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Post by Tara on Apr 25, 2005 8:43:32 GMT -5
What is freedom to you?
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Post by littlepea on Apr 25, 2005 12:29:57 GMT -5
to me it's being able to do whatever you want, so long as it doesn't affect anyone else. when you start to affect other people that's when there should start to be some restrictions and not before then.
this includes absolute freedom of speech, freedom of religion (mostly) and negates communism and other political systems where you are forced to contribute to society.
of course once you realise that you need something from society (eg. food) then you'll need to give something back (get a job), and so it goes on into more and more detail, hence lawyers are needed to interpret the details and keep the world in order ;D
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Post by Tara on Apr 25, 2005 17:53:49 GMT -5
Slick lol
I think when it comes to that that people...most people, would naturally want to contribute.
That reminds me of another thing, should homeless people get medical treatment if they walk into a hospital with say...HIV?
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Post by littlepea on Apr 26, 2005 13:15:54 GMT -5
you would think so, and in an ideal world people would. but this is the pinciple that communism is founded on and the reason it doesn't work is because people aren't willing to put in their fair share (in real life). capitalism is founded on the idea that people are greedy and want everything for themselves, and that's why it works ... sad but true ... living in the UK where we have the NHS (national health service) and absolutely free healthcare, i'd say it's the best idea. private healthcare is still an option and you can still get medical insurance to get treated in private hospitals, but you don't have to. the NHS tends to leave you waiting around for a long time if you're not in immediate discomfort or liffe-threatening condition, but it's infinitely better than nothing (logically ). the other day my friend went in with a big gash on his head (he actually picked it up the night before but he can't remember how because he was too drunk, but there was blood all over his bed when he woke up). he had to wait 4 hours for someone to see him and tell him that he was fine ... also, another of my friends got a tatoo which then got horribly infected. he needed the skin to be removed and some skin grafted on from somewhere on his body (probably his arse) but the NHS wouldn't do that for him for another 2 years (waiting list) or if it turned life-threatening. he went private to get it fixed and it cost him about £2000. i broke my collar bone when i was in america (maine) snowboarding with my school a few years ago and got seen to at the bottom of the mountain - an x-ray, a sling and some painkillers was all they gave me and they charged $500 for it ... seems a bit pricey (how can that cost roughly 1/6 the price of a skin-graft operation?) but we all had insurance so it was ok. if you can afford it then i guess private hospitals give better health care, but the NHS is definitely a good thing to have in the background for people who can't afford to go private
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Post by Tara on Apr 26, 2005 13:41:04 GMT -5
Yeah, here in the States, being able to afford healthcare is one of our biggest issues.
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Post by Amalcas on Apr 26, 2005 21:48:42 GMT -5
Freedom is a double edged sword -- like most good things, too much is deadly. Complete freedom is anarchy, which has a bad track record (which is a hideous understatement). True liberty, however, is the freedom to do what is right (though what is "right" is constantly debated). Here's a passage from the Kitab-i-Aqdas on this: Say: True liberty consisteth in man's submission unto My commandments, little as ye know it. Were men to observe that which We have sent down unto them from the Heaven of Revelation, they would, of a certainty, attain unto perfect liberty. Happy is the man that hath apprehended the Purpose of God in whatever He hath revealed from the Heaven of His Will that pervadeth all created things. Say: The liberty that profiteth you is to be found nowhere except in complete servitude unto God, the Eternal Truth. Whoso hath tasted of its sweetness will refuse to barter it for all the dominion of earth and and heaven.It took me a bit to figure out how servitude is liberty, but I finally realized that (at the most basic level, I can't really think of a way to put any of the others into words right now) it means that liberty is the ability to do right, which should be what you want to do, anyway.
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