p.127

Freedom is all about Difference

WHAT IS FREEDOM?

What is freedom? There are many freedoms: Freedom of the individual; Freedom of speech; Freedom and equality for social groups (working classes, poor, minorities, gays, women...); Freedom of religion; Freedom choice and Freedom of movement.

There is also Economic Freedom that few of us have. Nations want freedom and free relationships with each other. Democracy is supposed to be system of individual freedom where there is the freedom to vote and freedom of information, access to information.

There are freedoms more personal and psychological such as the freedom to develop one’s own identity, the freedom to be creative, the freedom to achieve mental health, the freedom to escape the nonstop attack of marketing and consumerism.

Many of our specific freedoms must be connected into “systems” or institutions that coordinate the freedoms of millions. When we charge an organization with overseeing democracy or an economy, we do not want this entity suppressing our freedoms but in fact enhancing them. Many of us understand the necessity of collective institutions, but we do not accept the necessity of elites that use their position to reduce our freedoms and create centralizing powers that make them the ultimate decision-makers and the privileged few that have access to important information.

Freedom is a big word. It encompasses many, many things. It is obviously a supreme want and need of a human being. What are all of the freedoms we seek base upon?

They flow from the very same thing: Difference.

DIFFERENCE IS THE KEY CONCEPT

Difference is the quintessential idea; it is the key to understanding freedom, for freedom is the right to be different. For when we are all the same, then freedoms are a moot point, aren’t they? In a group-think culture there is no necessity for freedom of religion, sexual orientation, individual opinion etc. These are not issues at all. When a nation is fused into a big “one”, when all agree then what use are freedoms? In general the more group-oriented that we get, the less we respect freedoms, even though the differences are all there right below the surface.

The groupthink of marketing, politics and media cannot eradicate difference, for all of us are different from each other, in a number of ways. Human beings are different from each other, we are diverse and individual, we have distinct identities, no two are alike.

Ignoring diversity and multiculturalism and denying respect and equality to social groups does not eradicate difference it merely hides it, suppresses it. But this cannot work in the long run for people will rebel and fight for their freedom. And the more a system tries to keep these people down because they are different, then the more likely that all of the “different” people will organize into a united front of all the “different” to fight back. And they will eventually succeed.

The universe is a Diverse, that is its nature, Human freedom merely reflects this great fact. If diversity were not a major feature of Nature then freedom would not be important for Human beings.

Lack of freedom, the dearth of rights is built upon limitation, restriction, suppression, self repression, erasure, concealment, the transient, the relative, the qualified and more.

The diminishment of liberty argues that similarity is primary that difference is merely a secondary issue of life. Politicians, corporations, marketers want you to think this because they want power and control. They want to put you into a big demographic box.

For every difference must be a freedom to express that difference.

Difference is then the core idea. Differentiation is the process of creating difference. Differentiation is the key force of the cosmos; it produces galaxies, stars, planets, life, ecosystems, human individuals and individual cultures and nations. Existence IS Difference, revel in it.

Axxiad News