(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

[desperance.livejournal.com]

I knew you would be. I think my reasonable equivalent to driving without a seatbelt is being driven without a seatbelt, which I have done time without number; as it happens, though, the only time I have ever, ever driven a car, I wasn't wearing a seatbelt either.

The bungee jump: no. You have correctly identified my missing item. I can't even do that toppling-backwards-into-the-arms-of-people-you-trust thing, however much I trust 'em; leaping off high places is simply not an option. Happily, it's not an attraction either.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

The one time I did the trust fall thing--

--they dropped me.

Story of my life.

I regularly buy raw milk, though. It tastes better.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

The one time I did the trust fall thing--

--they dropped me.

Story of my life.

One of the stories of the human race, I think: those people you trust are not necessarily trustworthy. It's what gets me out of bed every morning.

I regularly buy raw milk, though. It tastes better.

Durn tootin'. Also unpasteurised cheeses. (And rare hamburger - raw hamburger, indeed, or at least steak tartare - and seriously runny eggs. Oh, and fatty meat, of course, all the flavour's in the fat. And, and, and...)