There is no such thing as a 'Free Country'

[Chad Empire]

Recently I've run into a lot of idiots who always use the excuse of 'Its a free country' and then they get really confused when I counter with 'There's no such thing.'

Freedom: The power or right to speak, act, or think without hindrance or restraint.

Under that definition, there really isn't any sort of 'modern' country that is free, I can't just go out and brutally murder someone and go back to normal life, because the government won't let me, I have no right to kill another.

People claim that the tenant of freedom of speech is the best thing since diced tomatoes, but am I really able to say whatever I want? No, the tenant only applies to political debates and the like, and even so, I can't just waltz into the American senate and start blabbering racist profanity at Obama, I would get put in jail for the rest of my life.

Freedom of thought has always been questioned, you can't really tell what a person is thinking can you? But this tenant goes hand in hand with the other two, you can think what you want but you can't act or speak on it, for example: I have a friend who strongly supports Fascism, I for one do not but I respect his opinion, however everyone else took 'Fascism' and made the short mental trip to 'Nazism.' The poor guy was beaten to an inch of his life and kicked out of school for harassing people. We might have some political rights, but on the society level we are oppressed to hell.

So I ask you, is there truly a 'free country'? Any sort of true freedom would mean the disbanding of any group that has the power to govern others, but that also would be restricting them by disallowing any sort of governed group, it's all just one big paradox, the fact of the matter is that true freedom is unobtainable.

What do you think?

[Zottistan]

Like voltage, the only practical way to measure freedom is relatively speaking.

Absolute freedom would be a terrible, terrible thing.

[Risottia]

Like voltage, the only practical way to measure freedom is relatively speaking.

Absolute freedom would be a terrible, terrible thing.

Ditto and awesomed.

I often say "there are no absolute rights; only relative ones".

[Farnhamia]

Recently I've run into a lot of idiots who always use the excuse of 'Its a free country' and then they get really confused when I counter with 'There's no such thing.'

Freedom: The power or right to speak, act, or think without hindrance or restraint.

Under that definition, there really isn't any sort of 'modern' country that is free, I can't just go out and brutally murder someone and go back to normal life, because the government won't let me, I have no right to kill another.

People claim that the tenant of freedom of speech is the best thing since diced tomatoes, but am I really able to say whatever I want? No, the tenant only applies to political debates and the like, and even so, I can't just waltz into the American senate and start blabbering racist profanity at Obama, I would get put in jail for the rest of my life.

Freedom of thought has always been questioned, you can't really tell what a person is thinking can you? But this tenant goes hand in hand with the other two, you can think what you want but you can't act or speak on it, for example: I have a friend who strongly supports Fascism, I for one do not but I respect his opinion, however everyone else took 'Fascism' and made the short mental trip to 'Nazism.' The poor guy was beaten to an inch of his life and kicked out of school for harassing people. We might have some political rights, but on the society level we are oppressed to hell.

So I ask you, is there truly a 'free country'? Any sort of true freedom would mean the disbanding of any group that has the power to govern others, but that also would be restricting them by disallowing any sort of governed group, it's all just one big paradox, the fact of the matter is that true freedom is unobtainable.

What do you think?

You wouldn't be jailed for the rest of your life. Assuming you could get past the guards, you would be arrested for trespassing on Federal property and disrupting the Senate. I very much doubt they give out life sentences for that.

[Ifreann]

Recently I've run into a lot of idiots who always use the excuse of 'Its a free country' and then they get really confused when I counter with 'There's no such thing.'

Freedom: The power or right to speak, act, or think without hindrance or restraint.

Under that definition, there really isn't any sort of 'modern' country that is free, I can't just go out and brutally murder someone and go back to normal life, because the government won't let me, I have no right to kill another.

Quite so. Because you live in a free country.

People claim that the tenant of freedom of speech is the best thing since diced tomatoes, but am I really able to say whatever I want? No, the tenant only applies to political debates and the like, and even so, I can't just waltz into the American senate and start blabbering racist profanity at Obama, I would get put in jail for the rest of my life.

No, you would not. You'd be thrown out, and might face charges if you were particularly violent about resisting.

Freedom of thought has always been questioned, you can't really tell what a person is thinking can you? But this tenant goes hand in hand with the other two, you can think what you want but you can't act or speak on it, for example: I have a friend who strongly supports Fascism, I for one do not but I respect his opinion, however everyone else took 'Fascism' and made the short mental trip to 'Nazism.' The poor guy was beaten to an inch of his life and kicked out of school for harassing people. We might have some political rights, but on the society level we are oppressed to hell.

A friend of yours getting into a fight is not oppression of fascism on a societal level.

So I ask you, is there truly a 'free country'? Any sort of true freedom would mean the disbanding of any group that has the power to govern others, but that also would be restricting them by disallowing any sort of governed group, it's all just one big paradox, the fact of the matter is that true freedom is unobtainable.

What do you think?

I think you seem to have missed that freedom is not a binary proposition.

[Chad Empire]

Like voltage, the only practical way to measure freedom is relatively speaking.

Absolute freedom would be a terrible, terrible thing.

To an extent, I agree, however like I said absolute freedom in impossible, I would never live in a world were true freedom is the way, or even extreme freedom, I am simply disproving the concept of a 'Free country'

[Risottia]

I very much doubt they give out life sentences for that.

You mean, it's not like Your Farnship will be the judge.

[Risottia]

So I ask you, is there truly a 'free country'?

Yes.

Somalia.

/thread.

[Ifreann]

Recently I've run into a lot of idiots who always use the excuse of 'Its a free country' and then they get really confused when I counter with 'There's no such thing.'

Freedom: The power or right to speak, act, or think without hindrance or restraint.

Under that definition, there really isn't any sort of 'modern' country that is free, I can't just go out and brutally murder someone and go back to normal life, because the government won't let me, I have no right to kill another.

People claim that the tenant of freedom of speech is the best thing since diced tomatoes, but am I really able to say whatever I want? No, the tenant only applies to political debates and the like, and even so, I can't just waltz into the American senate and start blabbering racist profanity at Obama, I would get put in jail for the rest of my life.

Freedom of thought has always been questioned, you can't really tell what a person is thinking can you? But this tenant goes hand in hand with the other two, you can think what you want but you can't act or speak on it, for example: I have a friend who strongly supports Fascism, I for one do not but I respect his opinion, however everyone else took 'Fascism' and made the short mental trip to 'Nazism.' The poor guy was beaten to an inch of his life and kicked out of school for harassing people. We might have some political rights, but on the society level we are oppressed to hell.

So I ask you, is there truly a 'free country'? Any sort of true freedom would mean the disbanding of any group that has the power to govern others, but that also would be restricting them by disallowing any sort of governed group, it's all just one big paradox, the fact of the matter is that true freedom is unobtainable.

What do you think?

You wouldn't be jailed for the rest of your life. Assuming you could get past the guards, you would be arrested for trespassing on Federal property and disrupting the Senate. I very much doubt they give out life sentences for that.

Maybe if you were facing multiple charges and somehow got sentenced to serve them consecutively you could spend the rest of your life in jail for disrupting the Senate. But it would involve far more effort and bribery than ever gets put towards staying out of jail.

[Chad Empire]

Recently I've run into a lot of idiots who always use the excuse of 'Its a free country' and then they get really confused when I counter with 'There's no such thing.'

Freedom: The power or right to speak, act, or think without hindrance or restraint.

Under that definition, there really isn't any sort of 'modern' country that is free, I can't just go out and brutally murder someone and go back to normal life, because the government won't let me, I have no right to kill another.

Quite so. Because you live in a free country.

People claim that the tenant of freedom of speech is the best thing since diced tomatoes, but am I really able to say whatever I want? No, the tenant only applies to political debates and the like, and even so, I can't just waltz into the American senate and start blabbering racist profanity at Obama, I would get put in jail for the rest of my life.

No, you would not. You'd be thrown out, and might face charges if you were particularly violent about resisting.

Freedom of thought has always been questioned, you can't really tell what a person is thinking can you? But this tenant goes hand in hand with the other two, you can think what you want but you can't act or speak on it, for example: I have a friend who strongly supports Fascism, I for one do not but I respect his opinion, however everyone else took 'Fascism' and made the short mental trip to 'Nazism.' The poor guy was beaten to an inch of his life and kicked out of school for harassing people. We might have some political rights, but on the society level we are oppressed to hell.

A friend of yours getting into a fight is not oppression of fascism on a societal level.

So I ask you, is there truly a 'free country'? Any sort of true freedom would mean the disbanding of any group that has the power to govern others, but that also would be restricting them by disallowing any sort of governed group, it's all just one big paradox, the fact of the matter is that true freedom is unobtainable.

What do you think?

I think you seem to have missed that freedom is not a binary proposition.

The point is that I am still being punished for my actions by a governing body.

[Ifreann]

Like voltage, the only practical way to measure freedom is relatively speaking.

Absolute freedom would be a terrible, terrible thing.

To an extent, I agree, however like I said absolute freedom in impossible, I would never live in a world were true freedom is the way, or even extreme freedom, I am simply disproving the concept of a 'Free country'

You're simply demonstrating that you don't really understand what people mean when they say "free country".

[Ifreann]

Quite so. Because you live in a free country.


No, you would not. You'd be thrown out, and might face charges if you were particularly violent about resisting.


A friend of yours getting into a fight is not oppression of fascism on a societal level.


I think you seem to have missed that freedom is not a binary proposition.

The point is that I am still being punished for my actions by a governing body.

Yes. Because you live in a free country and committed a crime.

[Union Of Canadorian Socialists Republic]

A free country is any country in which the government is amoral in its legislation.

[Zottistan]

Like voltage, the only practical way to measure freedom is relatively speaking.

Absolute freedom would be a terrible, terrible thing.

Ditto and awesomed.

Eeep!

Like voltage, the only practical way to measure freedom is relatively speaking.

Absolute freedom would be a terrible, terrible thing.

To an extent, I agree, however like I said absolute freedom in impossible, I would never live in a world were true freedom is the way, or even extreme freedom, I am simply disproving the concept of a 'Free country'

You're disproving the concept of an absolutely free country, which couldn't exist to begin with.

[Chad Empire]

To an extent, I agree, however like I said absolute freedom in impossible, I would never live in a world were true freedom is the way, or even extreme freedom, I am simply disproving the concept of a 'Free country'

You're simply demonstrating that you don't really understand what people mean when they say "free country".

I know what they mean, I am disproving the existence of a truly free country, I think 'Liberated country' Or something of the like would be more appropriate for what people mean.

[The New Lowlands]

Like voltage, the only practical way to measure freedom is relatively speaking.

Absolute freedom would be a terrible, terrible thing.

To an extent, I agree, however like I said absolute freedom in impossible, I would never live in a world were true freedom is the way, or even extreme freedom, I am simply disproving the concept of a 'Free country'

Do you think they meant it literally?

[Lost heros]

Like voltage, the only practical way to measure freedom is relatively speaking.

Absolute freedom would be a terrible, terrible thing.

To an extent, I agree, however like I said absolute freedom in impossible, I would never live in a world were true freedom is the way, or even extreme freedom, I am simply disproving the concept of a 'Free country'

You have no idea what a free country is.

[The United Colonies of Earth]

And, not to mention, that states have the right to enforce law within their territories. Are you a state? No? Then you can't enforce the law.
And no, there's no true freedom. Like Risottia said, the only free country in the world is Somalia. And even that grand anarchy is coming to an end, hopefully, thanks to the TFG and AU.

[Union Of Canadorian Socialists Republic]

In a nation with the standard concept of freedom, any attempt to limit a person's freedom, through murder, theft etc... would result in punishment.

[Ifreann]

You're simply demonstrating that you don't really understand what people mean when they say "free country".

I know what they mean, I am disproving the existence of a truly free country,

Something which no one claims exists. You may as well have invented a new mythological creature and then disproven its existence.

I think 'Liberated country' Or something of the like would be more appropriate for what people mean.

No, 'free country' works just fine. Because everyone understands that that doesn't mean "absolutely free in every respect".

[Risottia]

To an extent, I agree, however like I said absolute freedom in impossible, I would never live in a world were true freedom is the way, or even extreme freedom, I am simply disproving the concept of a 'Free country'

Do you think they meant it literally?

Given how the intelligence of people approximates a distribution, someone has to be in the lower end of the curve. Eh?

[Risottia]

The point is that I am still being punished for my actions by a governing body.

Yes.
And who is the "governing body"? Does it follow rules? In that case, who made the rules?

[New Octopucta]

What? This is like saying that there aren't any real oppressive countries because it's impossible to completely oppress everyone in the country. You'll find it's pretty easy to win arguments when you attack a position that no sane person holds.

[Genivaria]

Like voltage, the only practical way to measure freedom is relatively speaking.

Absolute freedom would be a terrible, terrible thing.

To an extent, I agree, however like I said absolute freedom in impossible, I would never live in a world were true freedom is the way, or even extreme freedom, I am simply disproving the concept of a 'Free country'

I don't see how it's disproven.
Being able to say or do just about anything you want so long as it doesn't harm or endanger someone else sounds pretty damn free to me.

[Olthar]

Everything in moderation, dude. Extremes aren't good.