Freedom

 

Critic:-

The rise and spread of Islamic Absolutism is a threat to the hard won freedoms we have achieved in the West.

Comment:-

Which freedoms are you speaking about?

Is it the freedom to fornicate, commit adultery, incest, abortion, perversions, and depravities? Is it the freedom to be irresponsible, to deceive and abandon spouses and children in favour of self-indulgence? Is it the freedom for businessmen to make money in any way they can no matter how harmful it may be to others or the environment, to cheat and exploit and undermine others? Is it the freedom of journalists to spread gossip, scandal, trivialities and lies and to incite people into mindless hysterics, or is it the freedom of politicians to deceive, manipulate and make intrigues, subversions, conflicts and all kinds of mischief throughout the world?

The idea that there is more freedom in the West than elsewhere is often asserted without thought or justification. Freedom is not defined, nor is it shown that any particular kind of freedom is a good thing. Is it economic freedom that is being spoken about? Or is it commercial, political, social, cultural or psychological freedom? Freedom can, of course, have no meaning unless there are desires, which are being frustrated. But all desires are not good and they can be frustrated by lack of money or opportunity or ability. People desire to do crimes but no nation permits this. Many like to take hallucinogenic drugs but this is made illegal in most Western countries though another drug, Alcohol, which does more damage, is allowed, and it flouts the whole basis of the Western economic system which is said to be based on consumer rights to choose.

A case can be made out that the so called undeveloped countries have much greater freedom than in any Western country owing to the fact that they are less complex and less organized, have fewer laws and regulations, and are much less intensively policed. Nor can those who have not learned to read or cannot afford many books be conditioned and controlled by the media. Every aspect of Western life is heavily regulated and policed from movements on roads, cities, parks and countryside to trade and business, be it manufacturing, sales, services or catering. Even activity within the home, relationship between husband and wives and between parents and children is interfered with by the Law.

There are conventions in every society the flouting of which involves penalties. The various companies have their own conventions. Every profession has its own code of conduct. Every industrial company employs workers who must obey or be thrown out of a job without means. The freedom to express and publish an opinion is censored by the conventions of the publishers and the owners of the news media. Governments and even Big Business spy on the citizens and maintain an enormous amount of information about them without their knowledge or consent and uses this to control them in various ways. Sophisticated electronic devices may be used by government agents, journalists, and private detectives, but much is gleaned from all the ordinary transactions a person makes when purchasing goods or filling in endless forms required by the Bureaucracy. The fact is that people become habituated to certain sets of conditions and procedures and foreign or unfamiliar sets or changes appear irksome and even oppressive. But when people get used to them then they accept them and they cease to be oppressive.

It cannot be argued that all this is necessarily bad, but it is not necessarily good either. There are more people in prison for a wider set of misdemeanors in Western prisons while many more who do harm to others and the society and environment are free to continue their operations. This is because Ideologies and the Law based on them are, themselves, based on whims, expediency and the accident of circumstances and, therefore, arbitrary, inconsistent and unintelligent.

The accusations made by the West against some countries refer to abuses of what are called human rights issues which include persecution, false charges, imprisonment without trial, torture, mutilation, deprivation and murder. But this generally concerns very few cases and no Western country is innocent of these crimes. Though undoubtedly it is a good thing to champion human rights, a great amount of hypocrisy is involved here in that they ignore their own human rights abuses and define these in a restricted sense.

Human rights, from the Islamic point of view, ought to mean the freedom from oppression, the enhancement of the power of self-determination, such that external compulsions and restrictions are reduced and nothing is done to people without discussion, agreement and consent. But this is not the case in the West. There it seems to be mainly a propaganda device and a means of imposing Western interests on other countries disguised as objective values. Different countries do have different values and laws. Anyone who flouts these laws and is prosecuted may well complain of the abuse of his right to others who have different values. This is bound to be so until an objective method of establishing them is accepted.

What freedom do people have who are in the clutches of money lenders most of their lives, or the employees who can be thrown onto the scrapheap of unemployment at the whim or self-interest of the employer? Most people are employed by others who buy and control their actions, thoughts and even their conscience, and often their social relationships also. Where is the freedom of the citizen who has no say in the affairs of his community except to vote once in several years for a candidate selected by a political party, which is itself controlled by a small set of the powerful, wealthy and influential people in the background, or by large corporations. What control do people have when information is suppressed by political and commercial secrecy or distorted by campaigns of misinformation. What kind of freedom do people have whose minds are formed by the newspapers and other media, and the manipulation of information by biased and often stupid journalists, politicians, business interests, publicity agents, advertisers, spin doctors and public relations expert? Does the constant stream of lies from these sources and the fantasies produced by the media of communication empower people or disable them? Does the existence of widespread superstition, prejudice, bigotry and misinformation constitute freedom?

Are not a great many people trapped by the stupidities of mindless Bureaucracies run by rules and regulations and the by the momentum of economic and political systems which no one can control? Is it not the case that the Law arises from the accident of a power struggle, has nothing to do with justice but is based on whims and expediencies? Is it not the Legal system ineffective or weak in preventing fraud and swindles. Does it not protect the miscreants and criminals rather than the victim because it is designed to promote the interests of the powerful? And is it not the case that the biggest criminals, those who murder, harm, destroy and defraud on the largest scale are beyond the Law?

It is the greater wealth in the West that frees them from drudgery, gives them greater possibilities and leisure, and it is this which produces the illusion of greater freedom. This prosperity has usually been obtained owing to the good fortune of having an abundance of natural resources. But it has also often been obtained at the expense of other people either by direct exploitation or by preventing their development For those who suffer from the consequent poverty, disease and ignorance there is no freedom.

It is, of course, true that the people in the so called Islamic countries suffer poverty, disease and ignorance and a great number of malpractices. There is certainly economic, political and cultural oppression there. But, owing to their backwardness, these people are unlikely to dominate over the Western or other developed nation. We are, therefore, speaking not of the domination of a foreign power but about the spread of Islam as an Ideology or Way of Life. This becomes dominant only because people see it as being superior in some way.

The spread of Islam means the removal of the malpractices that are harmful and the establishment of more beneficial idea, motives and practices, thereby liberating human potentialities. Islam means removal of illusion and the increase in real freedom.

Critic:-

Well that depends on how many hang ups you have... Morality is a subjective thing, ie. just your opinion, no more.

Sex between consenting adults is their business, not yours.

Comment:-

That is where the illusion lies. You prefer opinions based on selfish motives rather than truth. We believe in objective morality. Given the laws of our nature and the Universe some things are harmful and others are beneficial.

Sex is concerned with human relationships and with the maintenance of the Society and the race. It creates families which makes the society into a network and it links the older generations with the coming ones creating a continuity.

We live in societies and all people affect each other, even if only as examples. Does adultery not affect the spouses and the children? How can it be a personal business when the community has to pick up the tab for the children without parents or the ones abandoned and mistreated who grow up neurotic and inadequate and often psychopathic.

Critic:-

Are you saying that religion has made you intolerant, not able to accept that others should live and let live?

Comment:-

I am certainly intolerant of crimes, evil, perversions, illusions and falsehoods. All Nations have Laws. If Society becomes tolerant of evil then evil spread and destroys it.

Critic:-

What people in a free society learn, is to become responsible for their actions...Nobody forces you to borrow money, but if you do so, then you have to pay it back, which is fair enough.

Comment:-

You are mistaken. Irresponsibility is being spread, in social, sexual, political, economic and ideological aspects of life. The society is set up by the money lenders, for instance, to make it necessary for people to borrow from them and enrich them for no work. It is simply a more sophisticated method of slavery where others are made to do the work that produces that which the masters consume. And advertisers etc. brainwash people to accept all this and the media distract their attention with sport, alcohol, gambling, fashions, cosmetics, gossip and other trivialities.

Critic:-

You don't seem to understand how democracy functions.

Comment:-

I understand completely how "democracy" works. There is no democracy. It is a name by which people are deceived. It is a method by which the power seekers can play games without the destruction of military conflicts and still dominate and manipulate others with immunity. It is only occasionally that people wake up by accident and actually bring about changes. They say that anyone can stand up for office. But an enormous amount of Capital is required to mount a propaganda and brain washing campaign.

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