To live without fear

[shadowknows69]

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"

Kris Kristofferson wrote this line in the famous "Me and Bobby McGee" done more famously perhaps by Janis Joplin. I'm not sure I always agreed with that statement but I'm beginning to see it more now. A more contemporary and more intense version of this theme would be the recent movie "V For Vendetta" where we are asked by the protagonist to live without fear, for only then is a person capable of great and sometimes even terrible deeds.

To delve even deeper into my pit of useless pop culture trivia lets examine the Star Wars saga and the mystical order of the Jedi Knight. Taught to have compassion for all things yet be completely detached from all personal belonging and need. To totally give yourself up to duty and disregard all thoughts of even loved ones in need.

In our world and galaxy, far far away from George Lucas' universe we've seen such selfless and fearless leaders like our founding fathers, Martin, Malcolm, Gandhi, Che, Jesus, Rachel Corrie etc. etc. all stand their ground and walk like they talked when things even came to the point of their own deaths. Did Martin and Malcolm and Gandhi and all our lost martyrs know they'd be assassinated? I truly believe they did to an extent. They knew the potential was there as does anyone who throws themselves on the gears of the machine. Both Martin and Malcolm pretty much predicted their own deaths on live TV.

For cartoon and movie characters living lives of such dangerous bravery is easy but what brings a normal human to that place? How does one attain it? Is it through profound loss or the experience of seeing others suffer injustice? Is that enough? I’ve sat and watched the infomercials of starving children asking for aid with a heavy heart but not once have I peeled myself out of my easy chair and headed to Africa to help. I have friends who have and they are Gods in my eyes. Where do we find such courage? Is it something all humans can attain or is the reason we don’t see enough heroes is because just too few people are “wired” that way?

What is the formula? Do we need to endure unending hardship and torture like Evie in “V for Vendetta”? Tortured by her own revolutionary friend to free her to having nothing left but that one square inch of integrity which for Evie and V was the last part of them, that was still them, and still worth fighting for. Is freedom simply having nothing else to lose or can it be a conscious choice to live without fear? Would your love ones understand? Could you look them in the eye and tell them a cause is more important than them or maybe because of them.

Freedom and fearlessness is a mix of both to me. Freedom should be the freedoms laid out in our country’s defining document The Declaration of Independence. Inherent, but what happens when they aren’t? Where do we find our freedom when the land of the free is an illusion? When the scales of justice are tipping too far in one direction, from where will come the good men to come to the aid of their country? For now is surely the time. Do I need poverty of person and spirit to attain a life without fear or is it something deep inside all of us that we can get to before things are so dire? I suspect time will tell as time usually does. Where is your fear level at? Are you capable of wonderful and terrible things despite the risk or reward? Is nothing left to lose true freedom or does freedom deserve to be more and deserve to be fought for? Think well on these thoughts for times of testing are upon us. Ignore me at your peril.
Dissident

[LWolf]

1. Freedom is a conscious choice to live without fear,

and one's ability to do so determines the level of freedom.

Constitutional protections don't provide freedom when your own fear imprisons you. Lack of constitutional protection makes freedom a riskier venture, but doesn't keep one from being free.

The constitution is our vehicle to freedom with less risk.

Fear is a killer. It kills rational thought and conscious choice. It kills hope. It diminishes empathy. It kills all of those things which allow us to be the best we can be, to reach the highest our species is capable of.

I choose not to fear, or, when it rears its ugly head, not to allow fear to detour me from the path I think is correct. I've observed that many people not only allow fear to rule, they are dependent on fear. They cling to their fear like an addict to their drug of choice.

That fear is a tool in the hands of tptb. They use it to manipulate public consciousness, to manipulate conventional wisdom, to manipulate the public conversation, the public attitude, the vote, and the direction of the nation.

I take exception to being manipulated. I choose not to fear, and I resist efforts to control my pov through fear. We don't all have to be public figures to let go of fear. We can do so where ever we are, in our mundane private lives.

Since you asked.

[shadowknows69]

2. Good answer

[proud patriot]

22. good thread

K and R

[kedrys]

3. k&r

Well said.

I'm reminded of a line in Blade Runner, spoken by Rutger Hauer's character Roy Batty: "Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave."

As much as I sometimes try to choose not to fear, it's becoming increasingly difficult.

Thank you for yet another thoughtful post.

[loudsue]

4. A great essay, shadow!

That gives us a lot to ponder right now. I wish some parts of your rant could be placed on billboards across the country that they might wake up the slumbering masses.

k & r

:kick:

[NMDemDist2]

5. I felt fear on that December day in 2000 when SCOTUS stopped the counting

and honestly lived in fear until about 3 years later until I realized that the Kerry sticker I was 'afraid' to put on my car was a symptom of the pervasive fear I had allowed.

I put that sticker on the car, flipped off the abusers and have walked in courage since.

What? they'll take away my birthday? so be it.....

[vanlassie]

6. Courage is Fear With Breath n/t

[GeorgeGist]

7. True freedom is ...

nothing. Pursue it a your peril.

[Summer93]

8. Fear

Another saying I have heard is; fear is False Evidence Appearing Real

[BlooInBloo]

9. To dork out, it's also a major theme in the Thomas Convenant book series, by Stephen Donaldson.

The way the idea was stated there was something along the lines of "the paradox of power is that only the powerless are free".

[porphyrian]

10. Freedom is meaningless unless it is exercised.

If you won't leave your chair, does it really matter if your chair is in a cage or not?

Fear is one of the reasons people don't exercise their freedoms. In fact, it is the most common tool by which freedoms are "taken," as freedoms are never really taken from you, rather you are convinced not to exercise them through the promise of undesirable consequences. Take, for example, murder. We are all free to murder, some people do. Most of us don't, though, not because it's against the law, but because of the consequences of committing murder, which include the likelihood of punishment for breaking the law, and are pretty scary to most people. People can use this fear to manipulate us into not exercising certain freedoms, and, in the case of murder, that may not be such a bad thing. But the important thing to note here is that the barrier between us and freedom is very often no more real than the lines on a map. We acknowledge them, internalize them, accept them and make them real.

People who have nothing left to lose are given a perspective most people don't enjoy - freedom from the fear of loss. Most of the consequences of exercising certain freedoms are rendered moot; who cares if you're thrown in jail if you're homeless, hungry and raped every day on the street? By comparison, jail might even seem like a good idea. Why not go on a cross country road trip if your wife leaves you, takes the house and the kids and you get fired from your job? How many people aren't doing what they want with most of their life because they're afraid to lose what they have? Most, probably.

Want to fight for freedom? Exercise it. Now. Stop waiting until it's safe. We may never get there.

[BlooInBloo]

11. Minor rephrasing: there's simply *no such thing* as *passive freedom*....

... That's one way of putting the old quip "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance". Freedom is *by its nature* an ACTIVE characteristic of a society.

Ignoring the various well-known hypocrisies, one of the *virtues* of events like the Puritan diaspora, the Boston Tea Party, Tom Paine pamphlets, Selma marches, etc. was precisely their *active* nature. This point gets perhaps lost because the bulk of the sexy historical "freedom episodes" have taken place when *gaining* freedom was the issue. Now, we're confronted with *maintaining* freedom - and it's perhaps a surprise to some that THE WORK REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN IS NOT APPRECIABLY LESS THAN THAT REQUIRED TO GAIN FREEDOM IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Surprising though it may be, the fact of the matter is, I think, difficult to dispute. One need only point to the Bizarro-Patriot Act, Guantanamo, warrantless executive searches, etc. ad nauseum.

Succinctly, it's just as you said: freedom is coeval with its exercise. It's similar in language-pedagogy: use it or lose it. Or in relationships: they get stagnant when *work* is not done to keep them fresh.

Just a rephrasing that occurred to me. :)




EDIT: Stupid fucking numerical agreement rules.

[shadowknows69]

12. and it worked nicely as a kick too Bloo

thanks. oh did I just kick this thread too?

[BlooInBloo]

13. It's a worthy thread - regardless of your having a vested interest in it. :) ...

... Though, dork that I am, I really *was* hoping for at least one Covenant-series reader for moral support. lol!

[shadowknows69]

14. I read the first book eons ago

n/t

[BlooInBloo]

15. It's kind of unfortunate - the 1st book is absolutely fundamental to getting the rest...

... but is also by far the lowest in ROI to the reader. The net ROI switches drastically after the *2nd*, but, of course, that assumes the reader was willing to pick up the so-far losing series for the next season.

About the only way I can think of by way of pre-empting that problem would be to have combined the 1st two books. But then you'd have cutting-room-floor issues with editing.

[porphyrian]

16. I can agree with that (and the part about the stupid fucking numerical agreement rules). -n/t

[BlooInBloo]

17. :) I was pleased with my semi-creative way of solving the numerical agreement issue tho...

... but that's prolly 'cuz I'm drunk, and in particular, I'm so-constituted to be a *happy*-drunk, so a lot of things are pleasing to me in this state.

[porphyrian]

18. Heh, that's a damn good kind of drunk to be. - n/t

[BlooInBloo]

19. :) I've *seen* and *interacted* with mean drunks, but I never *understood* them...

... I mean, the whole POINT of being drunk is to have FUN, right? I just never understood the mean asshole drunks - like they're from bizarro-world to me.

[porphyrian]

20. I have too, and I think it may be biochemical with them.

If I hadn't been so completely wasted myself during my research, I might have some reliable data on the subject. But, instead, I've only got a hunch and a hypothesis based on vague flashes of memory and perhaps a convincingly-realistic hallucination or twenty. Anyway, it's at least possible that "mean drunks" are as much victims of their own genetics as their victims are of their actions, not that this excuses the behavior.

[shadowknows69]

21. Tangent alert!!!!!

[porphyrian]

23. Ha! Er...just exercising some freedoms...? - n/t

[shadowknows69]

24. I don't do excercise lol

but go for it B-)

[porphyrian]

25. Heh, heh. - n/t

[Spazito]

26. Excellent OP, it mirrors some of my thoughts after hearing bush

I honestly had an OMG moment. bush portrayed the US as a timid, frightened country, afraid of it's own shadow. It was not what he said about Iraq, it was because of his whole speech, it is really hard to find the words to explain it.

There have been many adjectives used to describe the US, both complementary and otherwise as is the case with many countries, but NEVER before would I have ever used adjectives like timid and frightened before yet that was the message bush sent out over the airwaves.

I have great respect for my neighbour, I love to visit, my post in no way is meant as an insult but rather to try and say how his speech affected me and possible many others outside the US.