Freedom

[appaji]

On this Indian independence day, I wish that you be free, always :-). While I celebrate the day and proudly sing janani janma-bhUmischa swargadapi garIyasi, I believe we still have a long way to go.

Today, the radio has people telling what freedom means to them. To me, freedom is not merely an absence of constraints, but it is action having

Comments

[ex_ga_woo]

No, Freedom is not a fancy word. Although there are fascists who would try to convince us otherwise. These fascists rise to power every now and then. In fact, if anyone wants to remove people's rights, this is exactly where you begin. By telling people that "Freedom" is a fancy word.

It is one of the most important words for me. And yes, words matter. (In Orwell's 1984, the Government tries to eliminate the rights of individuals by removing the meaning of "Free" from the dictionary. Think about it. If people don't even know a word for the concept of Freedom, they will not be able to even think of Freedom as a concept. It would never occur to them that they are missing something by letting the Government push them around.)

So about all these restrictions that we have. I don't necessarily agree with all of them, but generally about why we need restrictions, it is so one does not restrict the Freedom of another. It's pretty simple actually. Someone once said "The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins." That is all. You are only restricted from not denying anybody else their freedom. The constitution is there not to restrict your freedom but to make sure your rights are protected from others.

And all those examples about religion and family and all that, that's a personal choice. And has nothing to do with whether a country is free or not. (Minors don't have a few rights, agreed. But whether or not they should is a _whole_ different topic :) )

[appaji]

Well put!

[ex_ga_woo]

When "Freedom" becomes a fancy (sic) word

Deputy Commissioner of Police: "The new law is for the good of the people. Why should people stay out late and spoil their own health." Holeeeeeeeeeeee Shit!

[appaji]

Like Eliot Ness in The Untouchables says, "It is not about what is right or wrong, it is the law".

Neither the DCP (who made the above statement) nor the CP Dr. Ajay Kumar Singh (who has been enforcing this very strictly) probably derive pleasure out of it, but they are enforcing a law. And if there is an issue with the law, that has to be changed.

I believe that this law is totally stupid (apparently they passed it inline with what they did after the 1991 Mumbai blasts), but such is life at times.

And yea, Shit!

[ex_ga_woo]

The "Holeeeeeeee Shit" was for the arrogance of the DCP to have made a statement like that. He's saying that the Government should make decisions for an individual cause the individual is too stupid. That's just plain scary.

[appaji]

Hehe!

[ex_ga_woo]

What the heck! I'm sure I replied to this comment. Are you deleting my comments? :)

Anyway, what I mentioned there was that the "Holeeeeeeeee Shit" was for the fact that the DCP was making a statement like that. I would have had no problem had he said "That is the law and we will enforce it.". But no, he's actually telling us that each of us are too stupid to take care of ourselves.

Oh btw, I think the laws against prostitution and drugs are sick too. But that's a _whole_ different topic :)

[ex_ga_woo]

What the....Now I can see my old comment. Fuck! Bug in my browser's caching maybe :)

[poovanna]

"The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins." That is all. You are only restricted from not denying anybody else their freedom.
Well said.