The pseudonym "Philo Vaihinger" has been abandoned. All posts have been and are written by me, Joseph Auclair.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Things that are not freedom

Political liberty is not equality.

Freedom is not wealth, prestige, rank, or power.

Individuals, groups, and peoples are free who are not ruled by others in certain specific, familiar, and recognized respects.

A slave is not free.

A prisoner is not free.

A nation subject to another is not free.

A people excluded from self-rule, denied democracy, is not free.

One is not the less free for being among those excluded from racially, religiously, sexually, or otherwise exclusive institutions.

One is not the less free for being unemployed, poor, ignorant, or stupid.

One is not the less free for having unfree or even slave ancestors, as we all do.

One is not the less free for being black in a white land, or white in a black land.

One is not the less free for minority status.

Clearly, an individual, group, or people can be free in some respects though not in others, and in many it can be a matter of degree.

Where women are not slaves and have the vote and the common political rights, feminism is not about freedom but power and even privilege.

Globally, today, blacks in white lands have no more freedoms to win.

Though whites, and blacks as well, have many freedoms to win in black lands.

How is it that The Telegraph is confused about these things?

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