Out of naivety I used to believe that democracy is what we were taught in school ‘’ middle eastern schools excluded ‘’, read about in the newspaper, a book, or heard about it from someone you know. And most of what I heard or read highlighted Freedom as the base of democracy and that was even a bigger puzzle.
As the time passes I grew curious of the true definition of democracy and freedom I knocked on every door possible in my quest to define ‘’ freedom’’ I prepared myself for battle as if this quest was a matter of life and death I armored myself with a cup of coffee and a BB king record and turned on my computer and went straight to Google and in my search I came across some interesting definitions such as :-
1- Freedom, independence, liberty refer to an absence of undue restrictions and an opportunity to exercise one’s rights and powers. Freedom emphasizes the opportunity given for the exercise of one’s rights, powers, desires, or the like (1)
2- the Four Freedoms speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed four fundamental freedoms that people “everywhere in the world” ought to enjoy (freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear) (2)
3- Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of France dated August 26, 1789 had 17 points to cover the topic. (3)
4- One definition says ( the freedom of an individual starts where the freedom of the other individual ends)
The more I read the more confused I got because when these lovely nice well written words are applied and tested in reality you simply find that freedom is governed by laws which are usually manipulated by the person or the group in power and wither it’s been manipulated for a personal gain or to satisfy the majority these manipulations reveals that there are huge holes either in the definition or suggests that the term ‘’ freedom ‘’ is an old wive’s tale, an urban legend or a myth.
Mankind can’t be satisfied this is a fact that drives nations to change laws they held on to for generations sometime for the good sometime for the worse and sometimes for the greater good, let us take an example ‘’ entertainment ‘’ let us begin with the Roman empire gladiators the sport started as man Vs man controlled not so violent then progressed to extreme endings with severing or killing furthermore it progressed to Man Vs beast etc then it was banned cause it was inhumane and barbaric now mankind is heading down that same old lane slower but getting there with boxing and wrestling progressing to extreme cage fights which will eventually progress to the same end under the influence of sick minded people and I am sure it will be legalized, now the question is if the majority wanted such entertainment does that democratize such act?
That question haunted me for a 2 cups worth of coffee and invoked other questions such as:
1- Can freedom be enforced on nations by waging wars?
2- Is one nation’s freedom more valuable than the another?
3- Can freedom and democracy be globalized?
4- Human rights why the most democratic nations violates them often?
Sadly it will take books and books to answer such questions and as a result of the above, the events and conflicts that took place in the past 30 years I believe that democracy is a form of dictatorship practiced by the majority over the minority as for freedom it is a myth yet my quest to find it or define it continues.