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Permalink Reply by Rhys Hughes on April 29, 2012 at 11:32pm

I agree we arent in total control of our lives and are controlled by large organisations such as a government or people in power (have the most money/assets) and the general population. we are all disciplined by the state because many people (even after becoming "adults") cant control themselves and perform crimes or self destructive behavior, much the same as a child but with greater consequences.

we have a responsibility as humans, not just adults, to be a positive/necessary influence on everyone and everything. the majority of people dont meet these responsibilities and need to be punished/controlled. however i do believe that in some cases the incentive for the state/authorities to control certain matters is mainly money or power which is corrupt BS.

so in my opinion many things governments enforce and control are positive as the majority of people cant be trusted with total freedom, however people in power will do anything to stay in power and i believe they think about themselves before the population in certain matters. we are all free to do what we want, we just have to deal with the consequences if our actions dont follow the rules/beliefs of people with power and authority, or the general beliefs of the population.

in many cases this does prevent our freedom, but often for our benefit (even if we dont agree at the time) however sometimes it can be for the benefit of corrupt/floored authorities. ultimately if you are being a positive person and arent breaking the rules/beliefs or going against the trends of people in power or the population you have freedom, if you are a negative person and not fulfilling your responsibilities as a human you have to deal with consequences and lose some freedom. in cases where the people in power or the general population are corrupt and enforcing consequences for unjust personal gain you are being violated of your freedom and have a right to totally oppose the regime (though as a warning there will still be unjust consequences to deal with). but thats just life, we all have to deal with it at some point :/ ive just turned 18 and im dreading it ・へ・

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Permalink Reply by Jattila on April 30, 2012 at 11:49pm

Of course there are the obvious things in laws that are there to protect and prevent them from happening cause some people are not down with the fact that you shouldn't kill, steal or put people or yourself in danger in the traffic and so on. Simple laws and rules are indeed there to protect us but we also need to see that there is a lot of bullshit in some of the things in life that are not in most cases written down in any official papers.

As you said... 

And indeed is it true that with big amounts of money you can go around pretty much anything. But people who take drastic actions on the rights and wrongs in our society are not always do the best thing on approaching these things, like hurting other people and even killing them for different opinions, but i think that Anonymous is perfect example of the activists against the system.

I think i said most of what you said and im sorry for repeating but im kinda reading as i go... haha.

There are also parts in asia and south america where people are kept quiet by force and the fear of that force, also the public media is kept very quiet about the dictatorship and they are very careful to a point where a tourist with too big camera or too official behaving can get locked away.

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Permalink Reply by Juan Manuel Musumeci on April 30, 2012 at 11:15pm

as long as the one in power is flexible we are ok =) but now at days we are rule by a bunch of control freaks :(

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Permalink Reply by Rhys Hughes on May 1, 2012 at 3:51am

I totally agree with all of this. i also think its interesting how similar peoples opinions are, from different countries and cultures.

back to "the meaning of freedom", we are as free as we are allowed to be (and we allow ourselves to be) in our situation. when, for their own gain, governments and forces in power restrict innocent peoples freedom in any country we (as a global population) have a duty to protest. this is the only area i believe mainstream media can be a positive (but thats a whole other matter, sort of ;) however, i agree the internet is where the real difference can now be made (e.g. anonymous). so what are the best ways to prevent or raise awareness of these issues? we cannot just overthrow a government and then everyones happy! there needs to be a mainstream outlet for people who feel violated of their freedoms voices to be heard! as i think in any case if someone is taking another persons freedom for their own gain, from corrupt governments to social pressure or stealing, they dont deserve their freedom (to an extent).

However i think people are as free as they allow themselves to be (when not totally oppressed) but due to fear of the unknown and uncomfortably of breaking from the mainstream of society, people limit themselves. usually doing this by placing a label on themselves (or it being forced upon them) :(  such as religious labels, trend/fasion labels, lifestyle labels, cultural labels. and they suddenly feel uncomfortable even slightly breaking away from the norms of these generalizations. we are all different, and i think nearly every human has at least a slight issue in expressing that, we all feel the need to limit ourselves to normative groups (i guess stemming from a survival instinct). but do these labels we have limit us or give us purpose, and therefore certainty in what we want to do. after all its well enough having the freedom to do something, but you have to first have the passion and motivation to actually do it. there is no freedom, (because none of us are able to do anything we want) only opportunity and lack of opportunity and those with the passion to take it. sorry if im rambling, but i was inspired (^_^;)*

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Permalink Reply by Richard Mack Thomas Jr. on May 1, 2012 at 10:45am

I believe that we are in absolute control of our lives. We do not decide what circumstances we are put in, no, but we do decide what we do in those circumstances. I am one of many people who follow the majority of the rules that we are given by our society, but I do not do so out of fear. I do so that I might be unnoticed by those who would interfere with me.

There are over seven-billion human perspectives on this planet, and it would be foolish for to worry about pleasing any of them, much less all of them. What I mean to say is we each have a nature and can choose to be true to it even if we are to get in trouble with our "parent." All authorities are something each individual gives strength.

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