Aguirre 1
Hector Aguirre
October 13th, 2014
English 104 – 23
Mr. Douglas
Essay 2 Instructor Draft
Freedom is only a Myth
Being born free in America is nothing but a huge lie. America is known to be a
land of the free, though how much freedom does an individual really have? In America
people need to take risks in order to earn their freedom. Though when individuals try to
express their freedom they get shut down and locked away by the government. No man
can ever be free unless they fight what they believe in.
Life can be unfair for those people who seek to be free from men who have
greater power over them. Freedom must be challenged because authorities generate to be
difficult to pursue. According to the author Naomi Wolf, she informs readers that people
can gain the freedom that they desire once they learn how to pursue their happiness. Wolf
takes on the declaration of independence and points out three main claims that makes
people believe that freedom is just a myth. Pursuit of happiness; individualism and
liberty. Wolf believes that citizens can earn their freedom by taking personal risks when
they act as individuals. Strike those who have greater power over the people in order to
finally give the citizens the liberty they deserve. Pursuing happiness is a way men can
successfully obtain the freedom they desire if they are willing to take risks. Provided that
the people strive for success, then it can be assure that they would gain their liberty. Men
should be able to express their individuality to find their own liberty, to be free.
Men and women should have equal liberties but there are places on earth that
freedom is just a myth. According to Katherine Mangu-Ward women from Afghanistan
Aguirre 2
were not allowed to eat ice cream. If these women get caught eating ice cream by the
Taliban men they could get sentence or execution. Though it all depends in what mood
the men are feeling. They do this because of symbolic reasons, it is consider a sin action
if woman eat gracefully while wearing their burqa. It is the garment that woman must
wear when out in public as a tradition. Taliban man are trying to forbid the eating of all
women. Not only Taliban is trying to band the ice cream truck but also Brooklyn. The
free loving Americans. They believe in two types of liberty; true and negative liberty.
The women of Brooklyn claim that their children are not disciplined whenever they hear
the sounds of the ice cream truck them insane. Taliban and Brooklyn are different kind of
people but both agree in the banning of ice cream trucks. Whether it is for religious
beliefs or discipline. As for Brooklyn parents they want a democracy to determine the
limits. They agree that when they interfere with the state and show their highly personal
choices in what new bill can be passed, they feel better and freer.
Freedom is only a myth. Lori Andrews, in the section I read about George
Orwell… Meet Mark Zuckerberg, she addresses the freedom people have now in the
social network. Social networking is a way of communicating with others online and for
storing documents. Though, there are things that people want to hide and keep classified
from strangers. Personal information such as social security number, credit cards and
address. Just about anyone can access personal information. There is no freedom in the
media. No file or document is protected due to the fact that someone is invading your
privacy and security. Andrew expresses “In order to protect yourself from unwanted data
collection depends largely on the technique being used to acquire information.” A good
example would be the social media Facebook. Now worth more than $1.89 billion.
Aguirre 3
Zuckerberg created this media for people to easily communicate with friends or families.
“Facebook encourages users to disclose more information about themselves through very
powerful game-like mechanisms to reward disclosure.” Freedom is considered a myth
because if people think that they are safe to do anything online, there is always those
people with power that can access all the peoples history, criminal records and files.
In conclusion, I do agree that freedom is considered a myth. Freedom is intended
as a challenge, no one has freedom unless earned. In America citizens able to speak
freely but only to limit others freedoms for their safety. They must take upon personal
risks and defy against higher ranking officers that can take people’s homes leave them to
rot in the streets. Even social networking can be trusted because everyone is being
monitored every second they log in their computer.
Aguirre 4
Work Cited
Colombo, Gary, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. “Freedom is intended as a challenge.”
Rereading America: Culture Contexts for Critical Thinking and writing. 9th ed.
Boston: Bedford of St. Martin’s, 1995. N. pag. Print
Colombo, Gary, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. “The War on Negative Liberty.”
Rereading America: Culture Contexts for Critical Thinking and writing. 9th ed.
Boston: Bedford of St. Martin’s, 1995. N. pag. Print
Colombo, Gary, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. “George Orwell… Meet Mark
Zuckerberg.” Rereading America: Culture Contexts for Critical Thinking and
writing. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin’s, 1995. N. pag. Print