Free Will, Will It Liberate?

I must confess that Freedom has been my favorite topic ever since, as I am a freedom devotee dropout from a college that was then heaven for (once) youngsters like me. We were fortunate enough to be a generation of exemplary ignorant, expressed our ideas boldly, bullying victims and executants who rarely followed up the bad seeds with struggles against each other. However, time is shifting forward than backward. As the hair is turning gray, we realize that Freedom has changed its face over time. Now, it is no longer something that we used to love during our youth, rather than a lustful monster that is all ready to consume and confine common sense. There were times when Freedom was immensely invaluable than gold because it was hard to acquire. Its price has been going downward drastically these days, and it almost loses its actual substance. The time has come for us to re-interpret the fundamental significance of Freedom without sacrificing human rights to live in peace and safety.

Given that it has been gained recognition in some regions globally, many are reluctant to bring up LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, + goes for anyone with a sexual orientation that does not belong to any of these groups) issues resolution over morality and appropriateness matters. LGBT+ communities have suffered from long-term abuse, discrimination, hate-crime victims, rape, and conviction as the price they must pay for what they believe is their identity. During the 1940s, LGBT+ communities found their foothold and risen in the United States demanded their rights to get better and equal acceptance as humans. The victory came when all US states finally suspended same-sex relationships and sexual intercourse prohibition in 2003.

An enormous upswing for the LGBT+ communities finally came when European Union approved the LGBT+ rights protection bill and imposed force against any EU members that fail to show any support and approval to follow the account to the utmost. Hungary has perceived the bill differently. The country has committed to protecting traditional family values against LGBT+ campaigns through an instruction that proscribe LGBT+ propaganda at schools, television, and advertisement for children under 18+. PM Viktor Orban, Hungarian Prime Minister, rejected any accusation that claimed the rule made to force because Hungary is an anti-LGBT+ state. Unfortunately, Hungary received criticism at the moment, threatened with being expelled from the UE if it doesn’t cancel the rule immediately. This accusation is not the worst part. At the time of writing, a discussion is underway among Western countries to work on a bill that will allow children under 15 years to change their sex.

 

When Freedom Fails to Liberate

Freedom is supposed to liberate humans not to crush by the rejection from within themselves of the ongoing situation around them, regardless of their direct or indirect involvement. It should have been something that arouses anyone to choose and determine what is best for themselves, to grow, and to improve in the direction of their hopes and ideals. Nevertheless, this is just a utopia about the ideal life because reality is unpredictable. Free will does not come out all of a sudden. In the beginning, free will arises because there is pressure, as lovebirds fill each other’s emptiness. When the pressure is no longer there, free will wanders, pressing in the narrow recesses of the human mind who has a narcissistic habit against the will of life to live naturally. Does this mean that pressure is eventually required to keep the free will within the human mind not to lose its path?

The United States' economic, financial, and military sanctions on Cuba are the longest ever in world history so far. For about 60 years, the Cuban people are not allowed to trade with any country, and they are prohibited from using any international payment methods for national and personal purposes. The government has been suffering a limited supply of medicine and food and could not sell their domestic products to any country. The sanctions are imposed since the era of Dwight Eisenhower and expanded further in 2021 have been in effect since 1960, when Fidel Castro overthrew US-backed President Fulgencio Batista (1952-1959). The US saw these sanctions as punishments for the Fidel Castro government's 1959 policy of nationalizing some assets which belong to US citizens in Cuba under the Agricultural Reform Act, worsen by the accusation of sponsoring revolutionary movements in the Caribbean region.

More often than not, United States sanctions are meant to give some lessons to the dissident countries burning the people's willpower to rise and end the ruling regime against the superpower country's interests. If sanctions are one of the pressure manifestations, then the people's resistance is free will, which should emerge as the origin of this causal relation. However, such pressure comes from outside (the United States) is a blatant violation of any nation's sovereignty. Some Cubans turned immigrants in the US realized this, marched to protest against the US government in Washington, demanding the lifting of sanctions on their homeland. Their struggle deserves our reflection because the latter Cuban community left the country due to long-term discord with the Cuban communist government.

The saga between Cuba and the United States began with the free will of President Fidel Castro, whose massive actions triggered US sanctions as the reaction. However, previously the United States had intended to overthrow communism in Cuba by supporting President Batista. America considers communism a severe failure, a violator of human rights as the state forces excessively binding regulations to maintain the discipline of its citizens from head to toe. People's well-being is guaranteed by the communist state, like parents who work hard to fulfill the needs of their children. In return, children must obey and listen to their parents' words to be safe into adulthood. In short, the children are trained not to have free will, which is immensely unfavorable for a communist government and may spread like a virus from one child to another.

Children who love freedom will be extremely frightened at the thought of the absence of space. In the democracy sphere, personal opinions are expressed without restrictions, as there is no punishment for the creators of caricatures or any president’s memes. Citizens are also free to earn a living and choose a religion or belief. The scope of freedom also expands over time, and the will to come out as LGBT+ is one of them. This section discusses cases when the free will fails to liberate human beings, individually and collectively, from exclusivity. They create a border that separates themselves from the normality of social life, be it Fidel Castro, the US presidents defending Cuban sanctions, and LGBT+ fighters. From my point of view, free will is not always in line with social norms prevailing in society. Still, individuals do not have to sacrifice their pleasures to create stability in society. The view is worth fighting for those who believe that the strength of a nation lies in the power of each individual’s will and how they struggle for it. The persistence of fighting for free will in the example above invites conflict in various forms and scales of severity, failing to liberate the community from the pressure to move forward achieving other, more meaningful matters.  

Does this mean free will is something forbidden? Not really. No one can decide another person's sexual orientation or tell a leader how to rule their territory, including how to behave towards their enemies. We need free will as the foundation of finding new possibilities and suffering the consequences simultaneously. A free will may liberate when it is no longer exclusive, understandable by society, while leaving a secret room for individuals to be free from different compulsions. Such space will be last when we no longer need recognition and be aware of our role in maintaining the stability of togetherness.