Freedom, Liberty, Rights, Privileges
Freedom is a word that gets tossed around haphazardly, especially in this country - USA. But what does it really mean to be 'free'? As you might have guessed, I have several thoughts on the subject. THE ONLY WAY TO PROTECT ONES OWN FREEDOM OF AUTONOMY IS TO ALWAYS ADVOCATE FOR THE FREEDOM OF OTHERS TO HAVE THE SAME. When we attempt to deny basic personal freedoms to anyone, we open the door to having our own freedoms infringed upon. I recently watched the George Carlin special "It's bad for you" on Netflix where he states, "...rights aren’t rights if someone can take ’em away. They’re privileges, that’s all we’ve ever had in this country, is a bill of temporary privileges. And if you read the news even badly, you know that every year the list gets shorter and shorter and shorter." As an example of this, Carlin cites the interment of Japanese-Americans in 1942. "In 1942, there were a 110,000 Japanese American citizens in good standing...