Bag's Rants

Freedom is something that needs to be fought for.

Someone quoted this to me yesterday which came from a Liberal, John Mill, as a justification against what is happening to us on a regular basis in the UK.

"the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant."

I have no idea where he got that from he is normally a Sun man but he does visit a few blogs so it could be on one of those. I googled for the name myself.

I often wonder how people who have fought for freedom or still live in an oppressive society when even speaking out about these things can leave to death or imprisonment are the ones who really believe in them. Here we are in the UK where we are supposed to be free but many of the things which define a free society no longer exist or are perverted so they may as well not exist. Yet we still class ourselves as free. Our ancestors fought for it and we earned the rights that go with the fighting. We spread that around and we have not been invaded yet so we must still be free. Yet, we clearly are not.

One of the sites I visit on a regular basis is SurvivalBlog. A quote today explains what I feel is happening to the West. The quote is by Norman Podhoretz, editor, Commentary, Harvard Business Review, 1981.

"Far from being grateful defenders of the system from which they have profited, the children of capitalism tend to turn against it. Thus it is that radicals and even revolutionaries almost always stem from the middle and upper classes rather than the working class or the poor, in whose name they presume to speak. And thus it is that what is called liberalism today is increasingly identified with the more, rather than the less, prosperous sectors of American society."

It's all these people who have lived lives untouched by anything in life that do not see the dark side of humans and truly believed the world is a magical and peaceful place. They see the Israelis as the bad guys being a technically superior force picking on those poor Palestinians. It is of no interest to them that the Palestinians keep blowing themselves up. The media who seem to be made up of the same type of people does not help.

Same with many of the things in life they are protected in the areas they live and therefore nobody on the planet needs weapons to defend themselves. They don’t get SO19 kicking their way into their homes shooting therefore it’s not a problem. Hypocritically they insist on severe punishments and removal of rights for others doing the same things they do. On the other hand they do get called names so we need to stamp this out.

Maybe Freedom is something you don’t appreciate until you have fought for it. Maybe I will never have to but sometime, soon, it will have to be fought for again. If I’m around then I’m sure I would do what I need to do to protect my family. I won’t be relying on a third party.

posted by Bag @ 9:23 pm