Freedom or Safety Mencken

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Freedom or Safety Freedom and safety seem to be mutually exclusive. To be safe is often to suffer under a repressive regime that does not allow one to be free. To fight for freedom, and even more rarely achieve it, requires conflict. To choose between freedom and safety is a nonissue, according to Mencken, because men do not want freedom, they simply want safety. As history, literature, and current events show, Mencken’s simplistic observations are not fully applicable in today’s world, because man often sacrifices security to pursue intellectual, personal, and political freedoms. Current events demonstrate refusal of a governed people to comply with politics that promise “safety” and uniformity, while stripping citizens of their freedoms. In 2011, the Arab Spring began to gain momentum, shocking people around the world with the passion and violence that accompanied demonstrations in dozens of countries. Under the repressive regimes of Libyan and Egyptian dictators Gaddafi and Mubarak, citizens had sense of stability and predictability under rulers who had been in power for decades. Daily life was unaffected by their authority, though they did not have the right to express or practice what they believed. Many civilians have died in this ongoing event, exemplifying the sacrifice and resilience of men and women who have fought for 3 years in order to secure rights of speech for themselves and posterity. In first world countries, the restriction of freedoms are more insidious. Often the government enact legislation to provide citizens with a false sense of security, while silently dismantling their freedoms. The Patriot Act of 2001 legalized unwarranted wiretapping, record searching, and surveillance, and unauthorized home searches. This expansion of power at the expense of the American citizen’s freedom was met with a sharp backlash. The Patriot Act was conceived

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