I recently watched a series of films called The Trap which was hosted on the BBC. I have no knowledge of them being shown in the US. However, I found them very interesting and learned a lot.

You can find them here on google video:

The Trap part 1

The Trap part 2

There is a third part, but I'm sure you can watch it through the associative links of the first two. As a forewarning, these films are quite long. Therefore, make sure you got the time.

Anyway, the films try to show how liberty and freedom have slowly been eroded away through our own systems and actions to maintain security and stability. Even if you don't watch the films, do you feel that freedom is slowly being eaten away by systems within our liberal democratic governments? And if so, do you think it is possible to have a stable society where liberty and freedom is maintained on an individual and broad social basis? Freedom is often the basis for most revolutionary socities which have good intention. But in many of these cases, the road to hell was paved with good intentions. However, does this mean we should stop striving for an ideal society? Lastly, how should we guard against governments from taking away our freedoms? Or do they really know what is best for us and we should just be good little sheep and leave the grand issues to the elites? Please answer any or all of the above.

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Yes. Between the Cold War and Bush II, not so much. During the Cold War, a little bit. Well, actually, a lot, but yeah.

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"Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states...Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds."



~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our rights are being infringed upon more and more as each year passes. Things like the Patriot Act, "Assault Weapon" bans, Installing cameras on every street corner. Yes I do agree that our rights are being eroded. What can we do to fix it? Well first off we need to stop living in fear and trusting in the government to "Fix" everything. We need to demand more out of our elected officials. Open our minds to new ideas. The changes that are needed are not that difficult but way to many people live there life in fear and they are willing "to do what it takes" to be safe.

I agree. We need to take responsibility for ourselves more and rely less on big brother. One of the things that it addresses in the film is that the elites have no faith in the common people to govern themselves more. In some ways I can see that. But if we continue with that attitude we could end up living in some decadent welfare state where no one takes responsibility for anything. Also their latest experiment in trying to make the masses more free entails using the global market to enforce negative liberty which seems to have failed utterly. Also, we need stop allowing them to make us so afraid. Sure, bad crap happens but the foundations of freedom shouldn't be eroded because of it.

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