Freedom!

[Kirkhill]

“Don’t all people yearn for freedom?” we have asked. And we assume the answer is yes. But the answer is no. Some people, perhaps most people, prefer other goods. Indeed, some people would rather be holy than free, or safe than free, or be instructed in how they should lead their lives rather than be free. Many prefer the comfort of strong answers already given rather than the openness and hazards of freedom. There are those who would never dream of substituting their will for the imam’s or pushing their desires over the customs and traditions of their families. Some men kiss their chains.

As good Americans (Canadians, Brits, Aussies), we may wish to say that all people deserve freedom. But to say that all people desire it is flat-out wrong.

this observation from John Agresto:

via

We All Should Be Appalled By What Is Happening In Afghanistan

For all the fractiousness about Afghanistan over the past twenty years, finally there is unity in this opinion: What a disaster.

thefederalist.com

The terrifying truth is that millions do not want lockdown ever to end​

We’re entering the early stages of a new culture war pitting freedom-lovers against proponents of Zero Covid
SHERELLE JACOBS
DAILY TELEGRAPH COLUMNIST
5 July 2021 • 9:30pm

In October 1958, the philosopher Isaiah Berlin gave a groundbreaking lecture at Oxford University on the subject of liberty. There were two kinds, he said. “Positive” liberty – in which freedom is usually only achieved through a collective, utopian quest – would always lead to tyranny, as epitomised by communism. The antidote, he contended, was for the West to champion “negative” liberty instead – the individual’s freedom to do what they want without interference.

Some years later, however, Berlin wavered. By defining “negative” liberty as a person’s ability to do what they want (rather than what other people deemed by they ought to want) the scholar could not get around the paradox that, in certain circumstances, people may genuinely not wish to be free at all. They might adapt to unfree situations by no longer desiring their own autonomy. A society might even “liberate” itself from the terrors of freedom, with its daunting emphasis on personal responsibility.

The terrifying truth is that millions do not want lockdown ever to end

We’re entering the early stages of a new culture war pitting freedom-lovers against proponents of Zero Covid

www.telegraph.co.uk

Why do criminals reoffend?

What is the attraction of the monastery?

What is the attraction, and the power, of the priesthood? Not just absolution from sins. But absolution in toto.

It's not my fault.

 

[Brad Sallows]

It's interesting watching the doom-mongers try to monkey-branch from COVID back to climate.

 

[daftandbarmy]

this observation from John Agresto:

via

We All Should Be Appalled By What Is Happening In Afghanistan

For all the fractiousness about Afghanistan over the past twenty years, finally there is unity in this opinion: What a disaster.

thefederalist.com

The terrifying truth is that millions do not want lockdown ever to end

We’re entering the early stages of a new culture war pitting freedom-lovers against proponents of Zero Covid

www.telegraph.co.uk

Why do criminals reoffend?

What is the attraction of the monastery?

What is the attraction, and the power, of the priesthood? Not just absolution from sins. But absolution in toto.

It's not my fault.

“Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom; socialism restricts it. Democracy attaches all possible value to each man; socialism makes each man a mere agent, a mere number. Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”

― de Tocqueville