You're scared of real freedom.

[porphyrian]

Yeah, you. Oh it's easy to pay lip-service to the idea until you realize it's time for you to exercise it. Or, worse yet, that others may exercise their freedom in a manner you don't agree with. "You can do it your own way, if it's done just how I say." I've never seen such a bunch of whining cowards trying their best to control the actions of everyone else rather than accepting the resposibility of insuring liberty and justice for all as some of you. Oh sure, you hide behind the rhetoric that you are merely exercising your freedom of speech or expressing your opinion, blah blah blah. Bullshit. You're hiding, here, in the anonymity of a glorified internet bulletin board surrounded by like-minded trembling crybabies who lack the gonads to go out and do what they really want to do. So, enjoy the safe little "Independence" Day holiday you're allowed to have this weekend. It's far easier to be comfortable than to be free.

(Heh, heh, this'll be good. ;) )

[helderheid]

1. he, heh, this'll be locked.

[porphyrian]

8. Maybe, but I'm under quota this month, so I don't care. - n/t

[SteppingRazor]

2. Says the person who is also hiding in anonymity...

on a glorified Internet bulletin board :evilgrin:

[porphyrian]

4. You get the cookie. - n/t

[villager]

3. and your real name is....?

and your "real actions" have been...?

[porphyrian]

7. The answers are far less interesting than the questions.

My question for you, regardless of whether or not you answer it, is are you really free?

[Tace]

5. Careful, You'll Be Changing Diapers...

[porphyrian]

9. Only if they find me. - n/t

[AndyTiedye]

6. You Know Very Well That We Are Never Anonymous to THEM

[porphyrian]

10. No, but neither are they. - n/t

[RB TexLa]

11. My people weren't here on July 4 1776, nothing for me to celebrate

Those of you who's roots go back to that, have fun. :)

[JuniperLea]

33. My people met my people at Plymouth Rock

Thanks. I'll have a lovely holiday.

[Spider Jerusalem]

58. Some of mine were at Jamestown in 1608.

You New Englanders are Johnny-come-latelies. :D

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

12. God I Hate Threads That Are Done Solely As Flamebait. So Childish.

I mean, cause lord knows that's what GD needs more of: Intentional flamebait threads. :eyes:

[porphyrian]

13. It's never the same without your useless two cents, dear. - n/t

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

14. Well If It Was Two Cents, At Least MY Post Was Worth SOMETHING.

I wouldn't even give your post the appraisal of two cents...

[porphyrian]

16. Only in your own mind, sweetie. - n/t

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

19. Ummm, They Were Your Words. Your Short Term Memory Ok?

[porphyrian]

24. It's just fine, sugar. Thanks for being concerned. - n/t

[Greyhound]

15. Hate to say it but you've got a good point.

Everyone says they love liberty, but only to the extent they 'feel' is 'appropriate', IOW we're all free unless you do something I don't like, then your freedom must be restricted.

Hear that noise? It's a bunch of 200 year old corpses crying.

[porphyrian]

17. Well, I'm glad someone heard what I was saying. - n/t

[applegrove]

18. Excercise your vote people. That must be what the OP means. Better

yet..right a mission statement right here and now.. about the actions you will take.. the time you will volunteer to the Dems.. the money you will donate. Write it here. And share.

[Posteritatis]

20. I think what the OP means

is that "exercising your vote" is only a tiny fraction of what exercising your rights involves. There's a hell of a lot more of it than that, as you rightly point out.

[Boohooey]

22. I think the OP is meaningless. n/t

[porphyrian]

26. Welcome to DU! You'll fit right in with some here. - n/t

[Boohooey]

39. Thanks! I think a lot more than "some" prefer meaning, though.

But freedom trumps fitting in, anyway.

[porphyrian]

74. Apparently a lot more find meaning where you don't, too. - n/t

[Greyhound]

37. And yet, you took the time to post a meaningless reply?

:crazy::silly:

[Boohooey]

45. Succinct opinion = meaningless reply? In what world?

[Greyhound]

48. You haven't addressed any of his/her points, nor have you expanded

or explained your "opinion", so yes it is meaningless. Buh bye. :hi:

[applegrove]

28. Freedom also means that you don't insist that everyone be exactly so.

The way I see it.. in a democracy nobody gets everything they want.. but they should get what they need.

[porphyrian]

32. True, and one of the problems with compromise.

Is there any way everyone can be completely free without concession and without infringing on the freedoms of others, I wonder?

[applegrove]

38. No. Obviously not. You cannot stalk. You cannot abuse or assault

people. You don't get to steal or mess with people's stuff. So too a corporations cannot endanger people. Laws. Regulations. Constitutions. And leave people be. I'm in Canada. You are in the USA. Nobody ever started to say until recently that there was an issue with freedom in the USA. Now, because laws and the meaning of laws are being broken.. people ask and question.

Because they are alive.

[Greyhound]

44. Many people have been saying just that for decades, you just didn't

hear about it. People used to be able to just go to where "they" weren't, now there is no escape from the tyranny of the sheeple.

[Greyhound]

43. Of course there is...

It is exactly what we were given. We fucked it up by believing "we" know better than "they" what's good for everybody, and thereby created the preemptive use of violence to force "acceptable behavior".

[porphyrian]

25. That's definitely part of it. - n/t

[Posteritatis]

21. Y'know? I agree.

Particularly with speech rights; there's a ridiculous amount of "we must censor things! for the children!" or whatnot these days.

(Note: that's not a dig at DU itself; I understand the difference between a private forum and public life. Some of DU's restrictions bug me, but that's neither here nor there.)

One thing I keep wondering, and occasionally asking here, there and elsewhere, is "what are you going to do about it?" in response to Outrage Du Jour #583175. Generally speaking, folks have the right idea to a point - vote, bitch about it publicly rather than privately, talk to your representatives, even run for office, stuff like that.

The dividing line between whether folks want freedom first or safety first comes when all those options stop being effective. People need to put some thought into how far they'll go - or at least how far they think they'll go, or how far they'll want to go - if things really go south. If the '06 or '08 elections are called for National Security Reasons, are you going to raise hell online, take to the streets to "raise awareness," take to the hills to lay low until things settle, take to the barricades and start preparing to shed your blood and that of others? When is the line of "enough is enough," and when do you stop playing within the system and start moving outside it? Is there ever a point where it's time for the Final Argument of Kings, or is there always another way, however slim? Putting words aside and seriously contemplating actions, what're your freedoms worth?

I can't answer those questions to my own satisfaction - yet anyway - both because specific rules for really subjective things are rather restricting, and because I can't really know until I hit that point. But it's something people ought to be thinking about, especially in a situation where the executive claims infallibility, the judiciary is a lapdog, and the legislature is entertaining serious discussion about charging the press with reason for criticising the government.

[porphyrian]

27. It's nice to find thinkers amongst the complainers, and I'm both. - n/t

[applegrove]

31. Wow. Hey... we don't wait till AFTER this election... to act.

:spank:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

23. This is about smoking, isn't it?

Go home, go into your closet, smoke a pack of cigarettes, hose yourself down, and then come back and reenter society.

:P

[porphyrian]

29. Well, only partly. The ninety-kabillion posts on it did contribute. - n/t

[applegrove]

30. It is such a vague post.. that I think it could be about smoking. You read

into it what you are feeling this moment.. or you project your last discussion on the DU onto this post.

It really asks some questions. Really. People who want nothing for anyone else but themselves.. are exactly like the RWingers..

[porphyrian]

34. Very good observations. - n/t

[TallahasseeGrannie]

35. Thanks for the best laugh of the day

since you are, yourself, "hiding here in the anonymity of a glorified internet bulleitn board..."

Or is your real name porphyrian?

[porphyrian]

40. If it were, would it add validity to the post for you? - n/t

[TallahasseeGrannie]

47. Yes.

[porphyrian]

51. Do you think I was aware of that irony when I posted it? - n/t

[TallahasseeGrannie]

53. I have no idea

what you are or are not aware of.

[porphyrian]

54. But you'd trust what I said if I used my real name? - n/t

[TallahasseeGrannie]

55. If you posted under your real name

then you would be able to point fingers at those of us who don't.

[porphyrian]

56. Why can't I be doing so self-inclusively? - n/t

[TallahasseeGrannie]

57. You lost me.

[porphyrian]

59. Why can't I be pointing fingers at you AND me? - n/t

[TallahasseeGrannie]

60. Ah. Do you engage is masochism a lot?

Or is this just personal self-examination and reconciliation?

Or is it time to back away from the bar now?

[porphyrian]

61. None of the above.

But, now that you understand my intentional irony, are you willing to get something more than finger-pointing from my post and the responses it's generated?

[TallahasseeGrannie]

63. Give me the digest version

what would you like me to take from your post other than the concept that writing on the internet is cowardly?

[porphyrian]

65. I want you to tell me what you get from it.

If you get nothing else, that's fine too.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

67. Well, actually....

it brought to mind a thread I was in last week when some dingbat told me "you disgust me" when I said I shop at WalMart.

Getting close?

[porphyrian]

69. You tell me. - n/t

[TallahasseeGrannie]

71. That's my take on your post

that DU folks tend to want to control one another's behavior and do so from the safety of their computer screen.

[porphyrian]

72. I can see that. - n/t

[Rex]

36. Freedom is just an illusion created by the State.

nt

[applegrove]

41. Oh boy!

[porphyrian]

42. Unless we all choose to exercise it. - n/t

[Rex]

46. A study shows that air conditioning ranks in the top 10 reasons as

to why Americans are obese. Comfort is an illusion of the State(so is air-conditioning).

[porphyrian]

49. Interesting angle... - n/t

[undeterred]

50. I am spending my weekend talking to potential voters

for my congressional candidate. I'm scared of real freedom.

[porphyrian]

52. Cool. Bring sparklers. - n/t

[cynatnite]

62. Kind of sounds like we're all frogs in warm water...

We won't know it's boiling until we're all dead.

[applegrove]

64. LOL. I think is was just a vagurosity. Waiting for people to project on

it.

[cynatnite]

66. Yep

The varied reactions are telling.

[porphyrian]

68. Heh. Did somebody pee...? - n/t

[KyuzoGator]

70. Too many DUers are posting song lyrics instead of making a difference.

There's some validity to what you're saying.

[porphyrian]

73. Actually, I posted a song lyric in this post.

Or did you know that? Two points to anyone who names the song and artist(s).

[Lex]

75. Locking.

From the DU Rules:

"Please use good judgment when starting threads; inflammatory rhetoric does not normally lead to productive discussion."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules_detailed.html


Lex
DU GD Moderator