Why is freedom good?

I agree with this to some extent. How can children enjoy freedom if they have never experienced oppression? Without some form of oppression, can freedom really exist or be experienced? If a child has not yet felt the restraints of society, how does enjoy what he has? he is oblivious to the fact that there is freedom and oppression.

 

I'm not sure about the whole theory of duality which states that to experience something we must also experience its opposite. There can certainly be freedom without oppression. We may not appreciate it as much, but it exists nonetheless. I think this theory is often espoused by people too caught-up in abstract thought. The abstract concept of freedom may be more difficult to define without something to judge it against, but in literal reality it exists just the same. The same way it's easier to define cold by reference to heat; if one had never experienced heat, cold wouldn't feel any different.

 

To rephrase that, I do believe that kids are born omniscient, but in a different context, my definition of knowledge being that which is true, not that which is learned, "learning" being constraint of thought.

I think of freedom more as a state of mind than a set of circumstances. Freedom is detachment, relinquishing the ego, and one's attachment to others, the benefits of that being spiritual, emotional, and physical.

 

So you think babies have no ego? Their entire lives revolve around themselves.

 

Infants don't have egos, they have ids.

 

How could anyone know a thing like that?

 

look it up

 

If government doesn't guarrantee or expand freedoms why do we as taxpayers continue to fund them? Simple question, actually why pay for something that doesn't guarrantee a return. Thing we should all question is why is so much money spent on all of us voting for something that protects corporate profits? If corporations aren't protetected currently why are they investing so much in maintaining their foothold? County and state hospitals destroyed, prisons taken over by for profits, utilitlites deregulated that soak their subscribers and provided no services...shiiit those private corporations really delivered didn't they? Why no real reports on the results of these privatization experiments?

 

I think not. I think the rich would like those of us who monetarially are poor too think so, but I think freedwom is the only thing, most of us can hold as our own means of identifying self. Corporations would love that we abdicate that. I say don't sell out. They can't pay you enough.

 

Look up what, exactly?

 

Yes, I actually believe babies during the early months of their lives are only interested in themselves. Who else are they supposed to be interested in? Who exactly do you think they are considering while filling their diapers?

 

That was my point. I was saying they are very ego-centric.

 

I think gardener was talking about the Freudian definition of "ego". Not the common usage.

 

So was I.

 

Are we basing our congressional policy on infants who only really care about who actually meet their needs? Or is policy based on who will profit more?

 

A bit of both.

 

Both being one and the same, evidently. Infants with suits and ties who only care about profit.

My point was that according to the Freudian definition, infants haven't yet developed egos. Their needs and motivations are more primitive, so while they might be considered self centered, they're unencumbered by the restraints that most people develop as adults--restraints that allow us to get along, but restraints nonetheless.

Elimination of the ego requires us to actively suppress our natural instincts of wanting more and guarding what we have, but it also grants us freedom. If everyone could develop that sense of detachment, we could function smoothly together without government, which as Gardener points out is doing a piss poor job of protecting us, so what are we paying them for?

 

Government may be doing a piss poor job, but at least voters control through elections who is in power privatization offers us no guarrantees.

 

They do?

 

Voters may have control over who they elect as president, but look at Bush for example. Look at how many people voted for him and then take a look at how many people hate him. So we may control who gets in, but once they are in office we have very little to no control over the desicions made.