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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (10693)	4/7/2001 7:49:06 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 82486

We may as well say that a concern for liberty and the autonomy of the individual is a passing fancy, if we remain utterly indifferent to enslavement. Why should the autonomy of tyrants count more than the liberty of individuals? Neo, we're both for the liberty and autonomy of the individual. You want that liberty and autonomy to be the US flavor of liberty and autonomy. I want it to be the flavor chosen by the people affected. It's a question of which is the greater liberty. People are not truly free unless they are free to make the choice to die, yet in this country, suicide is illegal. I resent that curtailment of my freedom. I resent anyone saying that I shouldn't be free to be a slave if that's what I want. I know how strange that sounds, but IMO yu don't really have liberty unless you have the choice to give up that liberty. People are different. Sometimes it's their individual wiring and sometimes it's cultural. Some among us are wired to be thrill seekers. You'd never get me to bungee jump off a bridge. Some people are wired inculcated to submit themselves to the will of their imaginary friend. That, IMO, is a kind of slavery, but one freely chosen by the individual. As you know, I'd no more do that than bungee jump, but I'd never intervene if someone else wanted to make either choice. People must be free to make bigger choices than what color to paint their geese. We respect others by accepting their choices for themselves. Until and unless they hurt others in the process. I don't see why it's different for societies. Colonialists wiped out bunches of viable cultures in part guided by their desire to improve the lot of the indigenous people. Haven't we learned anything about cultural arrogance? Not everyone, even in this country, wants to be a personal entrepreneur. Some people would rather not have to make decisions for themselves but be told what to do. Look how so many Russians reacted to freedom. Some people would rather be reasonably warm and comfy and bitch about their oppressors than have to forage for themselves. Not everyone places freedom at the top of their hierarchy of values. If we truly value freedom, we'll allow them that choice. Karen