tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4702664911484208340.post3890811039056153906..comments2022-09-01T06:48:42.382+01:00Comments on Marie Marshall, lady wot writes: Свобода або Смерть (2)Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12120270081544467506noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4702664911484208340.post-11339740982252141932010-09-17T06:25:09.773+01:002010-09-17T06:25:09.773+01:00That is an interesting question, and not as easy t...That is an interesting question, and not as easy to answer as one might imagine. I had a paragraph on this very subject in a draft of a blog entry I was going to post, but the entry was far too long and I had to cut it. As a result, I have no longer got the draft of what I was going to say.<br /><br />The drift of my argument was this:<br /><br />As a historian (that's how I like to see myself) I have to be aware of cultural context in everything I read, and indeed in what I write myself. On this specific subject - freedom - it quickly becomes very clear that the word is appropriated and interpreted by any group that uses it. There are almost as many interpretations as there are individuals using the word!<br /><br />"Freedom" means something totally different to, for example, the Scottish Nationalists who chiseled the word in gigantic letters on the pedestal of the "Braveheart" statue in Stirling, to the Tea-Partyites in the USA, and to myself, anarchist-leaning in politics. In my August entry "Brain Teasers and Guns", the probable difference between the basic meaning of the word in the UK and in the USA (the difference between "freedom TO..." and "freedom FROM..." is explored.<br /><br />Maybe the important question is not how I define it, but how YOU define it, and maybe you ought to comment again and give some indication of your own idea of what it is, so we can add it to the list. :-)<br /><br />The reason I say this is that I refuse to think for anyone else. I know you're not asking me to. But I really mean this - for people to be "free" they have to think for themselves and come to their own decisions. I can't do it for them. The moment I do it for them, then they are no longer exercising any sort of freedom; rather they are giving it away.<br /><br />Maybe this calls for a separate blog entry altogether, in which the nature of freedom can be addressed, defined, debated...<br /><br />I think that must be so, because blogspot has just refused to accept the whole answer I just drafted - it exceeded 4096 characters!Marie Marshallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12120270081544467506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4702664911484208340.post-74539504262374520892010-09-17T02:41:36.936+01:002010-09-17T02:41:36.936+01:00The topic of "freedom" keeps returning i...The topic of "freedom" keeps returning in your blog posts, but I'm still not clear on how exactly you are defining it. Would you care to satisfy my desire for definitions? ;-)<br /><br />-EilidhAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com