ve had for quite some time, far longer than the riots inHong Kong have been taking place, but those riots and the circle talkpresented by those defending them convinced me that this idea shouldbe spoken.

Basically, ‘freedom’ doesn’t exist, what exists are ‘rule structures’, and even the people with their circle talk defending the HK riots know that is the truth (regardless of their ability to comprehend what they’re saying). Their arguments always circle back to ‘a new constitution’, seemingly without proper realization that a ‘new constitution’ is just a different rule structure, probably only slightly different, than what they have now. Their very argument for ‘freedom’ is an argument for freedom not existing while trying to claim it does. The irony in their words is as palpable as the fists they beat a woman with and the Molotovs they threw at cleanup crews.

One of the earliest mentions in history that I am aware of in which ‘freedom’ was used as propaganda is the conflict between the Greeks and Persians. The Greeks went to war to defend their ‘freedom’. But what type of ‘freedom’ did the Greeks have? Not much. The Spartans had a strict rule system based around their military that killed any child that wasn’t deemed strong enough or that had any deformities while laying out concrete guidelines on the place of men and women in society, all of which was supported on slave labor. Athens, the birthplace of ‘Democracy’, limited voting to male citizens only and only then after completing their military training. Some of the other Greek city-states also formed ‘democratic governments’ upon the same lines as Athens, but tended towards local kings, perhaps the most famous of which is Philip II of Macedon who fathered one of the greatest military leaders in history: Alexander the Great, who tried to make his subjects worship him as a god. As such, the ‘freedom’ they were fighting for wasn’t ‘freedom’, it was the right to their own rule structures. They had systems of punishment that were the predecessors of modern court systems, further proof that citizens of Greek city-states weren’t free to do as they wished.

Inshort, ‘freedom’ for one person means ‘oppression’ for another. Tosay you have the right to make the rules means that you’re sayingsomeone else doesn’t. There’s nothing ‘free’ about a fight for‘freedom’. It’s a form of oppression. Modern examples of this includethe concept of ‘freedom of religion’, which isn’t ‘freedom’, it’s aconcept that oppresses those that don’t agree that someone else canworship who/what they want. The gender pronoun laws are an even moremodern example, since saying someone has the right to be called whatthey want means that someone’s thoughts to the opposite are beingoppressed. Same thing with the Politically Correct culture that triesto limit words people can use, which oppresses those that have noissue with them. All of these things are examples of human being’sdesire to control others while trying to make it appear they aren’t,as they attempt to explain away their own control freakishness sothey don’t have to face what they’re really doing.

Someoppression is good. We oppress peoples’ will to rape and murder. Weoppress peoples’ desire to cause mayhem against those they disagreewith. We oppress peoples’ urge to keep certain members of societydisenfranchised. But to call any of those things ‘freedom’ for anyoneis an exercise in naivety: they’re targeted oppression for the goodof society. Oppression as people think of as ‘oppression’ is bestdescribed as ‘oppression that doesn’t better society’. Show me acountry with a constitution that bans any form of punishment nomatter the offense, and I’ll show you a ‘free’ country. Until then,make the best of your rule structure and know you’re not free, andnever will be regardless of the propaganda around you, unless you andyour neighbor have the right to beat each other over the head with astick without any form of social retribution.

Furtherinfo:

Chinaslams Hong Kong judges after mask ruling, raising pressure on city’sfreedoms:https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/china-admonishes-hong-kong-judiciary-after-mask-ruling-raising-pressure-on-citys-tenuous-freedoms/2019/11/18/3e3999de-0a51-11ea-8054-289aef6e38a3_story.html

Womanattacked by protesters in Mong Kok, Hong Kong:https://youtu.be/ATO_roCP2BA

HKrioters throw firebombs at residents cleaning streets:https://youtu.be/uFOQB39juLc