Land of the Free
I was making small talk with the woman who cuts my hair the other day and I found out that she emigrated from Iran about 15 years ago. She was there when it all went down with the Shah and the hostage crisis. I asked her what that was like and she just replied, "probably different than what you might think. You just kind of accept what's going on where you live."
I had another friend who grew up in Russia during the Cold War and she would show me pictures of her home and it looked remarkably like something you would see in any American town. Beautiful, tree lined streets. Gorgeous architecture. A bright, sunny day. During the times before Glastnost, all depictions of Russian life on TV were shown during intense blizzards with people waiting in line 5 hours to buy a roll of toilet paper. Everything was bathed in shades of gray. Not surprisingly, she said it wasn't like that at all.
We get fed a lot of depictions of the lifestyles of "our enemies" and barely any of it is true. Kind of like the line that states 9/11 happened because "they hated our freedom". Right. Had nothing to do with our foreign policy, they just hated the fact that we have Tivo.
As the conversation continued she said one of the most interesting comments I've heard regarding life in the United States. A comment that could only be made by someone that wasn't so close to the forest and had a clear view of the trees.
"When I was growing up, all you would hear is how America was this free country. All of the freedoms you have there. It's not really a free country. Everyone knows your business here. Everything about you. Your social security number, your credit reports. Other places in the world are much more free, you can do what you want. Here I always feel watched."
This, from someone who grew up in Iran.
She's right. We're not really free. You can't even go online and play a few hands of poker anymore. You're constantly watched and reported on. You can't even bring a bottle of shampoo on a plane. Sure we have the illusion of freedom. The right things are said and we're given just enough to think "sure, we can do anything we want."
This is a great country and there is a lot of good here. It's certainly not perfect and I think it's time people take a good look at that. The time for "love it or leave it" has passed. Things need to improve. Need to change.
"It's not really a free country"
Things need to change fast.
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