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The West's Useful Illusion of Freedom
Dec. 19th, 2006 07:12 am♠
Those of us who cherish liberty hold as part of the rhetoric that it is “written in our heart,” an essential part of our humanity. It is among the first civic lessons that we teach our children. But such legitimizing rhetoric should not blind us to the fact that freedom is neither instinctive nor universally desired, and that most of the world’s peoples have found so little need to express it that their indigenous languages did not even have a word for it before Western contact. It is, instead, a distinctive product of Western civilization, crafted through the centuries from its contingent social and political struggles and secular reflections, as well as its religious doctrines and conflicts.
-- Orlando Patterson for The New York Times
Mr. Patterson is adding his laments to the Iraq War. I am more struck by the proposition about most peoples not having a word for freedom before their contact with Western nations. I wonder if it was from this proposition that President Reagan erred when he said the Russians do not have a word in their language for freedom. It was only a stretch?
Though, the droll thought comes to mind that the peoples of the world might not have had a word for 'freedom' because it is a rather fanciful notion. Why should one have a word for something that does not strictly exist? Freedom is a powerful idea though. A Western dream perhaps.
xXx
Those of us who cherish liberty hold as part of the rhetoric that it is “written in our heart,” an essential part of our humanity. It is among the first civic lessons that we teach our children. But such legitimizing rhetoric should not blind us to the fact that freedom is neither instinctive nor universally desired, and that most of the world’s peoples have found so little need to express it that their indigenous languages did not even have a word for it before Western contact. It is, instead, a distinctive product of Western civilization, crafted through the centuries from its contingent social and political struggles and secular reflections, as well as its religious doctrines and conflicts.
-- Orlando Patterson for The New York Times
Mr. Patterson is adding his laments to the Iraq War. I am more struck by the proposition about most peoples not having a word for freedom before their contact with Western nations. I wonder if it was from this proposition that President Reagan erred when he said the Russians do not have a word in their language for freedom. It was only a stretch?
Though, the droll thought comes to mind that the peoples of the world might not have had a word for 'freedom' because it is a rather fanciful notion. Why should one have a word for something that does not strictly exist? Freedom is a powerful idea though. A Western dream perhaps.
