"Gord Sellar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> >So I get worried when people think we are tyrannized, since it shows
> >that they are unable to distinguish between freedom and slavery. And
> >we know where that leads...
<snip/>
> My point is that some questions, such as "are we
> free or slaves?" are not simply answerable as yes or no. To some degree we
> are free, to some degree we are unfree.
For example, if an alien fleet dropped by tomorrow and said, "You worthless,
dirty Hu-mans, we have judged you and condemn you to remain locked in your
own pitiful solar system for the next hundred years!" would that change us
in any way?
Or when Kirk and co. drop by a planet of happy servitude (e.g. "The Apple"
[TOS]) and inform everyone that they're really unwilling slaves.
This sets off alarms in my head that when we talk about slavery and tyrrany
we're discussing the idealized human-like fictions our cultural history has
created and which we project on each other and pretend to act like, rather
than anything resembling real people; my old argument that we
anthropomorphize humans. But I say that a lot. :)
Joshua
