It's July 1st 2011 and "Will and Kate" , Prince William and Kate Middleton are wowing the crowds in Ottawa for Canada Day celebrations. Isn't that great? Canadians are enjoying the "historic relationship of the Mother country England --by honoring the newest and most popular royals, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, -- that are merely "Will and Kate" to happy Canadians on this sunny day.
What does that acknowledgment of royalty really mean? Only 145 years ago, Canada became 'Independent' and free of Great Britain's colonial rule. Are we "free" ?
It is time to rethink what freedom really is. It's not 1867 any more, that is a given, but freedom is more than a royal signature on dusty old documents.
"I live, therefore I must be free or die." Passionate, serious words that challenge the concept of freedom within an ordinary, normal society, but where does true freedom really begin and end?
What must one be allowed to do to be considered free? " (more)
Canadians, in fact all North Americans, need to think for themselves and examine the shaky ground we stand upon. One only had to watch the G20 security summit disaster to recognize how close to a police state we appear to be. Is democracy real freedom when authoritarian rules are arbitrarily inflicted upon a civilized population? Let's totally ignore the rabble and trouble-making element for a moment. Does a demonstrating, civilized population need to be threatened and controlled by robotic, heavily-armed, riot-equipped police? At Incoming Bytes we think not.
Clearly troublemakers should be identified and held accountable for their actions and the damage they do, but is it necessary to threaten average teenagers, average adults, and average Canadians who choose to express their opinion? Freedom of speech comes to mind.
When we have studied, compared, and discerned our actual status within reality, stripping away the imaginary "freedoms" we are "allowed" by government and bureaucracy that has totally forgotten what the real mandate of government IS, what is really left?
Perhaps Canadians are not the worst off in the world comparatively, but could real freedom make our lives so much better?
Americans in the United States will celebrate their July4th holiday with equal gusto, but they are suffering reduction of freedoms under the guise of the 'war on terrorism'. They, too, have riot-equipped police forces. Go figure. They look just like ours. Imagine that.
How far does legislation and government go before "freedom" is no longer? Why is there so much awkward silence about real freedom, just as there is unnatural, official silence about the spate of disasters and the potentially mind-boggling, civilization-changing effects of them?
It seems that "Will and Kate" are more important today . That's fine. Really. Happy Canada Day --but we continue to encourage all North Americans to think for themselves --before it is to late to do so.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
