Discussion Am I wrong in thinking people aren't free?

[ericwilkinson]

Whoever created this modern day system is the most sadistic asshole ever, but I also commend them. They've convinced people they have freedom when the majority do not.

If suicide is socially acceptable, then as someone said, you really have no freedom because everything else is an obligation. You must participate in capitalism unless you want to be exposed to the elements and subjected to violence as a homeless person. So even when deciding not to suicide, you must do a job which the majority do not want to. Homelessness vs an okay life isn't really a choice.

What's worse is that there are people who will never have to work as hard as you or even at all, because of the birth lottery. Birth into the right family in a first world country or with the right genetics that enables them to become an actor, YouTube star, sports star. All out of your control. Basically 90% of your life isn't in your control

Then you have to put up with people you don't want to at work, and in a country or body you have no interest in.

 

[BipolarExpat]

You're not wrong.

We're ALL slaves to the 1%.

Even the 1% are slaves to the system that their predecessors created.

 

[Sailfisher]

We are free within very limited parameters. Some are slightly more free than others due to their location or monetary resources.

For example, you feel free, but stop showing up to work or get sick, etc. and watch everything disappear, including the limited freedom you thought you had.

 

[StillWaiting]

Not everyone believes in birth lottery, as we are raised to believe that hard work can get everything we want which is not all the time true.

It is how sad that we are brought to this world to become wage slaves if we arent born talented or rich .

 

[After The End]

You're not wrong. Freedom as the ultimate social good is a scam. It exists to benefit the tiny minority with the resources to enjoy that freedom. Duty to each other would be a far more humane and sustainable system, but people are so indoctrinated they protect the freedom of the elites as if it were theirs. To see the psychology behind our culture in operation in microcosm you only need to pop into a casino, and watch as people pay to play rigged games, emptying their wallets not only to enrich the real winners who own the casino, but to provide crowd-fund the occasional 'jackpot,' almost always won by someone else, that motivates them to do so. Except casinos only use a carrot. They're less cruel. Outside there is also a stick for perennial losers in the form of poverty and homelessness, social ruin, psychological collapse, imprisonment, isolation, violence and - one way or another - death. That this is all fine and dandy and tolerated is mostly supported by permutations of the Just World Hypothesis.

 

[Mbound]

You're not wrong. Freedom as the ultimate social good is a scam. It exists to benefit the tiny minority with the resources to enjoy that freedom. Duty to each other would be a far more humane and sustainable system, but people are so indoctrinated they protect the freedom of the elites as if it were theirs. To see the psychology behind our culture in operation in microcosm you only need to pop into a casino, and watch as people pay to play rigged games, emptying their wallets not only to enrich the real winners who own the casino, but to provide crowd-fund the occasional 'jackpot,' almost always won by someone else, that motivates them to do so. Except casinos only use a carrot. They're less cruel. Outside there is also a stick for perennial losers in the form of poverty and homelessness, social ruin, psychological collapse, imprisonment, isolation, violence and - one way or another - death. That this is all fine and dandy and tolerated is mostly supported by permutations of the Just World Hypothesis.

I love how you put this and it's quite accurate.

 

[Divine Trinity]

There is no evidence that has lead scientist to a general consensus that "free will" is either physically possible, and/or present in humans, the opposite appears to be true. Futhermore, "freedom or "liberty" is conflated with autonomy. Autonomy is not hyper-individualistic, theocratic, or based upon the ego, autonomy is the concept of a system functioning as-is without 3rd-party actors interfering in the process. In this case the system is what we call a "person", the interference is "responsibility" over others and societal conceptions of "what ought to be, even when it isn't".

This simple word is lost in the transition of the ages, I hope the new age of empire is short and to the point of concluding the story of us vermin.

 

[Kuolema]

Meh. I'm no philosopher but personally I feel free right now. I might not be free as some people and I can't do anything I want, but I can do what is possible. That to me is freedom enough. Whenever these thoughts come up in my head I try to remember that there are people who have it far worse than I do and still manage to pick themselves up and fulfill their societal obligations. I'm not saying be grateful or whatever, I'm just saying try not to compare yourself to other people and shit eventually seems less heavy. At least that is the way it has been for me.