Meaning of Freedom

Reproduction which is very OLD but relevant to this Day
Meaning of Freedom
The dangling of the carrot is the proverbial statement for an offering that is apparently “feasible but not tenable”, that is presented to hoodwink the unsuspecting masses.
Now the operative word is the FUD, a shorthand for Fear, Uncertainty and the Doubt.
FUD the triple of Fear, Uncertainty and the Doubt that is created in the minds of masses by corporate giants and is utilized to sideline the competitors.
Good example is the operation of Microsoft against the competitive Linux distributions. When Linux was emerging as an operating system the FUD was amply utilized to distance the would be computer enthusiast and lure him / her to Microsoft Windows.
But being intellectuals most of the Linux enthusiast overcame this by sheer courage and community spirits. Linux was very flexible and now quite unintentionally FUD is working against its originator. Community spirit prevailed in the Linux community and the Free Software Foundation laid the foundation in overcoming FUD syndrome. The spirit of Free Software Foundation / Linux is the gift of original software to the Internet Community.
As long as the authorship (not ownership) is quoted any modification could be done to the original copy to improve it and remove bugs. However the improved version has to be re-released back to the pool for further development by the community.
It is called the copy left and not copy right.
So the natural evolution of the software takes leaps and bounds within a short space of time for the betterment of the masses.
Much of this principle is very much close to the Buddhist principle of “Dhamma Dhana” but with a difference. What is given away is recycled with added improvement in quality and it is given away for another cycle like the “Sansara” cycle never ending.
One need not improve “The Dhamma” but only have to understand its underlying principles and spread the message of goodwill.
It is interesting to note that a Buddhist monk who had appeared in a court to protect his Pirith cassette, he had been marketing.
Is the “Sabbha Dhanam Dhamma Dhanam Jinathi” spirit of Buddhism being betrayed?
This monk should read the evolution of Linux Community and the General Public License that came with the Free Software Foundation. This Buddhist monk does not understand that the Gift of Dhamma is the supreme gift and it should not be commercialized. A blank CD / cassette is only Rs.25 / 50 and anybody who is selling a Pirith CD / cassette for more than Rs.50 is vandalizing these principles.
If Buddha is alive today I wonder what he would utter.
Would be an another occasion for “Udana Whakya” similar to “Sabbha Dhanam Linux Dhanam Jinathi” and would have a little smile at the corner of his mouth. There would be few more verses added illustrating the illusion of freedom and liberty of the mind filled with lust, hate and delusion.
Are we truly free and liberated?
It is something worth pondering.
All Sri-Lankans whatever the creed may be, believe that they are prisoners of their own conscience.
Sinhalese believe that they have to be free from interference by Tamils.
Tamils believe they are persecuted by the majority.
Are the Tamils free from persecution by their masters?.
The Muslims, believe they have to be free from indulgence from both Tamils and Sinhalese.
Million dollar question is, could the piece mongers (foreign ambassadors of dubious credentials) allay the FUD syndrome?
They in fact created it.
We are in this vicious cycle of suspicion, the LTTE and party in power and party aspiring to come into power are spreading the FUD syndrome viciously to its maximum zenith (peak).
What is needed is to have FUD syndrome at its nadir (depths).
The international community spreads the FUD syndrome to help the propagation of their corporate agenda with dangling the proverbial carrot.
What is happening in the political field in Sri-Lanka is the insensible manifestation of FUD syndrome.
At a philosophical level what Socrates said to an aggressive follower who would stretch his arm for a punch is relevant even today.
“Your freedom ends where my nose begins”.
The international community should realize that they are very close to every one's nose.
It is nice to recapture what Nazurudeen stated about his failure to marry.
It is said that he had been to all the countries looking for a girl he liked.
Ultimately he found one but the girl who matched his interests was also looking for man whom she wanted but alas for him / her that man was not Nazurudeen.
We have being looking for a suitable match maker for   Sri-Lankan bride. Now we are left with a whole harem of foreign ambassadorial girls (donating their vices).
At what price we do not know?
This is where one has to ponder and ask the vital question what is the price for freedom and what is the meaning of liberty?
Poor man on the street does not understand the jargon he will never be freed from his poverty.
As long as there is corporate mind set in making profits without sharing the wealth of information with its competitors to improve the quality and availability at an affordable price the gap between the rich and poor would widen.
Free market philosophy is not for liberating the masses.
They are there to increase the profits.
The belief that profits would filter to the masses is a grand myth.
There is no community involvement as seen in the Linux community. Linux community feels that they are liberated from the corporate giants. Until and unless we are free from both local and foreign corporate giants who are hell bent on making profits and exercise their monopoly, the freedom of choice is an illusion to the majority.
Only the minority will have the freedom to enjoy and exploit.
This corporate mind set should change to community mind set and community involvement.
There is a limit that the free market philosophy can stretch but beyond that point there are diminishing returns.
Like in the Linux community somewhat similar orientation has to take place in the business community in        Sri-Lanka and worldwide for the true meaning of freedom to be enjoyed by all.
Not a privileged and selected minority.
Freedom that costs is meaningless.
Selfish gains but no devotion as is preached by all the religions is not relevant to the corporate mind set.
Microsoft agents doing a few community projects (to lure a few deprived clients in the periphery) without shedding their corporate mentality is of little benefit to the masses.
A wholesome benefits want accrue.
If we do not think in radical terms and initiate changes now, there going to be massive uprising, hitherto unknown in the past. Some of the manifestations in the world today are a sign of this frustration building.
Not only with the poor but in the middle class too.
The middle class gave stability but it is fast disappearing.
With the wide use of the Internet, we would hear of more and more of evolving crisis.
People would like to see the credibility in their leaders which is sadly lacking in the world because of corporate giants pulling their strings behind their leaders.
They determine policy not the larger masses.
The masses would ask what is the meaning of this freedom?
That is the starting point of the crisis of this century.
Leaders have to be groomed with social values and ideals and not individual profiles and party profiles. Leaders should not be trained only to run the corporate giants. Leaders should be trained to lead the community they live.
Emulating western values only, going to be, not enough and begging bowl mentality should give way to equal partners in international dealing whether the country is big or small.
Some of the eastern values of sharing and caring should take precedence over profits. Then only one can call the citizens of sovereign nations are free and liberated.
United Nations will fail in their duty, if they have only Human Right Charter for cosmetic exercises. In that case the amount money that is spent on UNO could be better utilized for some other ventures.
They should rewrite these Charters.
Profit beyond certain acceptable levels should be prohibited or a certain level of compulsion to do community research both eco-friendly and community-friendly should be encouraged.
What is the big idea of having a few rich people and million and millions of poor souls?
How can a man like Tyson a champion one day and then a pauper the next day (in his twilight years)?
It is not acceptable in USA and for that matter any other country in this world.
Where is the social security?
England had a very well organized social security system and in another 50 years time it is going to be all private pensions?
These questions that are raised in the West and are equally relevant to us. The people who raise these voices have no industrial or corporate muscle.
Party politics seem to have ruined the entire world.
Most of the party leaders worldwide are gullible liars and some of them are of course pathological in nature.
Can we trust these leaders?
This is what is emerging in the West.
The covert political mechanisms are firmly embedded and established, in the  current system, only the corrupt and rich can rise to the top.
So, talking about freedom whether it is in the West or East is futile to the average man on the street. They just get the kick out of kicking a party out of power to get another miserable party into power and languish till the next opportunity to make the same mistake again.
In reality, it is a Gamble or a Casino?
One day cricket was much more interesting until this Casino bug bit it in full.
At the end of the day, all the so called democratic exercises are futile and the freedom of choice, a bad dream and a nightmare, just as well, to be forgotten by the majority at stake.
The liberation that the average man is looking for in economic and social fields is not achieved. Goals are set but never achieved due to lack of penetrating insight and vision.
What is done is patchy and ad hoc. We are blindly going through the cycle of events till events take control of our freedom.
Are we truly liberated?
The answer is firm, No.

Freedom
Four freedoms elegantly expressed by former US President F.D.Roosevelt have given way to FUD factor. The freedom of speech and expression (state controlled media and private media with vested interests), freedom of worship (desecrating religions), freedom from want (poverty) and last but not least freedom from fear (terrorism) has no meaning today worldwide.
The last factor the fear (from both physical and psychological) is utilized to gain undesirable motives.
The psychological fear is the deadliest of all and our doctors are using this to the detriment of the profession (both public and private).