I have this problem with wanting to be left alone when it comes to regulation and restrictions in my personal life. Not just wanting to be left alone but seemingly HAVING to be left alone. I don't think it's any secret here, or anywhere within my social life be it forums, work, within the family or close friends, that I prize freedom above most anything else. There are a few things I do prize more than freedom but I would expect that they are things that most prize the most too so I don't take that as any sort of downplay to my appreciation and defensiveness toward my freedoms and those of everyone else, EVERYONE else. That being said I take very deep "offense" (irony incoming)when people start suggesting limiting freedoms of people. Freedoms that are inalienable and common sense. I live in the USA, the "freedom" country that has just short of socially alienated any concept of freedom at all which is beyond ironic. I say this for several reasons and with a heavy heart as it seems everywhere I look someone is saying, "that offends me so it shouldn't be allowed and should be enforced by law" (which just about no one understands, law that is... which I just may make another thread about) Offending people shouldn't be something anyone aims for but in a dynamic world where so many cultures and perceptions of moral priorities are focused so closely together, well it happens. With our instant communication tools this has become an epidemic problem and one that many people are more than willing to profit from, instigate and even use to hurt other people completely ignoring their own capability for compassion or humility. The most harped on freedoms in the main stream or socially illuminated debate forum have been extremely troubling. No right to self defense, no right to travel, no right to self medicate, no right to freedom of speech or expression, no right to life even. When someone comes to you and tells you that you don't have the right to do something they are presuming they have "authority" over you. Yet our common law, US constitution and religious teachings all brazenly express that NO man has authority over another. This is universal, not just in the US. This is natural, nature, truth. When you AGREE that you don't have the right to do something you make the conscious choice whether its under threat, duress or coercion to contract against your own freedom. I'm going to hit some more points following this. Just in case that wasn't enough words for you.
What ultimately sparked this thread, of course not my quest for truth or vigilance in the defense of freedom, was the rehashing of some commercials that anyone that has watched Tv or used the internet (oh hi there) has seen. The anti-tobacco #truth campaign/coalition or what have you. I really don't understand the motive behind this or how it has grown as much as it has, sympathy and morality play maybe... makes the most sense. The commercials though! It's really hard to watch them. They are usually disgusting, romanticized and beyond exaggerated. They use "statistics" with their visual onslaught as the core basis of their... what do you call it? argument? Argument, that can't be it. I'm pretty sure we all know the repercussions of smoking. You get over 90% of the energy you use in your lifetime from breathing and the lungs are the most heavily effected by the act of smoking. It doesn't take statistics or rocket science to put together that it probably isn't the best thing for you. An epidemic though? If you go to www.thetruth.com and look at the "facts" almost none of them state anything close to something that could be considered true or a technical statement that might fall in line with a concept of a "fact." I don't understand this! There are some really damning facts about cigarettes and yet almost everything I see on that page is at BEST a half truth if not outright lies or serious over exaggeration. Why? I want to not understand but I DO understand. This campaign isn't about getting the facts out. It's about inspiring emotional response. It's about outraging people to their cause. Being anti-smoking is not a bad thing. Being anti-freedom is. This organization is very obviously the latter being that they parade "truth" while inherently lying non-stop. The book "Truth, Lies and Ice Cream" outlines pretty well the fallacy of most the arguments/claims made by this movement/organization or line of thinking however you want to call it. This website sums up the book pretty well: http://www.thetruthisalie.com/ I really don't care if you smoke cigarettes. that is YOUR business not the college kid walking down the street regurgitating a false claim that my smoking 20 feet from him is somehow bad for him. OR worse for him than him trying to antagonize me for no reason and raising my blood pressure much more than any cigarette ever could lol.
Here is another movement that is socially everywhere that is absolutely at odds with the well being or freedom of others: http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/ I could write a whole book on this, ugh.
Freedom is good. Though governments all around the world are slowly but surely taking them away. One way is economically, with the elimination of cash. Have you noticed that over the years there are more and more regulations on cash? Big bills production was stopped 1920's (I think. A really long time ago for sure.) to make life more difficult for gangsters (or so they alleged). It made life less free for everyone, as it was harder to hide your cash at home, so now you gotta put it in the "insured" banks. People of the time did find good hiding places for cash at home, but it was rather impractical as it takes up a lot of space and you do not see the practice as much anymore. The government gets notified every time you travel outside or bring inside the US 10k, or simply do anything over 10k at the bank. I think you have to explain to the bank what you are doing with the 10k+ dollars is that correct? It's too late for me to go research the procedure, if they just tell govt or you have to explain what you're doing with you're own money you earned. Bank branches are closing down, atm's can be expensive to use, and everyone uses their cellphone to make purchases and cards. Cash is even getting hard to find sometimes. My heart sinks when I see credit card only sign. Like really? Everyone knows the government is tracking each and every item you purchase with those things. Why sacrifice your freedom? As soon as they even think something is crooked about your spending or you in general, they can freeze all your "insured" assets and pretty much disable you with a push of a button. Your income from work gets direct deposited into your freezable account. So... I mean you can be screwed super easy. How free are you in a world like this? I wonder if they even get a warrant anymore before they do the freezing bit. Be free folks, demand cash. You know criminals will just invent their own currency once cash gets destroyed, maybe they'll go to gold or bitcoin? You and I know they can't do their business through banks and credit cards. They would be in jail so fast, there wouldn't be criminals in the streets. So the only free people are the bad people society hates in this aspect, while law abiding citizens like you and I are constantly being monitored after they make cash no longer legal tender, but the new digital dollars so. On a side note, for those worried about security, cash is far superior to apple pay or android pay. Crap happens in life. It's unavoidable no matter what. Don't let government be the biggest crapper.
You define law differently than I do, or so I would suspect. By the societally forced idea of "law-abiding" I don't quite fit that category. Statute law isn't actually law. Wearing your seat belt isn't the law. Insuring your vehicle isn't the law. Its statutory commercial code. Most people have no idea the difference. Its contract law. You have to agree and your consent is aquired through coersion. Coersion perpetrated by the bastardizing of our literal spoken language. When someone starts talking about legal documents you LITERALLY need a translator and those translators are sworn to the BAR association and are in direct conflict of being a nuetral party. For the same reason that people believe its the law is the reason that oligarchies have become the norm as "governing" bodies around the world. We haven't had lawful cash in the US since the very beginning of the 20th century. Hats off to ya Woodrow Wilson. Being the deathknell for any hope of restoring soveriegnty in the US. Need I bring up how Mao, Hitler and Mussolini were all legally incapable of being tried? Their regimes actions however were without question unlawful. legal does not mean lawful.
