Headline, April 22 2022/ ''' '' ON FREE-DOOM OK '' '''

 

''' '' ON FREE-DOOM OK '' '''

HAPPIEST EID GREETINGS TO THE ENTIRE WORLD. Welcome to the World Students Society - the exclusive, eternal ownership of every student in the world : '' Welcome to Freedom! ''

' On the margins of the margins ' : On !E-WOW!, exquisite beauty lies in the envisioned details of its grandest structures. And the very finest work and sacrifices of its Global Founder Framers. Welcome to !WOW!.

In his 1942 essay : '' The Myth of Sisyphus,'' the philosopher Albert Camus reinterpreted the legend of the Greek king condemned by the gods to push a boulder up a hill over and over, insisting that, in the face of life's absurdity :

''one must imagine Sisyphus happy.'' 

In '' Rough Sleepers,'' the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Tracy Kidder offers another twist on this ancient legend, urging us to imagine Sisyphus as a doctor who treats the world's homeless.

HAS FREEDOM COME TO MEAN the variety of choices one faces at the mall while looking for shoes and handbags to purchase - with no questions asked about the working conditions under which they are produced.

INDEED, most multinational corporations are perfectly fine with deploying child labour in the Third World to minimise costs. Is this freedom? Or does 'freedom' only belong to those with pre-existing access to finance capital, whereby all facets of the state apparatus are structured to serve their needs.

There are three central questions developing nations in particular face today with regard to freedom : a] what is its nature? b] Who is it for ? c ] What function does it serve? All three of these have received little critical attention from local intellectuals, almost as if their answers were self-evident - leading to major catastrophes.

MAINSTREAM ECONOMISTS DEFINE FREEDOM in a purely negative sense i.e. the absence of constraints to action - particularly in the commercial domain.

This may refer, for instance, to the 'freedom' to seek out employment, resign from one's job, set up a business venture, engage in cross-border trade, etc while facing minimal [ideally none] intervention by external parties, particularly the 'government'.

Regulations of any sort, therefore, in the form of tariffs, taxation, paperwork, customs duties, antitrust measures, quality standard checks, environmental protection, laws and so on are rejected on hand.

The reasoning here is that 'competition' ought to be ensured, which is seen to function as a kind of great equalizer of the playing field : elevating the most talented, productive and innovative players to the top and ensuring the 'customer' ultimately emerges as the biggest winner in the situation.

Of course, all this is merely on paper.

In the real world, corporations are run no differently to dictatorial regimes : in which orders are passed down various hierarchical levels with the simple expectation of swift execution, 'or else.'

This threat of dismissal isn't a trivial one, to be brushed aside with the retort 'if you don't like it, leave' - because more often than not, particularly in the developing world, unemployment is just a few steps away from starvation.

Choices are only real if the potential costs associated with the failings to pick any one form from a given set aren't catastrophic.

Suppose a robber were to place a pistol on your neck, asking you to empty out your pockets. Technically you can 'choose' not to do so - in which case you likely end up at the graveyard soon afterwards. But is that how we would like to conceive of freedom? 

PHILOSOPHER ISAIH BERLIN OUTLINES IN HIS BOOK - Two Concepts of Liberty, the other - equally important - side of this discussion, that of positive freedom.

This refers to the situation where conditions are set in a manner that allows, and indeed fosters, genuinely autonomous action by individuals.

Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen argued for something similar in his 'development as freedom' thesis : pinpointing five different kinds of freedom that had to be ensured at all times in order for societies to adopt the path of progress and economic prosperity.

These constituted political freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency guarantees and protective security. Sen was of the opinion that if any of these were compromised, it would signify a net loss in terms of societal advancement.

When neoclassical economists argue against social protection in favour of generating employment opportunities', what they are essentially doing is promoting economic precarity; whereby people are forced to stay in hyper exploitative, dead-end jobs simply due to the absence of a cushion to fall back on.

This naturally leads to a situation where the vast majority of workers are dragging their feet and simply doing the bare minimum; which is terrible for productivity. 

Hypothetically, if basic sustenance related concerns weren't a factor, people would experience a much higher degree of 'freedom' when choosing which jobs to opt for.

There would be a sense of organic, genuine enthusiasm about work. Furthermore, if they were actually paid what they contributed [ technically impossible under capitalism ], they would also be a lot more willing to embrace mundane, tedious, and difficult jobs such as janitorial duties, construction work, industrial operations, etc.

Economic reforms in Chile under military dictator Augusto Pinochet, brought into power by via a coup backed by domestic business elites, were led by the 'Chicago Boys' - a group of economists carefully trained under a state-funded programme in the United States with the specific objective to counteract Left-wing ideas and influences in Latin America.

This brand of 'freedom' functions as a clever sleight of hand to manufacture consent for opportunistic objective : after all, who would dare argue against such a noble notion?

Comedian George Carlin once famously remarked : '' Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight ?

The Honour and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on On Freedom, the World, and the Future, continues. The World Students Society thanks author Abbas Moosvi, a Research Fellow.

With most respectful dedication to Mankind, Leaders, Grandparents, Parents, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all prepare for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless