Freedom to Choose Freedom

"Freedom is not merely the opportunity to do as one pleases; neither is it merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives. Freedom is, first of all, the chance to formulate the available choices, to argue over them -- and then, the opportunity to choose." - C. Wright Mills

Not a terribly exciting quote, but I think it's an interesting one. Because, really, isn't an important part of true freedom the ability to decide what freedom means to you?

I'd never heard of Mr. Mills before, so I did a little looking before deciding to go with his words of wisdom here today. From what I read, I found that he was a social scientist who was often viewed as a Marxist. But in typical American fashion, he was also often viewed as an anti-Marxist. Kind of like how celebrity women can end up on both the best-dressed and worst-dressed lists in the same year, to use a rather more pedestrian analogy.

I found this article, written about him and one of his theories, which I enjoyed reading. The author makes a really good point about some of the insights Mills put forth in one of his lesser-known works, noting that "they might be as applicable today as they were [fifty] years ago." Given where we are politically right now, even more so when the article was written five years ago, I'd have to say "hell yeah."

Forgetting Thurgood Marshall

"Grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.”" -—Justice Thurgood Marshall

This one resonates pretty closely with the quote from yesterday and my thoughts about the negative impact of the Patriot Act. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you felt about the last post), I'm too tired to say much more about it today.

Instead I'll ask you how much you know about today's quotee, Justice Marshall. If the answer is "Not much," I invite you to read this article about one of the most influential Americans of the 20th century. Today's title is merely a play on the title of an upcoming movie (the billboards for which I've been seeing around a lot, so it came to mind quickly), by the way; Justice Marshall is someone we should most definitely not forget. He's someone we all owe a debt of gratitude to for shaping much of our current national identity. Others in the civil rights movement in America may have been more visible, but few had more lasting impact.

Paging the Fourth Amendment...Please pick up a white courtesy phone

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

This one couldn't be more meaningful for today's America, could it? Fear has driven us to give up all sorts of liberty in the name of safety.

Patriot Act, anyone? That little gem of a legacy from the Bush Administration has stripped away much that I doubt we'll ever get back. It violates many tenets of the Bill of Rights, what I've always thought of as the shining star of American democracy; that thing which defined us as "The Land of Liberty." The Patriot Act's use, and misuse, has had the unfortunate but unmistakable consequence of virtually gutting the Fourth Amendment, in particular.

Really, it's our fault for letting this happen, though. We don't hear it as much anymore, but we've lived with the idea of "the terrorists have won" if we don't do something we'd normally do if not for 9/11 and its after-effects for the last seven years. But for us to have let our own government strip away things that were so fundamental to our identity as a country, in the name of our safety, certainly smacks of that to me. Maybe they've only won a battle in a larger war we hope they'll lose, but at what cost?

Quote Week: Freedom

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it." - Thomas Jefferson

The hullabaloo surrounding the Olympic torch relay disruptions by demonstrators protesting China's tyranny over Tibet, and activities closer to home as pro-Tibet activists scaled the Golden Gate Bridge today and hung banners, made this quote jump out at me today. Because while I may not agree with all of the tactics being used, I understand why those fighting for the freedom of Tibet have seized upon this occasion to make their voices heard.

Right or wrong, those who feel passionately about the situation in Tibet have recognized that China, a country that has long abused the human rights of those under its rule, winning the right to host an international, high-profile event like the Olympics created a worldwide stage for their message. This powder keg has been brewing for decades; the decision of the Olympic selection committee to award China the Olympic games, when it has done nothing to change its treatment of minorities or put an end to its human rights abuses, was like handing those committed to protesting a lit match.

Predictably, China has condemned the actions of the protesters but, in my opinion, hasn't got a shred of high moral ground to stand on. And, predictably, the U.S. is too much in debt to China for the government to try to take a real stand. If anyone really thinks the U.S. will be boycotting the Olympics (and I'm not saying that we should), or even that Bush won't attend the opening ceremonies, they need to take a cold, hard, clear-eyed look at the realities of our economy and the financial position we've gotten ourselves into with respect to China.

But the fact that we can see what's happening on TV, in papers and across the Web, and express our opinions about it like this, unfettered by worries that someone is going to throw us into jail for doing so, brings home what the freedom Tibet is asking for is all about. We have it. They don't. They want it. We (as I count myself among them...though I won't be scaling anything anytime soon) believe they should have it.

So this week is going to be about freedom and what wiser people than me have said about it throughout history. Because what we're seeing is nothing new; oppression and rebellion are as old as time.

They won't make a slinkity sound, exactly

"Some people are like Slinkies...largely useless, but they can still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs."

Today's quote is from a commenter on Dooce where, in her most recent post, Heather shares some of the unbelievable hate mail she gets, as well as her response to it.

Everything I could think to say about the people who take the time to send ugly mail like that to someone, anyone, has been said five times over in the comments so I won't waste our time rehashing it.

I'll just say that I'm glad to toil on in obscurity if that is what you have to look forward to when you become an award-winning, financially successful and influential blogger.

And that I may be getting a Slinky soon, since the law tends to frown on pushing people down stairs.

Get your quote on, Elbert

I don't know exactly why this idea appealed to me so much today when I came up with it earlier today, but it did.

A little explanation: I have an iGoogle page with couple of different tabs and a bunch of various gadgets and widgets, mostly to amuse myself during the day when I don't have time to surf the Web but need a bit of a break. One of the gadgets is "Quotes of the Day" that, not surprisingly, has new quotes each day.

The quote that caught my eye today was: "No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one." - Elbert Hubbard

It got my attention primarily because I usually feel that way after a vacation, never more so than after getting back from Australia. What kept my attention was actually clicking on The Quotations Page for Elbert Hubbard. I'd never heard of Mr. Hubbard before (though I had heard of his most well-known essay, "A Message to Garcia") and I was surprised to see that he died in 1915 because many of the 17 quotes they have for him seem so current and relevant.

All that leads us to *drum roll, please* Elbert Hubbard Quote Week here at OPO. I'm going to pick one of the quotes each day this week, throw it up against the wall and see what sticks.

I'd be interested to know if you feel that same way after a real vacation, where it almost, almost doesn't seem worth having had the time off, when you know what's waiting for you upon your return.

I think in the era of e-mail it's even worse. It's not like people called and left a couple voicemails, or talked to your assistant or co-worker and found out you weren't there and will call back sometime once you're back, or there's a stack of envelopes on your desk, half of which you can pitch out without a second thought. No, I think many of know that there are going to be 100+ emails waiting for us in our inbox, and every one of those people wanted to hear from you yesterday. And a least a dozen will have the ! next to it saying "Pick me, pick me, pick me first, I'm important!" I spend at least an entire day dealing with email after being gone from work for a week or longer. That doesn't even take into consideration all the work I had to do before leaving just to get ready to be gone because everything is nownownownow-I need it now-this is urgent and there's just no one else to do two-thirds of it in my absence.

I know some companies have instituted "E-mail-free Fridays" and I think there's some merit to it. However, even more than that, I'd like to see e-mail amnesty. Where we cut people a break after getting that ubiquitous "Out Of Office" auto-reply that says they're out for some longer period of time. Where we don't expect them to answer your e-mail the moment they get back to their desk...you and the other few dozen people who are clamoring for attention. Let the poor soul ease back into the hectic workaday world so that vacation actually meant something!

Nah. Never gonna happen. Next quote?