(This
is a fairly light-hearted take on the concept of freedom. I am using a
definition, offered by Hobbes, to further highlight my recurring point that the
meaning of this wonderful word has been grotesquely twisted by America’s
ideological demagogues to the point of becoming completely obnoxious. Needless
to say, my intent is not to provide a rigid (Urtext) definition, which
would be a nonsensical endeavor anyway, but to appeal to Hobbes’ formula in a
broader, figurative sense, thus exploring a, perhaps, previously unexplored
alcove, that one may encounter only off the beaten path of customary
understanding, which helpful bypass this Hobbesian definition does indeed
provide, even if only in a limited sense.)
Anything
we discuss probably without exception can be raised to a higher plane from
everyday layman talk and become a legitimate subject of philosophy. Do I need
to remind the reader that these concepts of liberty and freedom are
by no means mundane, and that their legitimate place in a serious philosophical
discussion is absolutely ascertained?
This
is, however, not a place where such a comprehensive discussion is about to take
place, and it is admittedly “a fairly light-hearted take on the concept of freedom,”
which of course does not make this entry anywhere less serious, in so far as
the philosophy of freedom is concerned. So here it is.
Talking
about freedom, here is an interesting reality check. In this case
I am appealing to the unimpeachable authority of Thomas Hobbes, citing his
definition of Freedom/Liberty in Leviathan. Here it is:
“Liberty, or freedom, signifies the absence of opposition (meaning
external impediments of motion), and may be applied no less to irrational and
inanimate creatures than to rational.” (Leviathan, Chapter XXI)
…Weird?
Uninspiring? Crude? Maybe all of these, but at least a definition, and
surely one with a twist!... (The same cannot be said about the worshipers of
the “Democracy” cult,
an obscenely inspirational, yet vacuous term, used by the empty suites
like a coin of the fraudulent realm that they all claim to inhabit and
represent, and on whose behalf, and at others’ expense, they are so joyfully
carrying on their buy-them-or-bomb-them adventures. As a wickedly ironic
reminder, the Chechen perpetrators of the recent Boston Marathon bombing were cultivated as part of a radical
anti-Russian group and even implicitly protected as “our sons of bitches” from
a thorough FBI investigation requested on Russia’s urging, by the Caucasus Center subdivision of the once
respectable yet now politically biased and unabashedly rightwing American organization
called… Freedom House!!!)
Looking
at Hobbes’ awkward, but fascinating in its awkwardness, opening paragraph, the
first thing which catches the eye in this Newtonian physical definition
of freedom is that except for the outer space, it cannot exist anywhere, as
long as there may be some other objects close by or in relative proximity, that
are bound to create an “opposition,” by counteracting our action,
or just by altering our free course, through the basic laws of gravity. The
sheer beauty of this Hobbesian definition is that no one can “spin” it by, say,
bending the definition of “opposition,” as it is rather hard, even for a
seasoned agitprop pro, to play political games with the barebones of physics…
(The
bottom line is of course that the subject of Freedom and Democracy has
acquired a disproportionately large significance in the light of the late Bush
Administration’s political and military exploits on behalf of these. Their
manipulative, shameful use of complicated philosophical terminology, in
promoting a doctrine, which is ironically inimical to genuine freedom and
democracy, must be countered on every level, not only of civil action, but also
of open intellectual discourse. Otherwise, these big words will surely come
back to bury those who have unleashed them, taking the whole misguided nation
along with them.)
...This
entry is to be followed by Democracy And The Will Of The People.
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