Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Freedom?

I picked up Whose Freedom? by George Lakoff at the library this afternoon. He's a "progressive" writing about how liberals and conservatives really have two different definitions of the word "freedom," and that conservatives are attempting to change the "traditional" (liberal) idea of freedom for the conservative one. I'm sure it will irritate me, but as he's approaching it as a cognitive scientist focusing on memory, brain function, etc., it is also sure to be interesting.

I thought this bit was really interesting, because I think a conservative could say this about liberals without changing a single word:
I believe that one version of freedom is traditional and important to keep for the deepest moral reasons. I believe that the other version of freedom is dangerous to our democratic ideals and to the moral system behind the founding of our nation.

1 comment:

  1. Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose.

    Lo-da-lo da-la-lo-da-la
    Lo-da-la-lo da-la-lo la-la-lo la-la-lo la-la
    Hey, my Bobby, Lord, my Bobby McGee, yeah

    ReplyDelete

What do you think? Let me know.