This is the first time that I'm answering the #ecotrain QOTW, and of course I'm doing so after @eco-alex already put out the wrap-up post. I've basically been non-digital since last Tuesday, and when I got on today, the question just screamed for me to answer it!
"Bearing in mind the health and state of our western culture and society today, do you think we have too much freedom?"
The short answer: absolutely, positively, NO. Quite the opposite actually, freedom is the thing that is most missing in the world.
The video above contains my response to this question, but I feel like the definition of freedom is very important to the answers. Here are the two definitions I personally hold for the word, as well as the Oxford definition, and the etymology:
Total responsibilty for your actions, experience, and feelings.
The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants.
The state of not being imprisoned or enslaved.
(freedom from) The state of not being subject to or affected by (something undesirable)
Etymology: Old English freodom "power of self-determination, state of free will; emancipation from slavery, deliverance;" see free (adj.) + -dom. Meaning "exemption from arbitrary or despotic control, civil liberty" is from late 14c. Meaning "possession of particular privileges" is from 1570s. Similar formation in Old Frisian fridom, Dutch vrijdom, Middle Low German vridom.
If you enjoyed this, you may enjoy some of these highlights of my blog:
