(no subject)

[desperance]

grrm has a post about freedom (with specific reference to the US, but general principles apply all over) and you can read it here. I think you should.

Thing is, though, in the middle there he has a paragraph that reads:

"I want the right to do stupid, hazardous, self-destructive stuff as well; to drink absinthe, smoke pot, smoke tobacco, drive my car without the seatbelt, bungee jump off bridges, watch porn, order my eggs sunny-side up and my hamburgers rare, have unprotected sex, drink unpasteurized milk. I have only done a few of those things, actually (I will leave it to you to figure out which ones), and most I would never consider -- but I SHOULD have the right to do all of them."

And while I entirely applaud the sentiment, I have troubles with the list, because it all seems so innocuous. Most of those he would never consider? George, there's only one item on that list I haven't done, and I'm far from the most adventurous or outlandish of men. I'm not bragging about my raffishness here, far from it - just wondering if there's a different mindset across the sea there, if Americans are perhaps inherently more cautious, even without the impositions of their government?

Comments

[spaceoperadiva.livejournal.com]

I think grrm is pointing out innocuous stuff that lots of us used to do that seem outrageous to young people in the U.S. today. My 11 year old flatly doesn't believe that his Dad used to hitchhike or that his Mom used to camp alone, and things that I did regularly as a kid are now considered "Extreme Sports".

I think we've become more cautious, but how can I not hammer on my kids about unprotected sex when I lost half a dozen friends to AIDs? Yeah, my dad used to feed me raw hamburger sandwiches but it wasn't full of e.coli and raw eggs weren't full of salmonella that can kill little kids. Even though I am not at all in favor of the insane airline screenings or the "show your papers!" trend, it does feel like the world is more dangerous these days in some respects.

Wonderful post, thanks for linking to it. If I ever get my lj reading time back to normal, I'm for sure adding him.