So, How's That Liberty Working Out For Ya?

10/29/2020

My posts on religious themes over the years have occasionally drawn scoffing critical comments from smug libertarian-atheist types who, after having roundly dismissed my belief in a sky-god, have contemptuously informed me that the only thing that matters in life is liberty.

Ah, yes.

So, how's that liberty thing been working out for you this year?

13 Comments

William James Tychonievich link

10/30/2020 06:00:22

https://babylonbee.com/news/op-ed-give-me-liberty-or-give-me-a-total-government-lockdown-whatevers-cool

Francis Berger

10/30/2020 07:26:42

@ Wm - That Bee article sums it up well.

Ingemar

10/31/2020 00:00:48

When I was young, I was having trouble reconciling my belief in the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the American ideal of freedom above all. In my twenties, getting into the paleoconservative sphere, I came to reject freedom-as-highest-good as an error.

Apologists for libertarianism try to frame it in a way of freedom with restraints, "freedom to do the good" (which was never disputed in pre-liberal Europe). However, every single destructive social trend in the West for the past two centuries have used, as their justification, the rhetoric of freedom.

These "freedoms" have always come at the freedom of those who wish to live in a contrary manner. So has the experience of the First French Republic, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany taught us. So will the demise of the American Freemasonic Empire.

a kullervo

10/31/2020 17:27:55

Greetings,

You can either believe:
a) The universe is a work in progress (i.e., there is always room to improvement.)
b) The universe is already perfect (in fact, it was, is and always will be perfect.)

If a), you don't believe in God; if b), you believe.

Take your pick and act accordingly.

Inevitably some will argue, «it's not that simple.» Of course it isn't, it never is: after all, Occam's razors and other similar devices are only available and deemed useful when, and only when, one's in need of validation for one's own pet peeves. Nevertheless, please remember that cherry-picking the elders’ wisdom has led us to the present-day predicament - enjoy.

There isn’t any other homo sapiens‘ sub-species who suffers as much with l’ennui de vivre as the Caucasian male. The time to reap the harvest we couldn’t help but to sow has arrived.

May you be spared the bruxism.

Francis Berger

10/31/2020 20:45:41

@ a kullervo - Rest assured, no teeth grinding going on here.

William James Tychonievich link

11/1/2020 09:26:02

A Kullervo, that sounds like an open-and-shut case for atheism to me! It would take a very special kind of willful stupidity to believe that the world as we know it is perfect.

This is where the God/Supergod distinction comes in handy: https://narrowdesert.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-supergod-delusion.html

a kullervo

11/1/2020 20:34:23

Dear Sir,

I understand God has in you a proficient foreman, able to help Him with the task at hand every time He's not willing or able to.

Unfortunately, God provided me with a questioning mind but, alas, also with a struggling intellect, unable to see the clear answers He provides and others can so easily grasp. Different lives, different paths, the same Light - I submit myself as gracefully as my failings allow.

Best regards.

Andrew

11/1/2020 13:39:00

I’m thankful for the small things still. At least in the US, the first to be test bunnies for the new birdemic vaccine will be those who want it - so those of us who don’t worship the Government and TV as our idols may wait and see what happens.

Francis Berger

11/1/2020 19:32:45

@ Andrew - Let's hope it remains optional.

Fr Stephen Janos link

11/1/2020 21:09:37

I woke up this morning with the strangest of intuitions -- the radical contrast between XC as Izbavitel'/Deliverer and
Spasitel'/Saviour... In ways, it represents the contrast between Berdyaev/Skobtsova understanding of "lesser freedom"
and the "greater freedom" -- the "freedom from" in contrast with
the "freedom for": the radical difference between
merely being liberated and set free, vs living and breathing
the air of freedom, having something further to truly live for
worth living for, and if need be, even to die for. This distinction too
is verymost significant a "Key" to the Berdyaev/Skobtsova
motif of Creativity, Berdyaev's "spiritual aristocratism of soul"
needful for it to sprout forth, akin to the Albigensian
High Culture of yore with its knights errant and maidens fair
(motif too in Zane Grey's Western novels of my childhood),
exterminated back then by an ever continuing proto-Puritan crusade against such loftiness...
frsj

Francis Berger

11/1/2020 21:17:27

It is great to hear from you, Fr. Steve!

Concerning your intuition, I have been contemplating freedom from vs freedom for quite intensely myself lately. Freedom for truly is aristocratic in nature - a high expression of creativity. Will it manifest in the world as the lesser freedom - freedom from - withdraws?

Michelle

11/6/2020 11:12:22

I really appreciate the perspective that my close friend gives me. He is at the geographic epicenter of the birdemic and wholly believes that the lockdowns, mask-wearing, etc responses to the birdemic are necessary and justified. He wants more and I believe he is developing disdain because I will not comply with the inverted liberty protocol. He also has been working from home since March and hates that his employer wants him back in the office. So for him, this newfound liberty of lockdown is working just great (as it seems to be for most).

Francis Berger

11/6/2020 12:31:10

@ Michelle - Good comment. Yes, I believe many modern people not only accept our new totalitarian reality, but positively crave more of it.

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So, How's That Liberty Working Out For Ya?

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