Freedom

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.  - John F. Kennedy

In this article I am talking about the ideal of Freedom, and if you have it or not.

This one ideal has driven man to the brink and has elevated us as a society. For long as it has been recognized, blood has been spilled, debate fueled, and meaning brought to the lives of many. Just recently we saw its power take hold in Egypt. There entire nation rose up just as ours did over two hundred years ago. If your child, associate, co-worker, or child asked you; "What is freedom?" Could you really explain what it is? Have you ever tried? You might do as I have and get the feeling like you do in school when the teacher ask a definition you feel like everyone knows, then you draw a blank. You might even find yourself quoting the constitution. You would find it interesting to know that there really isn't any one image people can see and instantly know, "That means freedom." It just isn't out there. If you’re educated enough the bald eagle or from NY and you’re looking at the statue of liberty you might think otherwise. What about those people who are in North Korea, and praise there great leader, where is there statue of liberty, there bald eagle? Who is there to show them what is happening to them, when they have no idea. The same goes for us. Who is here to tell us when we’re being brain washed, by our own government? The answer is clear, there isn't anyone. Of course we have the luck, to live in the electronic age. You could look it up on your phone, or computer. There are about 1 billion people of 6.8 billion online. What about that other 5.8 billion, who do not have the Internet? Those people who look it up, On Merriam alone they have to contend with 8 definitions. Are they to trust they know the right context, the right interpretation?

You have been socially programmed. So have I, and everyone I know and love. You do not know it because, no one wants you to, or maybe no one really sees it. The advertisements, your peers, and people of authority to you, and the news, have programmed you to think the way you do, talk the way you do, dress and even act the way you do. It is no coincidence teens, all wear polo, and everyone wants to protect the environment, see smoking as bad and unhealthy now, and maybe play a particular game. You have to slap yourself, scream WAKE UP! Realize that when you’re talking about how much you love to play chess, & your best friend says "I never cared for it." Fight the urge to go back on what you said, just to fit in with them. Be unique, retain your freedom. Don't let anyone implicitly or explicitly control your actions. Question everything you read and see, including what I am writing now. Man wrote it, then it is imperfect and needs to be questioned by all. That goes for audio, visual, and goes into the humanity equation too. It is infuriating to hear someone repeat their programming. It is even more infuriating not to have a name to call it when you see it. When you hear, so and so "was a bad president." Why was he bad? What did he do wrong? The news has a way of brainwashing people. They present propaganda on several stations.

Fox, CNN, MSNBC, and others all guilty of this, get your news first hand. The Internet is a great place for this, Videos, journals, blogs even.  Are you really free? Ask yourself this question, think back if anything like this jumped out at you then you are not free. It is like having it all in front of you but being influenced by another to make the choice. Sometimes don't you think if you just listened to yourself you would have done the right thing to get the goal you had chosen yourself. When it comes to politics many of us have no clue what we are or even what some of the parties really want. I for the longest time, thought I was a Republican. Then I took a government class found out my priorities are more in line with liberals then conservatives.

Sometimes it can be a good thing when you follow the group, it can sometimes be a bad thing too. So it doesn't justify all the times it is wrong by being right selectively. Use your common sense when presented with a dilemma and you will come out the other side more pleased with your decision, then you would if you had followed everyone else. This is not an easy thing to do. I still struggle with recognizing when I am acting off my programming or not. This doesn't mean you have to be a misanthrope. If your friends want you to play touch football, by all means get the exercise and as my Business teacher says "Work on your inter personnel skills." As it is now, some are controlling you through suggestion, either unconsciously or consciously. Maybe you could consider it unconstitutional when big business or government does this, but there is nothing we can do when you don't even realize it. If you hear teachers say " Wikipedia is bad." Ask them why. They will say, "Because anyone will write on it." This is not even true. It is a perfect example of them being brainwashed and not knowing. You have to have writing permission to write on several pages on the wiki, you have to be a member, you have to become a writer or editor, then your actions are reviewed by everyone and can be challenged.

In the end the moral of the story is to question everything and everyone, use your common sense in your decisions so that you can truly say that you’re free.