It seems that every day I am less free.
We live in a society, we do not live as individuals divorced of society as the right wing libertarians seem to believe. We cannot all live on private islands, pay no tax and ward off intruders with guns. We exist through society, and as a result the freedom debate always seems to be about trading off freedoms in order to better live within society.
Society is about individual responsibility.
But we are missing something vital.
Responsibility cannot exist without freedom.
Let me pose a simple scenerio, I would like to play some loud music, but my neighbor is a shift worker. If I have the freedom to play the loud music, I can choose to be responsible, I can choose to think of my neighbor.
But in our society we don’t have this choice. We don’t play the loud music because then the police will come. In this situation we are not exercising responsibility, we are not fulfilling our duties as citizens. In this situation we do not have the freedom to be responsible.
How can we ask people to be better citizens, if we try and mandate in each and every situation what is the appropriate course of action through the exercise of the heavy hand of the law? When we substitute duty and responsibility for law and compulsion, we are no longer citizens with rights are responsibilities, we are subjects with naught but fear and forced obedience.
And the latter is not the best outcome. Because the heavy hand of the law is no substitute for the appropriate ethic of an empowered and free citizen.
I fear it’s getting worse. Do you?
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on Jul 5th, 2008 at 7:23 am
No. In most cases people fulfil their duties citizens without giving any thought to the what the law is about it, the law generally only matters when people are not doing that, or are perceived to not be doing that. Substitute “murder” for “playing loud music” in your example. Its sort of related to the “no morality without god” fallacy. Do laws against violence mean those of us who don’t commit violence are not personally empowered and responsible for that choice?
Also, a shift worker cannot get the cops out if you are headbanging at 2 in the afternoon (unless its so exceptionally loud and then it affects more than just one shift worker anyway), those restrictions only apply late at night when they affect the maximum number of people. I think there are lots of other problems with your example, ie. how do I know some bloke across the road is a shift worker and if I don’t know how do I calculate my responsibility to them? And I do reject the idea I cannot take responsibility for my ethical behaviour with or without laws existing. And many would say “obeying the laws” is exactly what “fulfilling my duties as a citizen” means.
Did you get busted for having a party, Kieran?
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on Jul 5th, 2008 at 9:39 am
No Amanda, I didn’t get busted having a loud party.
on Jul 6th, 2008 at 7:03 am
[...] as citizens. In this situation we do not have the freedom to be responsible.1 Kieran Bennett - A thought on personal freedom [↩] « E Pluribus Unum #0 Dieser Eintrag wurde von Benjamin B. verfasst, in der [...]
on Jul 7th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
presumably your neighbour NOT kicking your door in and taking to your stereo with a piece of 2×4 would be THEIR opportunity do demonstrate THEY are a responsible citizen, yes?
I suspect the main reason I am a less ardent supporter of civil liberties than yourself is because I think true liberty relies much too heavily on the benevolence of human nature which, frankly, I don’t think is there.
Human benevolence is fallable, and easily eroded which is why we have the conformity of social obligation commonly called law.
Yes law is also fallable and can be eroded, but a human off the leash as it were, what an instrument for chaos and destruction is there.
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on Jul 10th, 2008 at 11:06 am
I detect subtle movements toward a more closed society, for our supposed safety. I see politicians manipulating us through fear more than they used to.
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