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From: jsdy@hadron.UUCP (Joseph S. D. Yao)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: Ho-hum
Message-ID: <8710261453.AA21484@hadron.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 26-Oct-87 09:53:52 EST
Article-I.D.: hadron.8710261453.AA21484
Posted: Mon Oct 26 09:53:52 1987
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This is silly.  Once one has elected to become part of a governed
society (or been born into one), it is always the case that one
doesn't have any freedom but what the government permits.  This is as
true in Canada and the USSR as it is in the USA or the Luna Colonies.

I think the amount of justification one must give to get a passport
should also be looked at as a criterion of freedom, though.  My
perception is that one does not need to justify oneself in the
Northern American countries named unless one is going to a certain
small number of countries, namely, those that have historically
subscribed to the doctrine that one of their main missions is to
overthrow and take over foreign governments.  (This is part of the
writings of that doctrine mis-named Communism; and of  c o u r s e
I'm aware that not all folks or even officials in those countries
really believe that any more.)  However, I understand that, even if
one is not going on "official business" from the USSR, one is
generally subjected to some rather thorough scrutiny of one's purposes
for making the visit and/or the purity of one's ideology.  (That
perhaps is an advantage of living in a society that's so confused
about what its ideology is, or whether it has one -- nobody can
complain about your own, unless it presents that body with a clear and
present danger.)

Joe Y