Being born in the U.S.A, I have my own view on freedom and rights. But I’d like to her from other cultures in other counties what there Idea of freedom is or would be.

every human have got his right to be a free person, right?

Yes they do and if not they should.

What about criminals?

To me it truly depends on the type of criminal. Some are committed out of need.
For example I have no sympathy for a rapist, a child molester, or a multiple murderer.
Some of the people have mental condition that causes them to do this, but many of them cause these crimes out of enjoyment. Now I live an area that has a high Gang activity, and theses are the type of predators that commit crimes against mankind for profit and rank in their gangs.
A lot of Crimes are committed out of ignorance and economical stress and lack of education, no since of family’ some get involved in gangs for the security and since of family they don’t have with there own. In the united state a lot of criminals commit crimes over and over because of the security they feel in jail. They feel part of a group.
I honestly feel that if a person cant or refuses to become rehabilitated, that they become a threat to man kind. And in my opinion they are committing crimes not just toward the ones that they harm but also toward humanity.

Well I live in the UK and since we became a Facist Dictatorship several years back I've forgotten what freedoms and rights mean anymore. we just do what were told.

Thank you for your input, I see so much on the monarchy on P.B.S. you don’t know what to believe. I’ve never been there, but I always thought that you pretty much where free to do what you wanted. So are the consciences that most of the populist is tiered of the monarchy. Because to be honest it seems that they have no real power but yet they live for free of the peoples backs.

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin

What is your séance of freedom though Captain

Here in the U.S. of A. we have freedom more than anyone. We have choices and can create new choices. This website is one example of freedom to express ourselves. We don't all have to agree and think the same. There is room for all of us. Everyone from different countries bring along some great traditions and fantastic foods. We take our freedom for granted until we travel or hear about what happens to others in other countries when they say something or talk negative about a politicain. With freedom though comes responsiblity

wasnt really concerned about the monarchy so much as the freely elected government that turned into a self determining majority of one presiding over an increasingley deranged/dispairing party.

I think freedom is a human right, but it should stop where it affects other peoples life. As soon as someone has to suffer because someone else demands his/her freedom there is the border where the freedom thing should stop. Take your freedom to do what ever you want, unless you don´t hurt or even klill other people for that. That´s how I live my life and it´s great this way for me. BTW, here in Germany we also have different cultures in one place and different foods from different countries, and everyone has the right to put up a homepage! ^_^ I donßt think that you have more freedom than anyone, it´s maybe just looking like that from your point of view.

You have great culture and food. My grandmother is from Germany. Van Haun

You have great culture and food. My grandmother is from Germany. Van HaunI agree with you that with freedom you should be responsible as well.

Agree with u gonzo!

Great analogy Heiko, well put.

I can't think of freedom without thinking of Aretha Franklin's song FREEDOM sorry but it comes to mind....

You better think..think about what you're tryin to do to me...r e s p e c t...find out what it means to me.......

Are you loosing Miss Candy?

Am I losing it????? Or do I like Aretha Franklin? Maybe both...it's been a long day and I am waiting for my dinner. My boyfriend is cooking tonight.........he's good in the kitchen......

You must be lucky to have a man in you life that takes such good care of you?

I am lucky and so is he. He knows that though...that is why he asked me to marry him...he wants the job full time...I admit though at times I can be a handful...I am not always beautiful and precious....sometimes I am tired or upset....but it all balances out.....I take good care of him too.......he is a bit stubborn and like a grisly bear at times but all in all, he is a keeper.

So w hat you’re saying is that the grumpy old grisly bear type is what you like; the kind that puts you in your place when you need it.. Be Careful of what you ask for Miss Candy

No, I never said he was an old grisly bear just a grisley bear and I never said he puts me in my place....that was your comment....that sounds sexist actually....I don't try to put him anywhere either. Quiet on that one. .I like him when he puts his arms around me though... that is the place....enough of my life..back to freedom and those who are less fortunate than me...you would like him.....tonight is corned beef and cabbage but no on the green beer............I can cook too though.....why don't you respond to the new freedom discussion as the poor guy has not recieved any comments on his freedom topic...I am going to water my plants....

To me freedom is a heavy responsibility. (One that I cherish, though). Many students I have taught yearn for "freedom".
But when offered choices are often the last ones to really want the responsibility for what deciding brings. I don't mean that in a bad way, just that when, to their surprise, I suggest in all seriousness that they set their own lesson content, test question(s) and marking matrix, they find it really hard. Some really bright students love that - the challenge of really addressing what it is to "know" something.

But most find a deviation from the comfort of "being unfree" actually quite difficult to address.
They sometimes grasp at the idea and say (ie) "well, we want to study _ _ _ _ _" (fill in subversive idea of the moment).
So I say OK, what ways can you study it to really KNOW something about it?
what questions do you set to uncover as many different aspects of this idea as you can? what issues are uncovered?
what conflicts will arise and how can we deal with that here in class?
how can we test and what will the "right" answers be???

By now a few have stayed with me, but most start looking a bit green.

I guess if I didn't have such a crowded curriculum ( a list of "must teach this stuff") I could figure out how to gently lead them towards the satisfaction of really experiencing freedom of thought, of argument and intellectual growth. Mostly I have to figure out how to do that in 50 minutes, while counselling a special needs child, or dealing with a sudden change in bell times.

I wish I was FREE to just teach......

:)

MUM you sound like a great teacher who is somewhat fustrated by the restraints being placed upon you. You ask your studentssome great questions.

Maybe she is realistic :)

Thanks kimcande and prismagic
I think I am realistic, and somewhat pragmatic. Like most well meaning people in most jobs, you just do what you can with what you've got and try to be there when you can effect the best changes. That too, is what I teach my kids. Freedom then might just be defined as having the real potential in your society to make a change for the better. I have seen this freedom in many cultures and I have seen the lack of it too, in the same cultures, in different contexts. Freely accessible information, which can be freely discussed, is one important element.

Good impute Mum all freedoms I think are based a persons perspective. For example If you where never to drive and say at the age of 40 you where given a license and a car your whole perspective would change.
I think what I’m really asking is what is freedom to you, What is to much? Should it have Boundaries? Should it be as in the old west if someone needed shot- in yah shot-um!
Dose our freedom need to be over seen by a dictator, or by a ruling government.

Good impute Mum all freedoms I think are based a persons perspective. For example If you where never to drive and say at the age of 40 you where given a license and a car your whole perspective would change.
I think what I’m really asking is what is freedom to you, What is to much? Should it have Boundaries? Should it be as in the old west if someone needed shot- in yah shot-um!
Dose our freedom need to be over seen by a dictator, or by a ruling government.

I would vote for a "democracy with a social conscience".

I wish our present president felt that way. Were more and more every day becoming a bureaucracy. Where the people are no longer considered. Only the wealthy have rights and Bush Is selling this country off by the pound.

having visited the US a while ago I was surprised at how little your tv networks cover of non US related international news.
Just an observation. We have an international news broadcaster here, maybe you do too and I just didn't see it.

The only objective news truly available to us is Ted Copal at night on Channel & and the BBC world news. For instance our white house news people are told what they can & cannot ask. The are not allowed to ask anything that is controversial or on the spot. Sometimes it starts to remind me of the Russian republic.

there are definite scripts and no impromptu conversations.....everything is previously approved

And this is freedom and democracy. What did Al Gore say the constitution is an out dated document. I guess he was right.

the Constititution isn't outdated...over time everything changes and to allow this the const. is quite flexible...and over time it all changes, much like a pendulum, with public opinion swinging back and forth

Freedom is at it's best when it is not controlled, however perfect freedom cannot occur, because people are not perfect that's why there are laws. In my opinion, gov't is at it's best when it is small and efficient with as few laws as possible allowing people to make choices.

Also there is no objective news here in the US, i long yearn for a news that is, just the facts mainly, and perhaps a few good forum debates that is not chosen to be biased toward one way

rustectrum03 I fully agree with you on all of your statement very well put.

i'm from singapore (where's that?) and as the stories go, they're pretty true. the place is too small, there're too many people and everything borders on the near restrictive. the people here are culturally dry, it's all business and commerce and making a living rather than actually living.
in a nutshell, freedom over here is something that's allowed, not given.

America is a great place and is one of the freest places in the world
But regardless of what every one thinks it is a country like many that is more based on a bureaucracy than a democracy. But it does concern me when I here of countries where no rights at all are given a place where woman and Children are threaded as if they area house pets rather then a loving equal. Freedom is not something to be taken lightly.

Freedom is not free. It is earned not granted. Every American should thank God and thank our servicemen for our hard won freedom.

yes....ask it to Dixie Chics :)

I saw on TV the other day that Janet Jackson said "Jesus" on David letterman and they censored it. In some ways the USA is not so liberated...

I think the US has more freedom then most. But we have lost a lot of or civil liberties to political correctness and censorship, which is generally slated toward the white race, but if you choose to raise a question about ethnic group; you seem to get the answer that the ethnic groups have rights to. They can say what ever they want. One group has the right to say something but the other doesn’t. I’m not racist but I get tired of every other race-yelling wolf but then doing the same thing the wolf dose.
I afraid the USA will become like the Stilone movie demolition man. Know one will be aloud to have a thought of there own and end up believing everything there told.

"Janet Jackson, you are fined one credit for violation of the verbal morality statute..."

Very good Sam. HA'HA'HA.
That’s about what it's coming to

:)

The things done in the name of publicity and attention. So many young girls thought of you at one time as a role model....

Someone like Madam Curie or Jane Goodall would be better role model than the above referenced janet jackson..

Judi. Did you ever see the Stilone movie demolition man? It was a reference to the ridiculous laws that where in the movie. He wasn’t using Miss Jackson as a role model.
If you haven’t seen the movie, you would have to see it to understand what he means.

Clayton -Guess I didn't read too carefully. I have not seen Demolition Man though, only Rocky and Rambo. I'll try and find it. Something to do on a rainy aternoon - if I am not browsing Caedes!

I'm from the UK, one of the most democratic countries in the world, or so I like to think. Freedom for me is purely the right to free speech and the right to a fair trial with judge and jury whenever a crime is commited. I also believe that religion holds back freedom in many countries, the world would be better off if we were all atheists.

so...f_k_o_s...you're an open-minded person right? btw the whole fact of democracy depends on your definition of the thing...

~i'm seriously tired of hearing the one sided double-standards...if we truly want democracy, we must learn to accept all people, not necessarily love all people...where is the freedom for the moral conservatives, the devout, and various others? They have their right to their opinion(as long as it doesn't hurt you), and you have your right to stay away from them and disagree.

~if we were all atheists where would the want to be moral for most come from?

~ethnic and racial problems will not go away until we eliminate that blanks use in most surveys, forms and whatnot

Well put Brett. I agree with you on this.
It should be equal for all or not at all. The issue of ethnic background should be gone by now. And religion needed or not. Is the basis for the moral standard that cultures live by. But as far as the USA goes we are still that experiment mentioned in the Gettysburg address. We have come far in our short time as a nation. Unfortunately we are starting to lose some of the abundant rights, that have made us a great country do to racisms and the political action of our country and other factions in the world.

Look Brett, touching on the thing i said about the world being better off if we all atheists... surely this has to be the case. Just imagine how much safer the world would be without Islam, there is no reasoning with relgious madmen like that, to them all of us are western devils. That is just to state a point though, there would be no hated or differences between cultures if we were to get rid of religion. The question of being moral would be irrelavent if we were all atheists though, society would function just fine, I consider myself to be moral but I am not religious.

those with hatred and those who attack us are of only a small percentage of the true religion of Islam. Mohammad preached of understanding and of acceptance, not of war and hate (jihad is only to be used in extreme cases)...truly those who are the Islamic madmen are the extreme.

Woo 'Woo Here you could the same thing about the USA, And the Christians and the Jews And as far as that goes every western based culture.
We invaded Iraq with out cause. The Jews have invaded multiple territories over the fact that a Mythological Deity told them to. And to me they’re as just as guilty of using God as the reason to invade or attack. Hell they've committed a lot of genocidal acts in the Name of God. As far as I'm concerned that why the Arab nations hate us because we back them.
So who do we kill or eliminate first Chris? Who do we start with? The Jew’s after all the to are Invaders, all Arians! Hmmm… Ah Maybe George Bush for invading Iraq, he did do it illegally. Or say maybe the Africans for wanting help with their poverty and AIDs. Or Maybe the British they invaded Islam during the crusade. Or May be you Chris’ for having subversive thoughts. What do you think Chris? I agree if it weren’t for there religious beliefs they would get along. Personally. I think we should just stay out of their way. They’ve been fighting over religion for the last 4000 years and will probably continue to do so for the next 500 to 1000 years.

I agree, Clayton. most religions have been answerable for some pretty despicable crimes. As you say, Judaism has done some bad things (taking someone else's country for one thing!) and Christianity too. However, atheism is not necessarily the answer, FKOS - it is, in itself, just another type of religion, but one where you preach that there is no god. I myself do not believe in the Judaeo-Christian-Islam god, but I would not call myself an atheist, because that is just as absolutist and small-minded.

An interesting story: in the genocide in Rwanda, the Catholic church was heavily implicated in the whole affair - some of it's priests, nuns and even bishops are still serving jail time, I think. Anyway, the funny thing is that many Muslims refused to take part in the genocide and helped to hide those that were being persecuted. They believed that such murderous behaviour was in contravention of their religion.

We cannot be intolerant of Islam because of a minority of nutcases. They are using religion as an excuse for their secular activities. You can excuse or justify just about anything if you argue the point enough. Most muslims do not agree with terrorism.

Mathew I never said that there was know God. For instants The Christ took all of his teachings from the book of Daniel. He Just played on them. What I was trying too make every one see is that most things in the Bible and in other Script are usually taken out of context, for the needs of the groups teaching them. I never said that the state of Islam is dangerous but they are easily led in the name of God. The saying one bad apple doesn’t spoil the barrel is true. What I was trying to get Chris to realize is where do you begin the persecution. And where do you end it.

When i read the news, i fell like living in the time of the ancient Rome, where life was a story of blood, persecution, elimination of the emperor's family, murders, lies, conquerors who belive that God wisper in their ears and carry under their sholders a copy of Homero's Iliada...
where is the freedom in this story...
whe are the same since thousands of years...
Without circus....but TV, and popcorn instead bread.
:)

there's free will... freedom is relative to space and time. =)

:) hello my friend

Hello beatyful people !!!

he he he... Im still trying to figure out some stuff about the site..