Freedom Isn't Free?

I don't know if it's merely an American thing, something tells me that it probably is, but I hear the word "freedom" bandied around a lot. Whether it's someone talking about their rights as an American/human being/whatever or part of a bumper-sticker slogan on someone's car, it seems like mention of "freedom" is everywhere. Although I'm not very old, I feel like it's one of those things that's been posited as a central part of American life for a long time. No doubt the "War on Terror" also has a lot to do with America's general conception of freedom; there's nothing like a war against someone who doesn't share the same values as you do to make you cherish the ones you have and put them above the ones of other people. I think many people, however, have a misguided, or perhaps ignorant, notion of the different kinds of "freedom."

"Freedom" for most Americans, or so it would seem, is about being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want. It's about a general lack of being told what to do and not to do; generally the first thing spouted off as a hallmark of "freedom" is the notion of freedom of speech, religion, etc. "Freedom" is an individual's right to have what they want, go where they want, and do what they want without the intervention of another party. The things that our constitution allows for us to have make up the general consensus of most people's conception of "freedom," and it never enters anyone's mind that "freedom" could perhaps also have other meanings.

For me, and probably more people if they would stop to think about it, there are actually two different kinds of "freedom." There's the aforementioned type, freedom to do or have, but then there's also a freedom from something. The idea that freedom is not only the ability to do, but also the ability to be separate from, is something that many American's fail to recognize. It is on this point, therefore, that most American's are not free at all; in the sense of this "negative freedom," freedom from, Americans are some of the most oppressed people in the world.

Although we may have infinitely many opportunities for things, they all seem to fall in the same patterns or categories. We can do what we want and buy what we want, but it all falls within the same 20th-21st century framework. We are bound to grow up, get an education, get married, get a job, go to work, make money, and buy things to live. That's it. Rinse and repeat. Vacations, travel, time-off, etc., the things that remove us from our day-to-day, are only small reprieves within the overall picture. Americans are bound to this circle of doing things, and there is little hope to separate ourselves. Even a choice to liberate oneself from this cycle is never fully realized; to live and be a part of 21st century America one must follow this formula or else become an outcast. And although many Americans would consider other cultures to be "oppressed" or "backwards," on a further glance it would seem that America is not as liberated as one would at first believe.

So "freedom," or what I would consider the normal American notion of it, is actually a bit more complicated than many would believe. It's nothing more than naiveté, or even vanity, to believe that America is a pillar of "freedom" in an oppressed world.