Thus far we have discussed many things related to freedom: What it actually is, how politics affect it, and what it looks like when that freedom is stolen. All important points to consider but there are a couple more worth examining as well. Today’s is the all-important question of what happens when someone does not steal a man’s freedom? What happens if he sells it?
Discussing the Amazon Prime series Rings of Power here at Upstream Reviews and elsewhere brought this to mind for me. Fans dislike the show a great deal for its blatant disrespect for the source material, leading a number of people to blame Amazon and Amazon alone for this abuse of perhaps the sole fantasy epic written in modern times. But as I said in that piece at Upstream, heaping all the blame on Amazon is an error, for the simple reason they only have the power they are given. If the Tolkien Estate had exercised their veto power – which Tom Shippey, one of if not the premier Tolkien scholar said they possessed – then Rings of Power would not be the disaster it has become.
Although it is a minor issue and it may not seem to relate to freedom in any significant way, this matter serves as a good real-life example of what it means to sell one’s freedom. Yes, in the grand scheme of things it is a small problem. However, great events all have a seed, a root no one can see unless those hunting for answers dig for the primary cause of the more memorable actions that mark history. Historical events of note do not simply happen. They have a cause, an origin which affects them and our perception of them.
As you may recall from previous posts, the power to choose is what marks a man’s sovereignty and gives him the ability to either exercise his free will or to let it die in the mire of addiction. Those who set out to steal freedom from others, however, offer their marks many things - including what they purport to be “freedom” but which is in fact a license to misbehave. This is how they gain control of their victims.
While freedom can be stolen via violence, in the latter case it is filched with pretty words and promises. Those who can will fight back against violent attempts to steal their freedom, matching viciousness with ferocity. In the case of the secondary type, people threatened with that loss of liberty can resist by the simple expedient of refusing to accept the thief’s premise.
After all, if something is not for sale, no price will make the owner part with what he holds dear.
Every individual on the planet who has ever lived possesses sole ownership of their freedom. Along with their immortal soul it is their most prize possession, for without that freedom man might not be self-aware enough to know he is a rational creature with an immortal soul in the first place. If a man sells his autonomy for something – security, license, power, pleasure, et cetera – no one forces him to do so. He was, after all, the one to put a price on his liberty in the first place.
The Tolkien Estate put a lease price on the television rights for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Amazon met that price. The two entities signed a contract, one which permitted the Estate to monitor and intervene if or when Amazon did something to the property which put the former in jeopardy. Rather than oversee their investment, the heirs of Professor Tolkien surrendered to Amazon carte blanche their inheritance to play with. Unsurprisingly, the results have been far from pleasant for the two signatories on the contract.
A rather tame example, is it not? Hardly worth complaining about what a family does or does not do with their legacy. Rich and wealthy people squander the bequests of their forebears on a regular basis. What is the point of becoming angry over that – unless you are a fan of the material in question?
Allow me to cite a more impressive example of selling one’s freedom from fiction, one which has a variety of real-life parallels outside the corporate and military worlds. This would be the SOLDIER program from Final Fantasy VII, a popular video game in the successful series of Final Fantasy video games from Square Enix.
The first edition of Final Fantasy VII was released in 1997 and the game is undergoing a renaissance with a “remake” at present. Said remake is less of a reboot and more a continuation of the original story. In the world of Final Fantasy VII, the Shinra Electric Power Company drains the planet’s lifeforce (not oil but something mystical) to produce energy. With the money providing this service generates, the corporation manages to take over at least the country where it was founded and resides. It also allows Shinra to wage war against the neighboring nation of Wutai.
Leave aside, for a moment, how utterly improbable it is for a corporation to maintain its business and run a country at a loss. For the sake of the story and this post, it suffices to say that Shinra needs a military arm to ensure its interests are protected – or covered up.
Using the energy that they mine to generate electricity as well as alien DNA, Shinra develops the SOLDIER program. SOLDIERs are young men who undergo a procedure that mixes their DNA with this energy – mako – and the alien DNA, granting them above human speed, strength, reflexes, and abilities. While magic is part of this fictional world, a SOLDIER’s magical power is far more impressive than the average user’s, manifesting itself in a variety of maneuvers known as Limit Breaks.
Sounds like a great gig, right? It does to most of the young boys who want to become SOLDIERs. Shinra never lacks for recruits to the program, though not everyone who applies manages to become a SOLDIER. Even among those who make it, only a few ever achieve the coveted rank of First Class SOLDIER.
In return for granting these starry-eyed boys such immense power, Shinra requires they give up much. This ranges from personal items, clothing, and equipment (only First Class SOLDIERS are permitted to own their attire and weapons), to their right to countermand or ignore orders (again, only First Class members have that privilege), to whether or not they can retire. Since the process of how a SOLDIER is enhanced remains top secret, Shinra cannot risk the details slipping out. If – IF – a SOLDIER is allowed to retire from active duty and return to civilian life, he is shadowed by Shinra operatives for the rest of his days.
Oh, and if they think he’s a security threat, they can and will kill him without a second thought.
Who would strike such a bargain? Impressionable young boys would. Most SOLDIER and Shinra army recruits are roughly fourteen when they join up with the organization, and youths of that age are too often thrilled to have the privileges of power without thinking through the ramifications of gaining it. The fact that Shinra’s premier SOLDIER, Sephiroth, is considered a hero by the public only helps them lure these youths into their clutches.
Thinking only of making a name for themselves or of becoming heroes, boys like the games’ protagonists – Cloud Strife and Zack Fair – sign up without asking questions. Once they are actually part of Shinra, they find they cannot ask any, either. There is no questioning the scientists they guard, the need for the animal experiments that result in yet more monsters for them to fight, or why so many of their fellow grunts and SOLDIERs desert to attack the company which previously employed them.
In fact, having given their lives and wills so completely to Shinra, it does not even occur to them to ask whether the desertions have a genuine reason behind them. When it is too late and they themselves end up in Shinra’s labs as unwilling test subjects for five long, horrible years, then Zack and Cloud become intimately familiar with the evil practices of the corporation that gave them their powers at the price of their freedom. For if you cannot retire nor even own the clothes on your own back, how can you be free?
“The price of freedom is steep,” Zack Fair says before he dies. Having had five years in which to learn to appreciate his liberty, he makes the ultimate sacrifice freely for his friend. But that is a story for another post.
It does not matter who comes to buy your freedom, readers. What matters is whether or not you will sell it at all. No one can buy anything if it is not for sale.
Bucky Barnes’ freedom was stolen, but he managed to maintain his grip on his soul despite that, preventing HYDRA from taking everything from him. Zack Fair and Cloud Strife sold their liberty to a corporation that saw them only as tools and, eventually, specimens on a lab table. Of the three characters under discussion, who ultimately protected his will to choose best?
Perhaps it is better to deal with being a slave and remembering – however vaguely – what it was to be free than it is to give one’s autonomy away to the first person who promises glory, fame, or fortune for a pittance. Sic transit gloria mundi, as the Romans said. Glory fades, fame is fleeting, and fortunes come and go. Your sovereign ability to choose – that is priceless.
Don’t sell it for anything. You may never get it back. Not without paying the ultimate penalty.
A conversation elsewhere got me thinking about Freedom, especially the Freedom To Say No.
The Sexual Revolution was said to "Free People" from Sexual Morals but what really happened was that it took away (from young women) the Freedom To Say No to a person wanting to have "Sex With Them".
The message became "if you don't want to have sex with anybody who asked, then there is Something Wrong With You".
IE The Sexual Revolution was created by 15 year old males.
Of course, the Sexual Predators just loved it.
There have always been Sexual Predators (male and female) but the Sexual Revolution said that the Prey couldn't object. :mad:
On the other hand -- I was once in a class in college with a man whose notion of freedom was to maximize his choices. As in, he had decided in advance to always choose the route that would ensure he had as many more such "choices."