Freedom comes with responsibility. This is true and is the reason why freedom is a scary prospect for some. However, it is in the perspective and scope of this responsibility where we'll succeed to gain more freedom or lose it all.
source: Flickr
"Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect." - Eleanor Roosevelt
The problem with freedom is that most of us consider it an individual right. The same applies to the responsibility that's included in this package; when we say that individuals have to take responsibility, we predominantly mean to say that they have to take responsibility for their own lives, their own income, their own education and their own health. And that, in my opinion, is only half the story, only takes us halfway there. To see freedom and responsibility as owed only to one's self is to miss the framework within which these terms gain any meaning in the first place, which is the society we're all part of.
To illustrate this, let's look at the anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers during the pandemic. Wearing a mask was refused by large swaths of people who argued that it was an infringement on their personal freedom. They saw it as their personal responsibility to safeguard, fight for, or express their personal freedom. And that's backwards. Because we all live in a society, we all individually have to take responsibility for other individuals as well. When I wear a mask, I do so in the knowledge that it won't benefit me individually at all; I wear a mask to take responsibility for the health and well being of others. And I do so expecting those others to, in the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, act as grown-ups as well. The irony here is that anti-maskers are the cause of more stringent government regulation; their entirely self centered interpretation of freedom and responsibility backfired.
Maybe it's not entirely fair of me to generalize here, as I'm sure there are also some anti-maskers who genuinely are of the opinion that not wearing masks is beneficial for others as well, as information on immunity and herd-immunity isn't well understood, mainly as a result of poor governance and politicized propaganda. But I had the impression that the whole anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers movement was the consequence of the blind anti-establishment sentiments that have become more prevalent these past decades. Just look at the amount and extremity of wild conspiracy theories that do the rounds on social media, and have invested the mainstream and right-wing political parties as well. Remember that Trump and Bernie were the "anti-establishment" candidates... It's not wrong to be anti-establishment, it's just wrong to be blindly so. It's not that just because the government tells many lies, the government always lies. It's not that because big pharma lies to make money that they want to kill us all. The conclusion does not follow the premise.
Freedom and responsibility have no meaning as individuals. When I'm alone on an island I'm absolutely free and have no responsibility to anyone. Freedom and responsibility are reciprocal. And as far as they are individual, they're just means to an end. That is to say that I use my personal freedom while considering my responsibility to others, and I take personal responsibility to not impede on the freedom of others. Not exclusively, but reciprocity should be a key consideration when examining these concepts because, again, by ourselves they have no meaning whatsoever. That's why I prefer Nelson Mandela's quote on freedom over Eleanor Roosevelt's:
"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others" - Nelson Mandela
Unfortunately we live in the age of hyper-individualism, narcissism and selfishness under the umbrella of capitalism, the political economy that centers around the accumulation of personal wealth. This combination is the death of freedom and responsibility, at least the meaningful part of these concepts. Nowhere is this better illustrated than by the fact that the trade for profit of our personal information is the means by which corporations and governments have gained absolute power over us. You see, opposite freedom and responsibility there is safety and certainty. We demand to be kept save from the persons who are unwilling to grow up, the ones who couldn't care less for our personal freedom or well being. I'm talking about the anti-maskers, the hooligans at soccer matches, the deranged zealots who indiscriminately shoot to kill in schools and during concerts. They are a minority, but we gladly surrender our own freedom by demanding from another minority - the government - that they protect us.
Do you know what the Eye of Providence is? Sure you do; it's that symbol of an all-seeing eye in a triangle surrounded by rays of light, depicting the eye of God watching over humanity. We want that. Or at least many among us do, and they're the ones who are "unwilling to grow up." What else is God than an everlasting and omnipresent parent that watches your every move, punishes when His rules are transgressed, keeps you save and rewards you with everlasting live if you prove to be obedient? Nowadays this symbol has become synonymous with conspiracy theories about sinister organisations secretly ruling the world, like the infamous "Illuminati."
That's so rich when considering the fact that the real all-seeing eye is comprised of the consortium of data-brokers we willingly and knowingly surrender our personal information to in exchange for ease of use. The comfort we get from God and the safety we get from the government protecting us from the irresponsible aren't half as detrimental to us as the ease of use we buy from online corporations with our personal data. This information is traded freely to whomever can pay the price, and that includes the repressive government. Our modern Eye of Providence ultimately stems from our surrendering to a political economic system that translates everything in terms of individualism and personal profits, and it's ironic that this all-seeing eye is paid for by ourselves.
Data Brokers: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Thanks so much for visiting my blog and reading my posts dear reader, I appreciate that a lot :-) If you like my content, please consider leaving a comment, upvote or resteem. I'll be back here tomorrow and sincerely hope you'll join me. Until then, stay safe, stay healthy!
Recent articles you might be interested in:
| Latest article >>>>>>>>>>> | Don't Trust The Car Mechanic! |
|---|---|
| Horrors Of Pseudoscience | Socialism VS Human Nature |
| Hyper Self-Promotion | Caucasian War Reports |
| Evolution Of Whales | When Did Slavery End? |
Thanks for stopping by and reading. If you really liked this content, if you disagree (or if you do agree), please leave a comment. Of course, upvotes, follows, resteems are all greatly appreciated, but nothing brings me and you more growth than sharing our ideas.