Freewill is the ability to decide what to do independently of any outside influence. It is a natural innate nature of man which gives him the ability to make personal decisions and subjectively choose a path. ¹
Philosophers who are proponents of determinism, think otherwise. They believe that humans cannot act otherwise than they do, that all events, including moral choices, are completely determined by previously existing causes. ²
Freedom, in a simple sense, is the ability to exercise freewill. Freedom is the ability to carry out acts, one has decided upon, without the constraints of external agents. When one aspires for freedom without limit, independent of God and from other people, it often leads to lawlessness and irresponsibility. ³
Some people pursue this boundless freedom as though it were the ultimate goal of progress. Encouraging freedom does not mean living without care or restraint.
We cannot talk about Freedom, in its essence, without accentuating the Freedom of speech.
I disapprove of what you say,’ said Evelyn Beatrice hall, ‘but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
In the three dimension of Freedom, Billy Bragg wrote a phenomenal phrase ‘If you are not willing to respect everyone equally, then your liberty to do as you wish in a public place will likely be met with admonishment’.
Our ideologies and perspectives towards certain areas of life would always be bizarre to some people, but this apparent disagreement in opinions does not take away the distinctive right to freedom of speech. For us to be truly free we have to respect the liberty of others, we claim for ourselves.
George Orwell said :
If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.’
Whilst this beautiful phrase praises dissent, it doesn’t justify people that try to marginalize, by being belligerent, those that have unorthodox views or opinions.
George Orwell expounded his stance on advocating dissent with:
everyone shall have the right to say and to print what he believes to be the truth, provided only that it does not harm the rest of the community in some quite unmistakable way.
While freedom of speech gives you the right to nonconformity and even offend, it doesn't give you the right to harass or threaten. If you can’t support your ideologies without harassing or abusing your adversaries then you are not looking for freedom but power.
You may confidently believe that there is no higher power and we are on this earth through science, but when you try to subtly coerce people into conforming to your views then you are foraging for reign not freedom.
If we must persist with the idea that freedom must come without constraints then you should be held responsible for your actions. You may not be in support of the recent trend of LGTBQ but that doesn’t defend the rationale behind the angry mob on social media typing furiously with hatred, telling the lesbians or transgender they are better off dead.
I am not in support of the LGTBQ community but i don’t intend to shove it down their throat, and i hope they do likewise because people would always disagree with them.
If you cannot fully disagree with someone without uttering insults then you fall in the one-dimensional construct that freedom is only valid when it is in line with your belief.
You are demanding to be heard yet refusing to listen
You want people to accept whatever you want without any challenge or contradictory remarks.
As stated by Laurence Sterne:
Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners.
All things considered, we cannot fully grasp the idea of freedom without bringing in the spirituality of it. Freedom is a gift from God and in reality the freedom of every human person is limited materially by natural duties and acquired commitments (family, professional, civic etc).⁴
