What is your opinion of this guys opinion.

[Loren Littlejohn]

I'm going to be a little cryptic here because I can't find the video, but I wouldn't post it anyway because most of it is on a subject that I'm not aiming for with this thread.

Ok so in said video a question was asked along the lines of "what is your country of origin and do you consider the citizens as free as we are in the united states?"

He then revealed his country of origin was the U.K. (was quite fucking obvious haha) and then stated that no he did not feel citizens of the U.K. have as much freedom as we do here in the states. He mentioned they have no freedom of speech written into law or something like that.

I have literally never put any thought into such a thing as I always just assumed civilized countries got to enjoy some good ass freedoms. Anyhow, what say you fellow dudes across the Atlantic?

 

[Jind]

He mentioned they have no freedom of speech written into law or something like that.

He's probably referencing that the UK has no formal primary Constitutional document as the US does.

The UK has whats called and uncodified constitution which is made up of statutes, treaties, court judgments, ... with Parliament being the final arbiter. As such, ultimately nothing Parliament decides can be considered unconstitutional. So.... read from that what you will.

This is my understanding from a previous topic in which something was mentioned relating to the lack of a constitution. I had looked up the information back then.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Oddly enough, the US isn't even close to being #1 when it comes to personal freedom. In fact, it doesn't even make the top ten.
Source: http://www.prosperity.com/Subindexes-7.aspx
Watch a few "cop abuse" videos for verification.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

My opinion honestly is that I don't even remotely have enough information to make an informed opinion on the matter. It was more that a guy said his own country wasn't as free as the USA that piqued my interest.

I mean there are countries where it's a tad more obvious (the ones that like to treat the women like dog shit).

 

[Lasse Lammert]

Oddly enough, the US isn't even close to being #1 when it comes to personal freedom. In fact, it doesn't even make the top ten.
Source: http://www.prosperity.com/Subindexes-7.aspx
Watch a few "cop abuse" videos for verification.

This

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

Oddly enough, the US isn't even close to being #1 when it comes to personal freedom. In fact, it doesn't even make the top ten.
Source: http://www.prosperity.com/Subindexes-7.aspx
Watch a few "cop abuse" videos for verification.

This is a misleading indicator of the kind of freedoms that I the person the OP mentioned was talking about, which are institutionalized, statutory freedoms. Jind hit the nail on the head that he was probably implying the lack of a U.S.-style constitutional document is what made him "less free." The site you linked to measures freedom by including personal well-being, which has little to do with legal, statutory freedoms. I'm all for measuring things that way because it represents society in a more holistic manner, but tbh, I think the person the OP cited is technically right. But as far as a social safety net and other metrics of quality of life, the UK is far more egalitarian than the US.

 

[Jind]

Ultimately, how exactly does one define personal freedom, and by which matrix have we settled on to measure it. I imagine one could paint almost any picture they want of almost any country if we cherry picked a stat that supported what each of us as individuals consider freedom.

All I can speak for is myself so this is in no way a slap to anyone else's idea of freedom, but as a general rule, I feel pretty free living here in my little corner of Connecticut in the good ol' US of A. I in no way feel my middle class rural lifestyle dragged down by any oppressive government presence, I travel whereverand wherever I want, I read whatever I desire, I'm not particularly the activist type, but feel free expressing my opinions on pretty much any subject, I'm comfortable not practicing any religion, but I also feel no need to bitch at others for doing so, I pay taxes - probably more than some, but ultimately less than others and I'm OK with the idea of some taxation. My 401k, while taking some hits back in 2008, 2009, is humming right along now that the market has picked back up, I still have a decent job and generally want for little (however I've been eyeing a new guitar but figure I can do without ).

So... generally my personal freedoms feel pretty fine (at least by my own personal metrics that I'm using).

These broad brushed generalizations tend to speak little to what actually matters to each of us as individuals and how our personal situations are impacted.

 

[monoxide_child]

i am an American

i will post more on this subject on a later day (prolly tmrw)