Negativland – Freedom is Waiting. This conveys an interesting message. Are we letting corporations define our most important words?

Speaking of important words, you think you know the meaning of until you try to define them, what the hell is freedom? We all throw the word around like its meaning is obvious, but is it really?

There are so many definitions. Free as in you don’t have to pay for it. Free as in nobody can tell you know. Free as in not in prison. Free as in not subject to a hostile power. Free to think and express yourself…

And questions: Which of the above can you lose and still call yourself “free”? Should a corporation be free in the same way a person is free?

Billy Strings – Watch It Fall. “Don’t you love the things that you got used to, when you used to feel so free” kinda hits home.

Does power equate to freedom, and not having it, it’s impossible? Ability to accumulate wealth at the expense of others, is that freedom? Could you be happy in heaven while your brother was in hell? Does believing you could make you free?

Is defining social norms to your specifications count as freedom? Or is it freedom to be able to reject those norms?

What is freedom? Maybe we should follow Socrates’ example and mull it over a bit before we go around advertising for it.