freedom
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| freelsjd Jan 13, 2006 11:13 AM EDT |
Linux is perhaps the greatest story of freedom in the "modern" world. In a time when our freedoms are being threatened, the freedom to use a free operating system and companion suite of packages is thriving. |
| tadelste Jan 13, 2006 11:38 AM EDT |
Freedom in terms of human rights has existed barely more than 200 years. Prior to that, we had no freedoms unless we owned land and paid a king to raise an army and protect us. When did women have the right to vote in the US? The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920 allowing women the right to vote in federal elections. Abigail Smith Adams, wife of the second president (John Adams) and mother of the sixth president (JohnQuincy Adams) wrote that women "will not hold ourselves bound by any laws which we have no voice," in 1777. People act as if freedom is an inherent right that everyone enjoys. But, if Linux is the greatest story of freedom in the modern world, what's the greatest story of freedom prior to that? Linux isn't a story of freedom at all. No one is free on this planet unless everyone is free. |
| sharkscott Jan 15, 2006 1:34 PM EDT |
Tom: You are even cooler than I thought you were :-) The battles for freedom range across all aspects of life and no, one person cannot fight all of them. We choose to fight the fights that matter to us the most. There is nothing wrong with that. To accept that we cannot make a difference, even if we tried, is to become a part of what needs to be changed. Linux is not about freedom, its about choice. |
| Bob_Robertson Jan 15, 2006 1:58 PM EDT |
Democracy is no equation with liberty. It was less than 150 years ago that chattel slavery lost its final lawful protection, regardless of a 2500 year record of various "democracies". It is arguable that there was greater liberty prior to universal sufferage, since any person could travel the world with no more than their luggage and a letter of credit from their bank. And travel armed, without hassles. It is quite clear that definitions of liberty differ between individuals. There's no contradiction in that, because each individual will choose differently than another if they have the choice. Yours and mine have found ways to clash while both of us were trying to talk about individual liberty. The concept of enumerated human rights does indeed find its widest application in the Constitution for the United States, but that was based upon the English Bill of Rights and Magna Carta, which themselves codified concepts based upon the idea of "rule by consent". Etruscan women had full social parity, but that bit of progress was lost by Roman conquest and domination. Prior to the American war of Independence, I would say the English revolution(s) ca. 1600 to 1650. Their rather bloody experience with unlimited power of democracy was repeated during the French revolution of the 1790s. The English Reformation, and its bloody discovery that unlimited monarchy is not all that good either, and the assertion of the English Bill of Rights, was what directly inspired the experiment of "limited government" that is the Constitution for the US. The GPL is a response to the artificial grants of monopoly power that are copyright and patent. I like the GPL because it codifies a concept of principle. The BSD license, in comparison, is pretty much just a restating of the Public Domain. |
| Abe Jan 15, 2006 4:05 PM EDT |
Freedom is God given right. All religions asserted Freedom to all and those who believe have free spirit and respect the freedom of others. Ones freedom ends when it start to infringe on the Freedom of others. Unfortunately, many don't respect that limitation and that is why freedom has to be constantly vindicated and protected. |
| cjcox Jan 16, 2006 1:03 PM EDT |
I think it's a matter of perspective. I mean.. if you're an IT manager (like moi), free software (and Linux) "frees" you from the chains associated with commercial software. It means that I get to decide what happens and when (for the most part.. at least more than what I used to be able to do). Free software allows me to actually BE and IT manager instead of a slave drone of the vendors. |
| Bob_Robertson Jan 18, 2006 12:45 PM EDT |
cj, that's no contradiction. Your restatements of liberty in terms of software can be repeated in terms of most anything at all. Freedom of travel, freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of self defense. Abe is correct that liberty is not granted, it is taken. Government always seeks to grow, and the only way government can grow is at the expense of the "private" sector. There is only so much GDP to go around, and the more taken in taxes and regulation, the less there is to do things like buy food. While I disagree with Abe's first assertion, since there would have to be gods for it to be true, I am heartened to know he supports freedom and liberty no matter what his motivation for doing so may be. |
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