I’ve had a lot of time to think this week and one question runs through my mind: Why is freedom so closely and (for many) irretrievably associated with fighting?
Sure, we do periodically have to defend freedom against tyrants. And defend it more frequently against incremental encroachments and (if I may coin a term) the political encockroaches who so encroach.
But given that the main thing we do with freedom is enjoy it, given that it is, in most of our lives, as lovely and easy a thing as pure air, why the sticky association with strife, battle, bloodshed, anguish, and all things bad?
That doesn’t make freedom sound like much fun at all. Or like anything most people would want to have. Is it just because we’re hardwired to take freedom for granted when it’s not threatened? Is all this emphasis on fighting just because of the times we live in? What?
Why is freedom so closely and (for many) irretrievably associated with fighting? And for that matter, why are so many who claim to be ardent supporters of freedom the very sort of people you’d prefer not to have for your next-door neighbors in any would-be Libertopia?
“And for that matter, why are so many who claim to be ardent supporters of freedom the very sort of people you’d prefer not to have for your next-door neighbors in any would-be Libertopia?”
To answer the last question first:
Perhaps because we all are, or have been, so defensive for so long – defensive and frustrated, striving and hoping for political freedom – that it’s become embedded in us to be cynical and belligerant. So we aren’t the type of person we want to live near or be around. (I dare say, once we got the hang of it, we might relax and be nicer, less belligerant, and more accommodating in Libertopia. Besides, “an armed society is a polite society.” Libertopia would bring out the best in us… or else.
I’ve noticed people do say things online they probably wouldn’t say to someone’s face, or say them in ways they wouldn’t think of acting in “real life.” In addition, words often come out harsher than intended because we don’t hear inflections or see facial expressions that would better explain the meanings.
Got things to do today; will get to the fighting question later.
Because the only way to discourage or be free from a tyrant is to kill it, which usually involves fighting.
I don’t fight with anyone. I have no desire to fight with anyone… just want to be left alone to enjoy my life as I see fit. But there are those who would prevent that, even to the point of violence.
So, I view this as a part of the necessity to prepare for self defense. I carry a gun for that purpose, not because I want to fight with anyone.
Seems to me that those who want to fight, whether they call themselves freedom lovers or otherwise, actually have no understanding of individual liberty, or at least no respect for it. They would not be good neighbors, now or in some “libertarian” society.
And no, RW, killing the tyrant is a last resort when they attack. In the meantime, they can pretty much be avoided if one simply ignores them, refusing to accept their “authority” or fear them. They ultimately require both to carry on their malfeasance.
Because those who want to enslave others don’t leave any alternative. Peacefully ignore them, and they’ll continue to escalate their aggression until you have no choice but to fight. They simply can’t leave others alone. My choice would never be to fight, but by wanting to be left alone I am apparently waving a red cape in the face of everyone who can’t live without molesting everyone around them. So, what do you do? Bow down, or fight? They refuse to allow you any third way.
Because it seems like Libertopia or something like it is always in the mythical past, having fallen to some encroachment, and the traditional view of history is about Great Men and the dates of battles.
Because it’s always easier to bitch about the loss of liberty than to live it in your own life, present governments, busybodies and yammerheads be damned.
Because freedom is terrifying, and it’s much safer to fantasize about fighting for it in some climactic battle that will never happen than it is to actually build a free life.
As to the last question, some parasites who ought to be fertilizer like to appropriate the word ‘freedom’ when they really just mean ‘f*ck you, I’m doing what I please no matter who it hurts.’
Because Liberty is never given, it must be taken, and held. There’s a price for everything, and the price for enjoying Liberty is doing the hard work of getting and keeping it. If it was free, we wouldn’t value it so highly.
There are those who really believe that the way to live is to live their way and anyone else’s way is wrong. Often to the point where they’ve become bullies. We know that bullies often don’t respond unless they’re confront with force.
As for not wanting to live with a liberty type? I find that those tend to be a lazy and inconsiderate type that don’t want to be bothered to clean up after themselves. They often don’t realize that true Liberty come with responsibilities.
I think both questions have their answers rooted in the same place: The human tendency to want everyone to behave as we want them to. The result is a constant struggle between trying to impose our will on others while preventing them from imposing their will on us.
Most people don’t want freedom, they want “freedom”. They want everyone to think exactly the same way, to behave in exactly the same way, to believe in exactly the same way. You see it here sometimes, the whole “you’re not really a freedomista unless you do it MY way” mindset.
Real freedom means people will make decisions that we personally think are wrong.
It takes an enormous amount of understanding to say “I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” It’s so much easier to say “You disagree with me, so you should just shut up you stinking hippy/Nazi/Neanderthal/coward!”
Your first question also has an added layer. People are wired to see EVERYTHING as a struggle. Ask someone why they haven’t accomplished one of their goals, and the excuses will almost always involve other people holding them down. The boss, society, the kids, the job, the teachers, men, women, white people, black people, brown people, racists, elites, bankers, the rich, the poor, the taxman, whatever. It’s easier to blame other people than it is to look in the mirror.
Because tyrants are like the drunk in the bar poking you in the chest saying “hit me! hit me!”
“…because we’re hardwired…”
You said it. We have inherited ancestral memory of the normal state of being. These days are NOT the usual human condition. These are rare, precious times. The normal state of human existence is struggle, awful, horrific struggle against decease, hunger, war, poverty, abject subjugation, horrific slavery, join or die under the biggest meanest group and disintegration into back into factions. Outside of disaster and disease all of mankind’s woes are self-inflicted. We know this in our gut because we have struggled since before recorded history. This is a beautiful and likely short respite on our rode. Anybody halfway paying attention knows it’s coming. What “it” is remains to be seen. Kill or be killed is still a fact of earth.
As to your second question about neighbors, I would add that there are those among us that want you to be free and those that don’t care about you. BOTH the means and the ends must be moral or you’re simply just another ahole. The kind that would slit your throat for freedom doesn’t even understand that freedom only exists in civil society. Don’t get stuck in a foxhole with a throat slitting ahole who says he is for freedom. He doesn’t mean YOUR freedom.
My son, a 25 year old college student with libertarian/authoritarian dualities, was frustrated with my unwillingness to take action to stop racisim/sexism/homophobism, etc., so he asked me what kind of world I wanted to live in. I thought that was a good question, so I had to give it some thought. My answer surpised me.
I told him I wanted to live in a world where there is a neo-Nazi on my right, a Black nationalist on my left, a Born Again behind me, and a couple of lesbians across the street. We’d wave to each other, exchange pleasantries, shovel each other’s driveways after a bad storm, and maybe even have some civil conversations about our differences, but we’d generally stay out of each other’s hair.
People who want to change everybody to fit their mold either want to dominate them or kill them. That ain’t me.
My nightmare community would be a bunch of libertarians living together arguing passionately over Rand versus Rothbard. That would be akin to disagreeing over how many angels fit on the head of a pin.
Ron,
When we libertarians really get up to speed chasing our tails, can can be harnessed to generate electricity. Think really big hamster wheels.
The freedom stories the young need to hear don’t come from times of peace.
“Is it just because we’re hardwired to take freedom for granted when it’s not threatened? Is all this emphasis on fighting just because of the times we live in? What?”
I think a number of others have mentioned (correctly) that tyranny is the reason we emphasize fighting; tyrants have been the aggressors down through the ages, verbally, politically, and legislatively. It is in our best interest to stay alert and respond to issues, in order to keep tyranny at bay as much as possible.
I’m not sure we’re hardwired to take freedom for granted – or we’re simply hardwired to get along and accommodate when we’re not threatened. As a sociable animal, maybe we’re hardwired (or have been acclimated) to NOT fight, to not look for a fight, even maybe not to see a fight coming. Most freedoms are lost before people are aware, and after it becomes too late (ex. Nazi Germany). America has been more alert generally due to the nature of its origin, but it, too, has reached a too-late stage that probably will never be reversed without fighting.
We happen to live in a unique period, I think. There has always been fighting throughout the ages (usually between tyrants), but few people brave enough or knowledgeable enough to speak out against tyranny at any one time. Perhaps it’s the (I hate to use the word) *global* awareness, via the internet, that has more people fighting. Not to say the internet caused the fighting, but raised the awareness of what to fight for. Communication has brought about knowledge of freedom and what it can do for the individual – but not the proper means to achieve it. Freedom must be understood before it can be appreciated, and too many people want freedom _as they perceive it_ – without working for it and without responsibility.