Show of hands: who here hates freedom?

[primavera]

But the truth of the matter is, they hate us, and they hate freedom, and they hate people who embrace freedom. And they're willing to kill innocent Iraqis because Iraqis are willing to be free. - Der Führer, 5 May 2004

How many times have we heard the shrub shrug off resistance to his imperial policies as merely the expression of those who "hate freedom"? Evidently, there are a great many people who hate freedom, so I'm calling for a show of hands. Who here hates freedom and would honestly prefer to live as a slave? What? Not one? How can this be? Maybe it's a uniquely Middle Eastern thing; they, unlike the rest of the world, do in fact long for bondage.

What does it say about us as a country that the shrub and Karl Rove believe - and evidently with some justification - that we'll just swallow this patently absurd bilge that resistance to US occupation reflects an innate hatred of freedom? Just who is stupid enough to buy that crock? Why don't journalists and/or commentators ever call him on that? I mean, his entire explanation for where we stand in Iraq today is the flag-waving equivalent of stating that the moon is made of green cheese, yet no one ever stops to question why he thinks there are all of these people out there who hate freedom, but apparently have no complaints with respect to being bombed by US missiles or kidnapped and tortured by US forces. Oh yes, that's right, I keep forgetting: they love slavery over there, so what we would consider abusive treatment is in fact manna from heaven to those guys, what they really are worried about is the prospect of suffering freedom. Yes, well, I can see where that would be a cruel blow to inflict upon anyone. :eyes:

I'm curious, what do DUers think, would this sort of blatant employment of patriotic rhetoric as a weapon against critical thinking (or even the basic sentient awareness enjoyed even by vegetables) work as well in Europe as it seems to work here? If not, why not? Are we just uniquely gullible amongst the nations of the world? Or, of it would work, why hasn't Tony Blair used such tactics to good effect to quell dissent within his country? Any thoughts?

[trof]

1. I like freedom, but...

we don't seem to have near as much as we used to.
Where'd it all go?
:-(

[LuLu550]

2. Like the president says:

there are limits to free speech, and freedom and Constitutional guarantees.....

[Mandate My Ass]

3. Me! Me! I hate freedom

I'm so glad John Ashcroft is getting rid of my pesky freedoms one by one and boy am I gonna be relieved when they stop writing sequels to the PATRIOT ACT and just suspend the Constitution and be done with it since the terrorists will never leave us alone as long as we have it.

All kidding aside, I've hated that expression since he uttered it the first of 1,576,039,713 times after September 11th. Not only is it nonsensical, it drips of arrogance that someone as doltish and ill-informed as Bush pretends that he can determine the motivations of people about whose culture, religion and beliefs he doesn't have the first clue.

BTW, KevinJ :hi:

[primavera]

9. Hi!

:hi: Hey Gloria, how's it going? By the way, are you planning on attending the June 5 ANSWER march here in DC?

[Mandate My Ass]

11. Wouldn't miss it for the world

Hopefully I'll make it for the whole march this time!! :-)

[primavera]

13. Outstanding!

To be honest, I just learned of it recently and I'm not sure how much of a crowd it's going to attract, but I'd think the conditions would be conducive for a large turnout. If you do end up going, PM me sometime and we'll exchange cell phone numbers - I finally bit the bullet and got one of my own after having to use DUers' cell phones the last time! :)

[troublemaker]

4. I hate freedom

and I'm not crazy about apple pie.

But really, isn't the greatest freedom the freedom to keep your trap shut and stay in line? In high school they gave us a booklet of our rights and *responsibilities* Out of about 40 pages the rights section was limited to a paragraph that essentially said we were entitled to a hearing before being sold for medical experiments.

[primavera]

6. ROTFL!

That's great, I love it! Thanks for such an eloquent summary of American freedom, I'll have to remember that one.

[Deja Q]

8. "Conformity is the only freedom"

A quote I once heard. However, only madmen, fascists, and tyrants use this type of language in their subtle attempt to keep the populace under control.

True freedom involves being who and what you are and allowing others to be who and what they are. And that won't happen because some people like to kill as part of who they are. Vigilantes against homosexuals for example. It's okay for them to hate, as those of us with brains can simply go elsewhere and be with other decent people, but it's not okay for them to kill. The freedom to kill is wrong.

So is the freedom of greed - which is the only freedom * means when he talks of freedom, that is incontrovertible.

[Deja Q]

5. I like freedom. I hate having to be forced to do something.

But Bush* wants us all to conform to his will, to obey and believe in him blindly. That isn't freedom. And the moment Patriot II goes into effect, it becomes pure unfettered fascism - a path he's been engineering us to walk across since he allowed 9/11 to happen.

It's interesting how the guilty like to project guilt onto others who don't agree with them. That's a clear sign of a fascist movement. Ditto for "the blame game". Oh, the insurgents hate us. Oh, people who disagree with the President must be traitors! And so on! Oh, if we stop these 'terrorists' by bombing and killing and torturing them in the name of preserving and bestowing freedom, then we'll be safe! (and that's the biggest lie of them all.)

Our country is not free. It really wasn't before, but it certainly isn't now.

I wish Lord Liar* would shut the "Freedom" up about freedom. He's so full of diarrhea that it's no longer convincing. He was convincing, but maybe for two minutes. "You're either for us or for the terrorists" line was when I stopped believing him. The moment he put his own version of conditions as to who is acceptable was the last straw. Are countries who are indifferent to us now enemies because they choose to stay away from dealing with us?! *'s words have always been glib to give him the greatest 'freedom' in dealing with who he doesn't like (we should be scared of this because he's clearly insane. Thinking he was sent by God is bad enough...), not always truthful, and backed by doctines and policies which set the cause of morality and civility back one thousand year.

[Texican]

7. Undecided

You left out my choice.

[primavera]

10. Updated

...by popular request. :)

[Citizen Daryl]

12. Freedom? Where? Where?!?