J.R. Boyd from the inestimable ladypoverty writes,
"It is significant that a country which makes so much of its independence from an 18th century monarchy today finds the great mass of its populace signing a "declaration of dependence" on a boss who lords over them for the better part of their waking hours, and for whom the sidelining of every other obligation is required for this privilege. Such is the drawback of retaining only those notions of "freedom" that pertain to 18th century aristocrats, while abandoning any adaptation of Enlightenment principles to Shit That Actually Matters Today."
Added commentary, a la moi:
Significant also that this same populace confuses freedom from constraints with political liberty, so much so that the people end up with wee bits of dwindling liberty and the corporations end up with all the freedom.
If persons understood better how to combine their urge to freedom with the need for liberty, perhaps we could develop and even sustain a long term project of resistance to bosses and the building of a more just replacement.
Crow's Eye: Maintaining a commitment to Pointless Acrimony™ and Hate Filled Invective™! Also available in corvid mischief and traditional sly dog's mistrust.
speaking of lady poverty, there's something you should know about will shetterly before quoting him: he flat out ignores the issue of race:
ReplyDeletehttp://seeking-avalon.blogspot.com/2009/01/timeline.html
And he tried to out somebody online:
http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/88409.html
I think any idea that we are free in any manner, or way, is a total illusion. People don't really want to be free anyway. People want to be safe and not have their lives disordered which has nothing to do with freedom. Freedom is really too scary to contemplate.
ReplyDeleteRob, I think a Utah Phillips quote is appropriate, at this point:
ReplyDelete"The state can't give you freedom, and the state can't take it away. You're born with it, like your eyes, like your ears. Freedom is something you assume, then you wait for someone to try to take it away. The degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free..."
I think that's completely on the mark. Freedom (for and from) is something you assume. If you don't assume it, I can see how it might seem illusionary, or just illusive.
But, if you do assume it, like you assume your own mobility (or you wouldn't walk, despite your capacity), then you can resist encroachment.
Or something like that.