Today’s writing suggestion. And, a very good one.

Many people misunderstand what freedom is. They confuse it with other things like ‘entitlement’, or ‘money’. Or it can mean they have no responsibility towards the whole. “I’m not vaccinating my kids!” “I’m not paying taxes!” They believe their individual situation or mindset is what freedom is.

They insist on not vaccinating but still demand their kids don’t contract the virus. They decide they won’t pay taxes anymore but still drive on the roads, use the hospitals, wait on the fire brigade and police. Etc. Etc.

I watched an amazing documentary on the massacre at My Lai in Vietnam. It was grimly fascinating seeing the anger of the American soldiers build up as the local people determinably kept resisting them and, gasp! fought back. There were tearful recollections from old soldiers about the friends they lost. And I am sure, for many, it was a visceral learning curve. When you add to the mix gung-ho officers who are flabbergasted that these gooks are shooting back “…and they will damn well put a stop to that!” and you have the poisonous mix all ready for some terrible things.

Even in wartime there are degrees of evil. The US soldiers dying at an age where they have barely experienced life, that’s an evil. Bone-Spur bureaucrats sending those same kids to a war they had no understanding of, that’s (IMHO) a bigger evil, and one that persists. Torture, whichever side does so, Evil all day long. The list, sadly, is endless.

What happened at My Lai was so far beyond evil as to be almost incomprehensible. If you don’t know the details, a detailed write up is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_massacre Be warned, it is not for the faint-hearted.

You could say that the soldiers of C Coy. were ‘free’ as the dominant force, to do these things. 2 main officer protagonists, Calley and Medina, said “we were only following orders”. Only a few people came out of that event with any kind of merit, one of these was http://Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jr.

So, freedom for those soldiers could be looked at from different angles. I much prefer Thompson Jr’s.

I love the USA. Always have. But over the last 20 years, my realising of its flaws, in particular regard to freedom and the hollow claim it makes to be the guardian of the same, has grown. After 9/11 the sense of togetherness was incredible. I was posting on https://arstechnica.com/ and the vibes in those threads was quite surprising. The internet was no longer this cold, separate entity. Real people were engaging.

Starting with Bush Jr the goodwill rapidly changed after. Guantanamo happened, Al Ghraib happened, the list grew and grew. All in the name of ‘freedom’ (whose freedom never completely clear).

So, apart from brief moments of improvement under the flawed but well-meaning Obama and Biden, we come full circle to the current incumbent of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It seems for this person, freedom means doing whatever the fuck he wants. Between him and his acolytes (elected or otherwise) he is absolutely trouncing the American Constitution. Letting himself have the ‘present’ of the Qatari jet is just piss-taking beyond limits.

So Freedom is a tricky one. Feel free to make of that what you will.