Re: a little something worth noting . . .

On Friday 2 May 2003 9:41 pm, Timothy R. Butler wrote:
> > Yes, there ought to be. It's the difference between a democracy/republic
> > with a constitution and anarchy. To protect one's freedom to live, you
> > have to take away everyone elses freedom to kill.
>
>   Indeed. Few people recognize this... thanks for pointing it out, Rob.

(Note: I am not exactly arguing for or against the point. Just found this 
interesting)

It depends which definition of freedom you use:

freedom 1 : the quality or state of being free: as a : the absence of 
necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b : liberation from 
slavery or restraint or from the power of another : INDEPENDENCE c : the 
quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous 
<freedom from care> d : EASE, FACILITY <spoke the language with freedom> e : 
the quality of being frank, open, or outspoken <answered with freedom> f : 
improper familiarity g : boldness of conception or execution h : unrestricted 
use <gave him the freedom of their home>

Assuming we're talking about a or b in that list, then applying limits 
immediately violates the definition of the term.

Of course, Merriam-Webster, being an American dictionary, also provides a 
second definition which is more compatible with the political environment:

2 a : a political right b : FRANCHISE, PRIVILEGE
synonyms FREEDOM, LIBERTY, LICENSE mean the power or condition of acting 
without compulsion. FREEDOM has a broad range of application from total 
absence of restraint to merely a sense of not being unduly hampered or 
frustrated <freedom of the press>. LIBERTY suggests release from former 
restraint or compulsion <the released prisoner had difficulty adjusting to 
his new liberty>. LICENSE implies freedom specially granted or conceded and 
may connote an abuse of freedom <freedom without responsibility may 
degenerate into license>. 

It's interesting to me that my British English dictionary doesn't 
differentiate between 'political' and any other type of freedom in this (to 
me, somewhat strange) manner.

Perhaps dep would like to jump in and suggest here that this is because I 
don't have any political freedom, living as I do in a region blighted by 
cultural inferiority.

-- 
dan

"Were i susceptible to having my mind changed, it would have changed my mind" 
- Matthew Parris

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