If you cannot speak out the truth as you see it, if you must conform to authority and power in all your public pronouncements, then freedom is a private affair and a free man will become necessarily a lonely man. This is Portugal and I like to think of Alexandre Herculano as an outstanding example of a free, lonely man.
If, on the other hand, you are encouraged to speak out the truth, if you do not have to conform to anybody or to anything but the truth, then truth becomes a public affair and your country becomes a free country. That is America and you can choose your own examples.
In America freedom is a public institution whereas in Portugal it is a private endeavour. Do not try here to be a free man in public. You will be damned and ridiculed. This is a legacy of the Inquisition, I am ready to acknowledge. However, the Inquisition was extinguished almost two centuries ago and yet it seems to be very much alive and well in the country. It is not anymore a religious affair (actually, it never really was).
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The new inquisitors are different, they are lay people now. They come from the universities, specially Science and Law Faculties, and they are mostly anti-religious or agnostic people. A lot of them are affiliated with political parties and are in the journalism and teaching professions. There are some in Government too or holding other public offices such as in the judiciary.Their official truth is ideology. A lot of them are in the blogosphere because inquisitors must be looking everywhere to perform their job properly. Do you expect ever to live in a country you could call a free country in the same sense as Americans do? I don't.
If, on the other hand, you are encouraged to speak out the truth, if you do not have to conform to anybody or to anything but the truth, then truth becomes a public affair and your country becomes a free country. That is America and you can choose your own examples.
In America freedom is a public institution whereas in Portugal it is a private endeavour. Do not try here to be a free man in public. You will be damned and ridiculed. This is a legacy of the Inquisition, I am ready to acknowledge. However, the Inquisition was extinguished almost two centuries ago and yet it seems to be very much alive and well in the country. It is not anymore a religious affair (actually, it never really was).
.
The new inquisitors are different, they are lay people now. They come from the universities, specially Science and Law Faculties, and they are mostly anti-religious or agnostic people. A lot of them are affiliated with political parties and are in the journalism and teaching professions. There are some in Government too or holding other public offices such as in the judiciary.Their official truth is ideology. A lot of them are in the blogosphere because inquisitors must be looking everywhere to perform their job properly. Do you expect ever to live in a country you could call a free country in the same sense as Americans do? I don't.
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