Are You Free?

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

This guy's pretty free: http://benswann.com/russian-man-nails-testicles-to-the-street-to-protest-the-police-state/

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

This guy's pretty free: http://benswann.com/russian-man-nails-testicles-to-the-street-to-protest-the-police-state/

Some people nod respectfully and smile, letting things slide by. Others take that shit to the wall with a mighty 'fuck no!'. Dayum.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Photoshop busted, so I'm just gonna caption this.

THIS MAN

IS FREE.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

FUCK YES.

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

I hadn't heard of Emmeline Pankhurst until I found this picture. Not sure about the ethics of everything she did, but dayum that bitch was free.

I am more of a fan of her daughter, Sylvia, personally.

And don't get me started on the Suffragettes that joined up with Oswald Mosley.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

that joined up with Oswald Mosley.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I hadn't heard of Emmeline Pankhurst until I found this picture. Not sure about the ethics of everything she did, but dayum that bitch was free.

I am more of a fan of her daughter, Sylvia, personally.

And don't get me started on the Suffragettes that joined up with Oswald Mosley.

Free isn't the same as Wise or Nice. I should probably do some more of these with dickbags in them.

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

that joined up with Oswald Mosley.

Yep.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Richardson, as well Norah Elam and Mary Allen.

there is a reason Sylvia Pankhurst is my favourite suffragette, refusing to marry, saying "no, fuck the war" and hiding conscientious objectors, as well as helping working class women in london's east end in a way that did not seem patronising. Also, anti-fascism as all fuck.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

This kid got shot after this picture was taken.

[Dildo Argentino]

First of all, brilliant thread.

Secondly, could you just provide a list of the people in the photos? I'm sure most people recognise most of them and many recognise all of them, but for the less informed, could we have a list, please?

Also, I'm not sure about the little boy. He may be free, but he may just be a poor misguided victim of a bunch of not-so-mature adults.

Also, based on the people I do recognise, I've always thought these kind of people (who, faced with an unjust entity that is significantly more powerful than they are that they perceive to be unjust - and which may very well be actually unjust - just stand up against it and speak out and get crushed with alarming regularity) are sort of naively free. Some more than others. And takers (the term is from Daniel Quinn, who says that the neolithic revolution was essentially the culture in the biological sense that gave rise to the taker culture, a result of social evolution, the first one that arose after countless millenia of a multitude of leaver cultures, which then went on to outcompete all the others and today has the majority of people on this planet in its grasp), well takers don't take kindly to that sort of thing.

And I think that foolhardy readyness for martyrdom is attractive and respectable when presented as a spectacle, it is a truly edifying act, but it is possible to be free without ever nailing your balls to the street or not getting out of Russia before Putin put you in prison. It is in fact a matter of personal choice. And going to the wall for truth, to me, reflects a sort of exalted elevation away from reality. Reality is that there are mean big fuckers out there, they are occasionally out to get you, or it's also quite possible to just get in their way, so if you plan to be free and remain free for a great length of time, it's best to look out for them. I would hold nobody in any sort of contempt for doing that. Of course it is quite easy to rationalise away cowardice of the first water by pretending that it is in fact the prudent form of freedom I was outlining: this has indeed no place in Discordianism.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

The last kid I couldn't find a name for. He was leading a demonstration in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) in 1969 as part of the Bangladeshi independence movement.

The others, in order:
Emmeline Pankhurst
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Sophie Scholl
Helen Keller
Aaron Swartz
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova
Unnamed Occupy Oakland Protester

[Dildo Argentino]

The last kid I couldn't find a name for. He was leading a demonstration in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) in 1969 as part of the Bangladeshi independence movement.

The others, in order:
Emmeline Pankhurst
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Sophie Scholl
Helen Keller
Aaron Swartz
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova
Unnamed Occupy Oakland Protester

Thanks!

[P3nT4gR4m]

I hadn't heard of Emmeline Pankhurst until I found this picture. Not sure about the ethics of everything she did, but dayum that bitch was free.

I am more of a fan of her daughter, Sylvia, personally.

And don't get me started on the Suffragettes that joined up with Oswald Mosley.

Free isn't the same as Wise or Nice. I should probably do some more of these with dickbags in them.

I'm pretty sure that, these days, nice is as close as you can get to the opposite of free.

That's my excuse anyway

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

To address Holist's point a little more clearly now that nap time is over:

The reason I went with these people was because at first glance a lot of people would assume they are not free. MLK and Nadia in jail; Aaron dead; Sophie executed, Emmeline and the Occupy protester in the act of being arrested; Helen trapped in a malfunctioning body and dependent on others assistance; the Bangladeshi boy hopelessly impoverished and living under a dictatorship that gives zero fucks about him or his family. These are the types of situations where a lot of people give up on being Free and concentrate on being Not Dead.

Acting out of fear of The Stick is the opposite of Freedom, but it's what most people in "free" societies end up doing. Being Free is knowing The Stick is there and then doing what you wanted anyway, because fuck you that's why. Not everyone who decides to be FREE ALL OVER THE PLACE gets killed for it, some of them probably live happy lives at home and never even show up on anyone's radar, but this project here is concentrating on people who were/are Free in spite of the outward appearance of being trapped. You can only demonstrate the difference between Freedom and Freedom^TM with illustrations of people who are Free while imprisoned or terrified.

[Demolition Squid]

That beautifully clarifies the work, Q.G. Thanks for expounding on it.

It reminds me of something else I read somewhere - I think it might even have been here - Freedom as a verb, not an adjective. Your freedom is reliant on you using it regardless of the consequences or lack thereof. I think that's a wonderful way to look at the subject, as it clarifies the power relationship between bodies which would try to deny freedom and everyone else magnificently.