The Price of Freedom is...?

Why is it that once Communist revolutions which enjoy significant amounts of popular support (Chinese and Cuban for sure, Russian I'm not too sure about as I don't know much about it) assume power, one of their first moves is to suppress freedom of speech and demand uniformity of political thought? Communists point to counter-revolutionary influences as the reason for these measures - with good reason - and yet seem either unable or unwilling to see the inherent contradiction in a revolution which they claim is only successful through the good graces of "the people" which then turns and denies those people their own rational faculties.

I suppose the more salient question is: is freedom a good thing? What I mean is, why the reflexive assumption that such limits are bad? Here in North America (and, I suspect, in most of the Western world) it is a given, an equation we all learn through osmosis in our formative years: freedom = intrinsically good. Some people prosper, some people fall, but all are free, which is somehow supposed to make the failures of society feel better about themselves and their lot in life. And yet, looking around at the people and the world, it is difficult to avoid the thought (and I know I'm not the first to bring this up) that freedom can sometimes be a bad thing, a thought that stems from a simple problem.

People are stupid.

Perhaps it is more correct to say people don't know what they want, what they need or how to go about getting it most effectively. Some might argue that this is a judgemental premise, that "what they want" should really read "what I (or some other person) think they should want". This is because it is being judgemental. But then, there are also some basic things that I think most reasonable people would agree are better than other things. For example, it is better to be educated than not. A pretty easy choice, no? And yet, with their freedom, people seem all too happy to choose to remain uneducated and ignorant, to maintain attitudes and beliefs that limit their own advancement.

Marxists/Socialists/Communists would probably interject that the vast majority of individuals in capitalist societies are not, in fact, free at all; that their decisions are either limited or entirely predetermined by the ruling, economic elites. And they would be correct. But their concept of freedom, like all concepts within Communist ideology, is intimately tied to economics, as opposed to intellectual freedom. And, perhaps even more damning, the Communist system offers no "freer" alternative. True, one is not bombarded with advertisements selling a brand as identity (there's an interesting comment along these lines over in this story: "In this secular society of ours, where family and church once gave us a sense of belonging, identity and meaning, there is now Apple, Mercedes and Coke."), but the Communist alternative of a single, homogenous product can only be considered more free in a pedantic, ideological sense; the workers own the means of production, hence it is "their" product which they are "free" to change as they see fit. Except they're not, because production in Communist societies is controlled by the government (centralized planning). But that's just a minor sticking point, right?

The critique remains, though: people in capitalist societies are not free to make their own choices. From birth, we are all bombarded with messages of what is best, what is desirable and what is not. Your average ad goes something like this (I've taken the liberty of adding in a fictional observer's thought processes):

- Buy these jeans/cars/hoobajoobas!
- Why?
- Because they make you more attractive!
- Why is that important?
- Because you want to attract someone who'll like you!
- Why is that important?
- Because otherwise you'll die alone and everyone will laugh at you!
- Oh, right.

And voila! Hoobajooba sales skyrocket! Except now you need a job to make money. And a car to get to that job. And clothes to wear to the job. Oh, plus those clothes will help you be attractive to other people. So one of them might like you. Man, you'd better hope one of them likes you. Otherwise you're a pathetic loser and everyone will laugh at you and you might as well not be alive. Come to think of it, you'll need a better car and better clothes than that to attract someone; better get a higher paying job. Don't want them thinking you're a pathetic loser now, do ya? What's that? You love doing x/y/z but it doesn't pay enough for you to do all that? Well, do you want to be happy? Do you want to be successful? That's what I thought, now suck it up. Who cares if you hate your job, who cares if it serves no beneficial purpose to society, think of all the cool hoobajoobas you can buy! And you only need to work at your job for, like, 40 years or so, and then you can retire and have all the fun you want.

Oh, and never forget: you're free.