Freedom.

:)

*This just in!*
Established as of 4.37 a.m., 23rd March 2008, The Gustave's World Domination Army hit triple digits in 3 days, 200 in 4 days.

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Due to overwhelming popular demand, despite Gustave's oath to abstain from blogging for a week...


The GoodStuff Production proudly presents:



Freedom.

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Good afternoon, Gustave Oon King Chuan of SAM reporting in.


"Give me Liberty, or give me Death!"

Those were the words delivered by Patrick Henry during his fiery speech on the 23rd of March, 1775, at St.John's Church in Richmond, Virginia. These words alone inspired the Virginia troops to join the Revolutionary War.

Patrick Henry was a man who truly believed in freedom.

Patrick Henry was a slave owner.


In April 1992, a young man from a rich family who graduated from Emory University in 1990 with a degree in history and anthropology, decided to go into the wild. Christopher McCandless left his family for good, gave $25000 in savings to charity, abandoned most of his posessions, burned all the cash he had in his wallet, and hitchhiked to Alaska with nothing more than basic camping equipment and a 10 kg bag of rice. He wanted to live off nature and experience a life free from responsibilities and worries.

Christopher McCandless walked into the wild in search of true, inner freedom.

Christopher McCandless died of starvation during winter.


Ladies and gentlemen, Freedom is overrated.


Patrick Henry, despite shaping history with his fiery oratory that hyped up everyone's perception of freedom, may have been hypocritical. He most certainly talked the talk. However, when it came to walking the slaves, he could not be bothered.

Christopher McCandless, on the other hand, painted a romantic, unrealistic idea of finding freedom in the wild being the most important thing in life. Although inspirational, by going into the wild under-prepared and over-confident, his survival was mainly due to sheer luck. When his luck stopped holding out, he simply died.

However, Abraham Maslow offers a scientific theory, explaining just how much humans value freedom. Maslow's hierarchy of needs states that there are basically five levels of needs.

The first and most important level, is the physiological needs of humans. This includes the need for food, water, oxygen, the need for getting rid of bodily wastes, and the need to...reproduce.

The second level, deals with the safety and security needs. After satisfying the first level of needs, humans start worrying about stability, structure, and protection.

The third level, deals with the love and belonging needs. Humans now feel the need to fit into a group, or be a part of a community. They are now affected by peer pressure.

Finally, the forth level, deals with the esteem needs. Freedom and independence falls under this category. In other words, people are only concerned about their freedom after the first three levels of needs are fulfilled.

In simpler terms, unless humans have enough to eat and drink, get the opportunity to attempt reproduction, feel safe and secure, fit in with others, we don't really care about freedom. What's all the fuss about?

Nowadays, people have been brain-washed into believing that freedom is the most sacred and precious thing. Without freedom, nothing else matters. This could be a very dangerous and extremely profitable thing.

Hypothetically, let us assume that there exists a certain politician with an insatiable thirst for oil. Let us assume that the politician happens to the president of a country. Let us assume that the country has lots of stripes and stars on its national flag, and not to mention, nuclear weapons.

Let us now assume that there exists a weaker country which happens to be rich with oil. Let us assume that the country with colourful stripes, stars and nuclear weapons decides to attack them for their oil.

Of course, that sounds so negative..."attack them for their oil."

Let us rephrase that..."liberate them for their freedom."

Doesn't that sound better?

Because of this over-hyped perception of freedom, any immoral or inhuman action can be justified by simply uttering the word "freedom". A person can be detained indefinitely, with his or her eyes, ears, and mouths sealed off, in order to "safeguard the freedom of this nation".

It appears that this "freedom" thing is definitely worth fighting for. Worth dying for. Even worth killing for.

However, according to a survey conducted by a Malaysian college student by the name of Gustave Oon King Chuan on 40 individuals, people were willing to give up their freedom for one day in exchange for money.

When asked about the absolute minimum one would have to be paid in order to be detained in a room for a whole day doing nothing, the results were quite shocking. Figures ranged from RM100 000, to...RM100. There were quite a few who chose RM100. In fact, one individual, whose name will remain confidential, was even willing to do it for free.

Therefore, according to the survey, the average price of freedom in Malaysia is estimated to be RM9868.96 per day. Gee, I wonder what the price of freedom in the USA is, given the falling exchange rate. Well, at least we can rest well knowing that freedom is worth more than an iPod.

Yes, freedom is a good thing. We need freedom. However, it is obscenely overrated. After all, according to Maslow, food, sex, and peer pressure trumps freedom anyday. Freedom even has a price, and comes in handy as a brilliant excuse to siege your neighbour’s front yard.


Ladies and gentlemen, "Give me liberty or give me death!"?

No!

"Give me liberty or give me RM9868 a day!"

Thank you.

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Onward! Starbound!