Freedom vs. Security (Which is more important)?

[Hallow'sEve]

The Movie Eagle Eye sums it up quite nicely...

...How?

 

[corporate_gamer]

Freedom. Security is an illusion in any dictatorship or such like state. As you lose you freedoms, you lose your security from the state. Which has been proven time and time again to be much more dangerous to its people than any outside force.

Consider Iran or North Korea both with limited freedoms and extremely strong police forces and powerful security agency. And i would guess the majority of the population in these countries view themselves far less secure than American or British citizens.

Fair point. Even if a rather extreme example is used to back up that point.

Security still has to exist to a certain extent. Do you think someone should be able to just walk into a bank, take all the money and walk straight out again? I hope not.

With complete freedom there would be no prisons either. Mind you, what I mean by freedom here is from the government. With criminals loose on the streets and no people locking them away, do you think the citizens would feel like their freedom was being infringed. Probably.

Oh no I wasn't voting for any sort of anarchist (or communist) state. I was just saying that the freedoms enjoyed by people in at least my country were hard fought for. And the idea that these freedoms should be sacrificed for added security (due to an overblown paranoia of terrorism) is a fallacy. For example; when fighting the IRA, who did actually manage to bomb both the conservative party conference and no. 10 downing street (the prime ministers house), the British security services did not need to lock people up without charge for 90 day.

Just because I believe in freedom doesn't mean I don't believe in right in wrong, Yes; crimes should be punished and criminals removed from society (and hopefully rehabilitated). No; people should not be able to take things which do not belong to them in the laws and traditions of our society's.

However, when faced with a choice between freedom and security i will always err on the side of freedom. As a free society will always be able to change its mind if needs be. But when you go down the security slope maybe you would lose the freedom to change direction.

 

[Labyrinth]

In all honest I find the authority of a government to be an illusion entirely. Just as the authority of a 'leader' is. Anarchic by nature, it's true. Once you accept that the only authority some such thing has is one you give them, you can find any number of ways to break the system. "Security" is an illusive blanket just the same. It's like having a parental government saying "It's okay, little Joanne. Run along now, don't do anything I wouldn't want you to. I'll take care of everything else."

I completely agree. The only thing airport security provides is merely the illusion of safety. This dawned on me when I was at an iron age re-enactment park and this guy made a razor sharp bone spear tip. If you REALLY want to bring a weapon like that into a plane, no amount of security checks can stop you.

Actually, most recently a Dutch reporter shot footage of him sneaking past military airport security using only a fake ID to go out and touch our queen's private jet. Needless to say, a hilarious riot ensued and the official airport security director got a LOT of flak for it.

Many lolz were had, but it does prove what you're saying: anyone courageous or insane enough to just try and subvert government institutions will probably succeed.

A similarly hilarious even occured at the 2007 APEC conference when a comedy team, The Chaser's War On Everything [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdnAaQ0n5-8] slipped past all the ridiculous security measures with a fake motorcade.

 

[WolfThomas]

"Yet I would gladly eat a flag myself, had I not used my intestine as a rope to hoist a flag made of my own skin. If it would protect the freedom of the proud people who salute that flag! Freedom such as polygamy."

Edit: Someone needs to eat a flag in protest of the patriotic act.

That reference you made was to a "Futurama" episode.

Duh...

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Security is unattainable. Governments can't even protect you from your fellow citizens, the police force clearly isn't a deterrent, and they very rarely stop a crime while it's happening...they're basically a cleanup agency who occasionally get lucky. I live in England where the government is systematically moving to cripple any kind of liberty we have. In some places we already have security cameras that talk to you and tell you off. They're also moving to build a "black box" that will store information on all phone calls, emails, web searches etc. When I get some financial stability my ass is leaving.

 

[hebdomad]

Dude, its what the 'western' world prides it's self on. Freedom and democracy. Lose that, and we've lost everything we have ever stood for.

 

[EXPLICITasian]

Dude, its what the 'western' world prides it's self on. Freedom and democracy. Lose that, and we've lost everything we have ever stood for.

untrue, i think i can speak for all my fellow americans when i say we also stand for mud wrestling and pie (the desert too )

oh and just to point out democracy doesn't neccessarily have anything to do with freedom, you can have just as much freedom under a monarchy, it all depends on who's in charge