How Does Freedom Exist - Essay Example

Why, if at all, is freedom a good thing Of all forms of government and society, those of free men and women are in many respects the most brittle. They give the fullest freedom for activities of private persons and groups who often identify their own interests, essentially selfish with the general welfare. Dorothy Thompson The oft used word freedom ,despite its repeated use,abuse and misuse has many definitional and philosophical repercussions.Freedom exists as a constitutional guarantee in the West.People now have freedom to speak and be heard . The western society speaks of the Rule of law and Human rights and freedom of the individual.The year is 2008.It is only recently that the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Communications Data) Order 2003 as well as the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 has been passed. The Anti-Terrorism Act 2001 has already made privacy and freedom to conduct political manifestations of the Freedom of Speech a thing of yesterday.We have accusations of hate speech and incitement everywhere.. All this has left us wondering whether Freedom can exist with law or Voltaire said we are in the shackles of law,regulations and even democracy everywhere we go.Are we actually free or have we been led to believe that we are free in the trap of the legal norms of this society The so called modern British Citizen is not free from the nuances of being controlled by the Government.Many recent developments would indicate that the modern British citizen despite being domiciled in a free country is still subject to draconian laws like the Regulation of Investigatory powers Act 2000 which allows public authorities to access communications data, of British citizens for investigation. Furthermore these public authorities can also obtain communications data from operators of telecommunications or postal services. Therefore now the police, the National Criminal Intelligence Service, the National Crime Squad, the Commissioners of Customs and Excise, the Commissioners of Inland Revenue and any of the intelligence services all have access to an individual's private information which is indeed a scary prospect.It is also true that the word freedom has become a concept much played by political bias and historical arm twisting.Consider the situation post 9/11 where Mrs Mary Robinson,1 once stated "Unfortunately, what I saw and heard was undemocratic regimes using the tragedy in the United States of 9/11 to pursue their own repressive policies, secure in the belief that their excesses would be ignored. New laws and detention practices were introduced in a significant number of countries, all broadly justified by the new international war on terrorism. The extension of security policies in many countries has been used to suppress political dissent and to stifle expression of opinion of many who have no link to terrorism and are not associated with political violence." Of course then all the atrocities in the Iraq and Afghan war were carried out in the name of Freedom.The media responded by taking "freedom of speech" for granted by showing its own versions to the audience and shamelessly selling its credibility as many "fair and balanced" members of the media chose to become "embedded" journalists. Today there is no concept of paid political advertising on television and radio. This is a flagrant breach of the freedom of speech and expression. Moreover this ban on political advertising does not just apply to political parties, but anyone with political views. All is not lost however. The saving grace comes from the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Human Rights Act 1998 which have aided the judiciary in upholding the notions of Freedom of speech and privacy. Taking the example of the Data Protection Act 1998.This act compels data controllers to erase information like patients details or telecoms customers call records etc. Data controllers can be anyone from a doctor to a telecom company. Moreover the Human rights Act 1998 has played a large role in strengthening the judiciary's stance against unwarranted access by the public authorities and as well as helping them declare any UK law incompatible with the Human Rights Act 1998.However all this would make some people remark whether we really need freedom at the cost of homeland security Or are Homeland security threats a result of our own governments political arm-twisting abroad which is affecting our freedom to walk safe in our own country As we take this line the image of female emancipation rings in our mind.Our women are free today thanks to the excellent struggle of the various feminist movements.In the yesteryears there was a clear cut absence of women's role in the media prior to these successive feminist movements and there was hardly any mention of domestic and sexual violence ,concepts which women now increasingly began to find themselves studying in legal and sociology courses.The recent Hollywood movie" Mona Lisa Smile" shows strong undertones of feminist depictions with in the British Academia in the 1950s in which a feminist "infiltrates" Wellesley college and is not very popular in the beginning for her freedom based ideas. The movie portrays the dislike of the British society of woman choosing her own husband and her own life. The influence of feminist ideals is very strong even today as the revolution of gender power relations has led to a media war. The world of advertising, fashion, news media, and the entertainment industry in Britain portrays women as equal to men. However even the free woman has been unable to escape the extreme side of commercialism and exploitation of women .It is indeed disturbing to see women go berserk over a man wearing "Axe" body spray or using a certain brand of razor. It is surprising how even in British advertising a bottle of Pepsi makes a wholly unattractive man very desirable. The biases against women continue with the likes of James Bond and his parody Austin Powers where no matter how beautiful or intelligent the sidekick woman or the vamp is, she has to give in to the seduction of good old James Bond.These are all disturbing images even in modern Britain. The media has been successful in creating a world where it is easy for women who are single to be divorced or have babies out of wedlock, go to Pubs and be the proverbial "corporate vampires". The truth is if freedom means that we have to kill innocent people abroad to save them from "dictatorship" and manipulate the media to show the freedom of our women by promoting Girl power to attract women as consumers of of fashion, media, and entertainment this freedom is dangerous. To tell you the truth our modern ideals have seen the demise of the essence of what the struggles of feminism and anti-slavery /racism sought to achieve for us.The modern black man is not free and will still be more likely to be searched by the police.The government will selfishly tap our phones and take away our privacy like the "Big Brother" and we will still be told that we are free. The Freedom of Speech becomes a rhetoric thus.What freedom can we possibly speak of when we are all a victim of it.The media contributes to the low representation of Women of other races in the political structure of Britain and most European countries. The media delights in making fun of lesbian movements and "Judge Judy"charactors. Sadly women are still not welcome in the rooms where war is decided and planned. We will continue to be duped by the society that we are free.The truth is that we have tied up ourselves in shackles of our own egos and selfishness.The problem with our western society is that we sugarcoat every selfish human step with our democratic values and talk of freedom of speech. The modern media dominates our lives in this age of Freedom where it seems that the media has assumed the role of an image maker and image breaker.It is interesting to see how even the modern politician fears the information overflow.It was indeed interesting to see John McCain's nervousness over the recent exposure by the press over an alleged affair with the lobbyist. On a more balanced note entertainment has its value but in my view intellectuals, academics, artists, peace workers have their role to play in changing the media in the Western world.The modern journalists should come to realise their policy of enlightening the people rather than playing with them.Therefore I would conclude that freedom is a blessing but only if it is not constrained so cleverly by the invisible hands of the society. References 1. Lord Steyn (2007) Democracy, the rule of law and the role of judges, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 2. 2. Joanna Miles,(2000), Standing under the Human Rights Act 1998: Theories of Rights Enforcement & the Nature of Public Law Adjudication, The Cambridge Law Journal (2000),133-167 Cambridge University Press 3. Setting the record straight: human rights in an era of international terrorism, E.H.R.L.R. 2007, 2, 123-132 4. The Human Rights Act six years on: where are we now, E.H.R.L.R. 2007, 1, 11-26 5. Commercial confidences after the Human Rights Act, E.I.P.R. 2007, 29(10), 411-419 6. Slapper, Gary and Kelly, D (2004) 'The English Legal System, 7th edition', London, Cavendish. 7. CatherineHoskyns,European Law Review,1996,Publication Review,Integrating gender, women, law and politics in the European Union 8. Penner et. Al ,(2002) Jurisprudence and Legal Theory ,Butterworths Lexis Nexis 9. Judith Lorber (2005)From Suffrage To Girl Power: Feminist Frontiers Of Thought And Action Gender Inequality: Feminist Theories And Politics (3rd Ed.).. Los Angeles: Roxbury Publishing, Read More