In Katherine Mangu-Ward’s essay, The War on Negative Liberty, she
reflects on the idea of positive and negative liberty. She expresses positive
liberty as the freedom to fulfill your potential, such as the freedom to be
healthy in our environment. Usually this comes from the government creating
laws such as smoking bans and drinking ages. She then expresses negative liberty
as a freedom to express yourself, such as freedom from a dress code (Mangu-Ward
661).
I had never thought of different types of freedom
before. I just thought about what freedoms we weren't receiving. The
differences in freedom was a big eye opener for me. It let me see that there
are different types of freedom and they’re used to protect you or express
yourself.
The government creates laws to protect you. These
laws would include smoking in public places curfew laws, speed limits, or wearing
a seat belt. These allow the people the freedom to be happy, safe, and healthy.
You are also sometimes given the freedom to express
yourself, either in the clothes that you wear, the color you dye your hair, the
kind of music you listen to, your religion, or your beliefs. These are freedoms
from restriction.
Freedom is a very controversial concept in today’s
world, I believe, as some people don’t think we have freedom in the United
States. It’s definitely something to think about.
Lizzie,
ReplyDeleteI feel like we have to same standpoints on this controversial topic. Your post doesn't really explain how YOU feel about this topic. I feel like if you were to elaborate a little bit more about how you felt about it, I would be able to connect more with you in your post. I feel like the excerpt that you used is interesting because now that I think about it, I never really have thought about the different freedoms that we have as Americans. I also never thought about the different freedoms that we don't have because of our "rights". I cannot believe how unfair our government is to people who are not "normal". I hate how they limit marriages to straight couples, (which is being changed), and I also hate how bad the healthcare for people with special needs or different illnesses that are hard to treat is. I think that the healthcare for people with these circumstances should honestly be better that the average persons healthcare. I also cannot believe that some of those people cannot get insurance. PITIFUL!
Thanks for letting me rant!
Thanks for Sharing!
Dawn, looking at your comment, I realize that I didn't voice my opinion on the issue of freedoms, so here it is!
ReplyDeleteI think that limiting some things in our life, taking away some freedoms, is okay sometimes. When looking at smoking, if everyone was allowed to smoke in public places that could potentially effect the lives of others through secondhand smoke. But other regulations, such as a curfew and a drinking age of 21, which I believe has a lesser impact on someone's life.
Looking at our freedoms of expressing ourselves being taken away, such as a dress code or having to have a certain color hair, isn't right in my eyes. We, as free citizens, should be able to express ourselves as long as it's not putting others in danger.
Overall, I don't think that the U.S. has as many freedoms as the government would like us to believe. But we have some, which is more than others have.