Post by RS Davis on Dec 11, 2003 20:53:42 GMT -5
To Reason Magazine...
I read your excellent list of 35 Heroes of Freedom, and mostly agreed with it. There is a good and bad side to Friedman, and he has done much to advance freedom in the microeconomic realm, while doing much the opposite in the macro. His faith in Central banking and fiat money aside, his books Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose are libertarian classics. Mandela's post-Apartheid governmental philosophy has leaned toward collectivism, but his fight against collective tribalistic separation and oppression would seem to outweigh that on the balance.
The inclusion of Barry Goldwater, William S. Burroughs (an icon to punk rockers like me), Curt Flood, FA Hayek, Vaclav Havel, Robert Heinlein, Madonna, Willie Nelson, Ron Paul, Julian Simon, and Ayn Rand were inspired choices. There are a couple more modern people I'd have liked to have seen on the list, though. They are as follows:
1. Stephen Hsu - Knowledge and information are poison to totalitarian monsters, which is why in nearly every totalitarian state, one of the first orders of business is to limit and control the dissemination of information. The internet has been a vital weapon against totalitarianism, and Stephen Hsu is a freedom warrior that fashioned a great tool to better utilize that weapon. His program, Triangle Boy, allows Chinese and other oppressed people to access forbidden internet sites, masking the information to look as if it came from a state-approved site, ensuring that millions of oppressed people worldwide will have access to whatever information they desire. Truly, an unsung hero of freedom.
2. Matt Stone and Trey Parker - Comedy Central's irreverent cartoon South Park is both controversial and offensive in possibly every way and to everyone. Eric Cartman, the loudmouthed insensitive racist egoist character on the show, makes Archie Bunker look like Martin Luther King. The only black person on the show is named Token. They poke fun at everything from Chinese, the disabled, homosexuals, religion, and politicians mercilessly. Pushing the boundaries of free speech alone would put it's creators, Matt and Trey, among a list of libertarian heroes, but their creation takes it one step farther.
What many people are learning about South Park is that it is the most effective, engaging, sharpest bit of social and political commentary on television today. From free market economics ("Cartmanland") to Gays in Scouting ("Cripple Fight"), South Park skewers the sacred cows of both the left and the right, with a distinctive libertarian philosophy. Both Matt and Trey are self-confessed libertarians, and they bring the message forth with wit, irony, and clever, enjoyable stories. With their huge success among teenagers and young adults, they give me great hope for the future of the libertarian movement, for which they are truly unsung heroes.
3. Hashem Aghajari - As your own Charles Paul Freund stated, "It’s a pity that so much of the attention given to the Islamic world is lavished on its thugs and psychopaths, because its men and women of courage are largely overlooked." Convicted of apostasy and sentenced to death for merely speaking his mind, this Iranian professor and activist did something few of us would be willing to do. He refused to appeal the largely unpopular decision, which would have saved both his life and face for the religious courts and leaders by letting them show "mercy" on him. He said, "those who have issued this verdict have to implement it if they think it is right or else the judiciary has to handle it."
Mr. Freund commented, "He had determined to risk his life so as to force Iran’s judicial establishment to confront its own barbarity." That should make him a hero in any freedom-lover's book.
Admiringly,
RS Davis
editor, The Freedom Files
www.geocities.com/freedomphiles/
I read your excellent list of 35 Heroes of Freedom, and mostly agreed with it. There is a good and bad side to Friedman, and he has done much to advance freedom in the microeconomic realm, while doing much the opposite in the macro. His faith in Central banking and fiat money aside, his books Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose are libertarian classics. Mandela's post-Apartheid governmental philosophy has leaned toward collectivism, but his fight against collective tribalistic separation and oppression would seem to outweigh that on the balance.
The inclusion of Barry Goldwater, William S. Burroughs (an icon to punk rockers like me), Curt Flood, FA Hayek, Vaclav Havel, Robert Heinlein, Madonna, Willie Nelson, Ron Paul, Julian Simon, and Ayn Rand were inspired choices. There are a couple more modern people I'd have liked to have seen on the list, though. They are as follows:
1. Stephen Hsu - Knowledge and information are poison to totalitarian monsters, which is why in nearly every totalitarian state, one of the first orders of business is to limit and control the dissemination of information. The internet has been a vital weapon against totalitarianism, and Stephen Hsu is a freedom warrior that fashioned a great tool to better utilize that weapon. His program, Triangle Boy, allows Chinese and other oppressed people to access forbidden internet sites, masking the information to look as if it came from a state-approved site, ensuring that millions of oppressed people worldwide will have access to whatever information they desire. Truly, an unsung hero of freedom.
2. Matt Stone and Trey Parker - Comedy Central's irreverent cartoon South Park is both controversial and offensive in possibly every way and to everyone. Eric Cartman, the loudmouthed insensitive racist egoist character on the show, makes Archie Bunker look like Martin Luther King. The only black person on the show is named Token. They poke fun at everything from Chinese, the disabled, homosexuals, religion, and politicians mercilessly. Pushing the boundaries of free speech alone would put it's creators, Matt and Trey, among a list of libertarian heroes, but their creation takes it one step farther.
What many people are learning about South Park is that it is the most effective, engaging, sharpest bit of social and political commentary on television today. From free market economics ("Cartmanland") to Gays in Scouting ("Cripple Fight"), South Park skewers the sacred cows of both the left and the right, with a distinctive libertarian philosophy. Both Matt and Trey are self-confessed libertarians, and they bring the message forth with wit, irony, and clever, enjoyable stories. With their huge success among teenagers and young adults, they give me great hope for the future of the libertarian movement, for which they are truly unsung heroes.
3. Hashem Aghajari - As your own Charles Paul Freund stated, "It’s a pity that so much of the attention given to the Islamic world is lavished on its thugs and psychopaths, because its men and women of courage are largely overlooked." Convicted of apostasy and sentenced to death for merely speaking his mind, this Iranian professor and activist did something few of us would be willing to do. He refused to appeal the largely unpopular decision, which would have saved both his life and face for the religious courts and leaders by letting them show "mercy" on him. He said, "those who have issued this verdict have to implement it if they think it is right or else the judiciary has to handle it."
Mr. Freund commented, "He had determined to risk his life so as to force Iran’s judicial establishment to confront its own barbarity." That should make him a hero in any freedom-lover's book.
Admiringly,
RS Davis
editor, The Freedom Files
www.geocities.com/freedomphiles/
