How would you define a truly FREE society?

[shellytuhenmay]

Many people live under the dictates of governments that tell their subjects that they are FREE. Many assume it is true and have never evaluated the degree that they really are controlled in small and great ways. So, are people FREE by your definition simply because they are told that they are free? Or what would real freedom look like? (Please do not make this about political views. I am talking about freedom not politics. I realize that there is an overlap, but I am more interested in what you think real freedom would be like rather than the political theories that promote or destroy freedom.)

 

[stringaling]

For me personnaly I have tasted freedom true freedom lived in a forest for over a decade I did what I wanted when I wanted if I wanted to eat I worked and so on. It became a criminal act during the time I lived that way one day I was a miscreant because I lived in the woods the next day a criminal. So I still have that freedom inside and due to that I'm not governed by the thing that most are governed by, money. I paint and write but none of it is for sale my life isn't a shop and I'm not a shopkeeper. There are nowadays that I live back in society obviously elements in my life now that aren't free but I do value my autonomy and answer to no-one

 

[PaxNurgle]

I can best explain it this way: In Iran, Shiite Muslim fundamentalists will swear that Iran is the freest country in the world, because they are free to be Shiite Muslim fundamentalists. In Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, Sunni Muslim fundamentalists strongly believe their society is the freest in the world, because they are as free as can be to live as they choose, which in their case is to live by the strict codes of Sunni Islam. While in North Korea, ardent communists will insist without a trace of irony, that they have more freedom than anyone else in the world, because they would choose to be ardent communists no matter what country they lived in.
A true free society is one that allows Shiite and Sunni Muslim fundamentalists live by the strictest of strict moral codes, and which allows communists to have their beliefs, and which allows Christians to live by theirs, while at the same time allows non-religious people to live their own lives as they choose. All at the same time. All under the same government, with no one group able to "Force" another to impose their strict codes upon another. This concept is one that many religious fundamentalists, even in relatively free societies such as the US, have trouble understanding.

Naturally there are certain moral codes that are universal. Do no harm to others. Do not kill, steal, grift, or commit a violent act on another. These are universal values accepted by all people in any modern civilized society. Prohibiting certain sex acts between consenting adults, forbidding access to written words or music, or forbidding certain religious practices is NOT how a government should act in a free society.

 

[shellytuhenmay]

I agree with the above and would add that it is NOT JUST religious elements that generate this problem and seek to suffocate true freedom. The world history of most religions is horrific and ugly. However, many in the commercial realm seek to inhibit freedom of speech and most in the political arena suffocate freedom by trying to force people to do all kinds of things. I could site endless examples. This is true on both so called "left and right." Very few understand freedom or really champion it. I loathe them all.

 

[Wag_that_tail86]

Is a truly free society possible? If living in society means living by rules, laws or customs that by definition limit freedom, whether those rules are imposed or commonly agreed, then no one is truly free.

The freest possible society would be where rules are applied evenly and fairly to all members. Once any group is not treated the same or given the same protection under the law, because of ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or expression, political beliefs, etc. then the society is not free, because then the law is arbitrary.