Freedom is just an empty word

[one...two...tree 2,762]

By Leonard Pitts Jr. - Miami Herald

I'd like to think it was the sangria talking.

But the plain truth is, when Anna said she doesn't find this country to be especially free, it was Anna talking. Granted, her complaint is hardly new. People often grouse about the lack of freedom in the land of the free.

But you see, Anna is from Estonia, a former republic of the old Soviet Union. As in the Evil Empire, world's leading exporter of communism. So when Anna says she feels less free in the United States where she now lives than in the once-totalitarian regime where she was born, well ... it gets your attention. And when she says Americans sometimes remind her of the gray, fatalistic men and women who shuffled along under communism, unwilling to think too deeply, say too much or laugh too loudly for fear of offending the State, it is striking, to say the least.

You won't know Anna from Estonia. She is a friend's fiance and these insights were not part of some think tank paper but, rather, came in the ebb and flow of table talk one recent night at a Mexican restaurant. Still, I think Anna is onto something.

Americans, she said, love to trumpet their freedom. But it's hard to square that with political correctness that straitjackets communication for fear of giving unintended offense, hair-trigger litigiousness that requires major corporations to treat customers ("Caution: Coffee is hot") like idiots for fear of being sued, zero tolerance policies and mandatory sentencing guidelines that remove human judgment from human encounters for fear of rendering unequal justice.

You do not have to agree that Americans compare unfavorably with the dull and dispirited Party men and women of a generation ago -- I don't -- to believe Anna has a point. A nation of iconoclasts and originals seems hellbent on becoming a nation of hall monitors. A nation born in revolution has lived to see revolution neutered and co-opted. So much so that even that which poses as a threat to the status quo (hip-hop, for example) nowadays has commercial sponsorship and corporate tie-ins.

It's hard to imagine an Elvis Presley happening in such an era. Or a Malcolm X, a Miles Davis, a Marlon Brando, a Bob Dylan, a Walt Disney, a Betty Friedan or any of the other American originals who pole-axed the 20th century. After all, originality is anathema to uniformity and, make no mistake, uniformity is what we're talking about here, the campaign to regulate language, law, culture and every other aspect of human intercourse in the hope of thereby removing from that intercourse every hint of risk or danger of unequal treatment.

To put it another way: you can hardly accuse the cashier of being rude to you because of your sexual orientation if the cashier is a keypad; you can hardly sue the maker of the vending machine you rocked until it fell over on you if it bears a sign that says rocking this machine will cause it to fall over on you; you can hardly say the judge gave you a harsh sentence because you're Hispanic if the judge had no role in choosing your sentence.

And if this impulse toward uniformity sounds noble in theory, what it leads to in practice is kids kicked out of school because Midol violates the zero-tolerance drug policy, or a guy getting 25 to life because the pizza he stole violates the three-strike law.

And, too, it leads to Anna from Estonia making it a point to show visiting friends a sight they could never see in the old country. They laugh, they point, they whip out cameras and take pictures.

Of the Everglades? No. Of Mount Rushmore or Lady Liberty? No.

Anna said they take pictures of the idiot signs. These she said, crack her friends up.

"Caution: Coffee is hot." Apparently, elsewhere in the world, you don't need a sign to know this.

http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/921277.html

[Sinergy 3]

My husband says that communist times in Romania had more freedom than we do here.

Hell, romania NOW has more freedom than we do here

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Nice read bro, thanks.

[Scott & Lai 12]

A lot of wisdom in that...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The US does seem to have more finger-wagging/morality laws than Europe does.

Until I moved to CA - I thought Jaywalking was a joke.

But no - there's a $70 fine for it...

[mawilson 2,133]

Anna is clueless.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Anna is clueless.

Be honest man - in midtown Manhattan there are signs warning of severe fines if you have your engine idling, or if you honk your horn.

I also saw a sign in a convenience store recently that suggested its state law to card people buying cigarettes if they look under 27 years of age.

Edited May 9, 2008 by Number 6

[Sister Fracas 5]

I also saw a sign in a convenience store recently that suggested its state law to card people buying cigarettes if they look under 27 years of age.

The signs here say you have to look over 35 or be carded...

[Ban Hammer 13,347]

I also saw a sign in a convenience store recently that suggested its state law to card people buying cigarettes if they look under 27 years of age.

The signs here say you have to look over 35 or be carded...

who would card a nun?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I also saw a sign in a convenience store recently that suggested its state law to card people buying cigarettes if they look under 27 years of age.

The signs here say you have to look over 35 or be carded...

Really... Surely at that point its meaningless...

[Sister Fracas 5]

I also saw a sign in a convenience store recently that suggested its state law to card people buying cigarettes if they look under 27 years of age.

The signs here say you have to look over 35 or be carded...

who would card a nun?

errr.....who says I'm buying... I just see the signs...

[mawilson 2,133]

Anna is clueless.

Be honest man - in midtown Manhattan there are signs warning of severe fines if you have your engine idling, or if you honk your horn.

I also saw a sign in a convenience store recently that suggested its state law to card people buying cigarettes if they look under 27 years of age.

But what does that have to do with "freedom"?

Freedom to idle your engine or buy alcohol?

When it comes to freedom of speech, America is still unbeatable. Racist, KKK, Nazi

publications, DIY guides on how to make a bomb - all protected speech.

Edited May 9, 2008 by mawilson

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well freedom is a broad (and relative) concept. Generally speaking I'd say the more laws you have (especially those of the "micro-management" variety), the more limited are your freedoms.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Carding for booze is outta control. Recently there were some well-publicized underage sting operations in Phoenix, so now everyone who isn't elderly is getting carded. I know the fines are steep if you're caught serving people who are underage, but geez. I guess I'm now past the age where it's flattering to get carded. Now it just pisses me off. Of course, a drinking age of 21 is ludicrous to begin with...

[Sister Fracas 5]

Carding for booze is outta control. Recently there were some well-publicized underage sting operations in Phoenix, so now everyone who isn't elderly is getting carded. I know the fines are steep if you're caught serving people who are underage, but geez. I guess I'm now past the age where it's flattering to get carded. Now it just pisses me off. Of course, a drinking age of 21 is ludicrous to begin with...

Sometimes I think they just do it so the barely 21-year old bouncers can get giggles out of who is the oldest person they can card.