Choice? That is not what I want!

Disclaimer: Ignore this if you are a staunch supporter of G.W. Bush or a strong supporter of choice or if you do not care for didactic banter.

Today, I had the awful pleasure to listen to George W. Bush’s press conference as I ate lunch. I have thought for a long time that the man was a country club idiot and today only further solidified that view. I find I dislike G.W. even more than I disliked Clinton and I did not think that possible. When asked about Iraq, Lebanon, Russia and Afghanistan, he kept repeating, “I believe that freedom is what every person wants and through freedom they will have a better life.” What a crock of crap that statement is and shows he has very little understanding of societies that do not hold individualism, choice and expression in the same regard that people in American do.

Simply put, people do not want choice and saying that we can say they do not want freedom (as we define it). Much of Asia has always existed under a feudal system. The Slavic peoples especially love having a strong leader and that is why since the dawn of time the vast area we call Russia has always been under domination by one strong person that put boundaries to life. The idiotic idea of freedom that the neocons such as George W. Bush has been promoting is simply flawed for much of the world. If you do not believe me, I can give you many resources regarding group culture, the affects of power on society and a few other areas of research that look at the differences in culture. Freedom as we have become to see it post 1945 is not a system that can be imposed, case in point Vietnam and much of Latin America.

I feel the issue is about choice. We believe freedom is choice. Think about it. What defines freedom for you? At the core of it, it is the ability to make a choice to select or do something without imposed restriction. However, I will admit that in modern society, it seems that we are moving away from freedom as most libertarians would rightly admit as Congress and the 50 state legislatures spend their time limiting options and thus choice. Law is really a restriction of options, is it not?

Are we happier with less choice? I am beginning to believe so. This topic is high on my mind because for one of my papers, I have been reading papers about consuming, marketing and finding ways to make the market take more of my product thus giving more growth and building more value for shareholders. However, is this system sustainable? Isn’t choice finite?

One of my favourite dinner time things to do other than enjoy the company of my lovely wife is to watch TED. I have a goal in life of attending a session which happens once a year in Monterey, California. Here is a very interesting talk by Barry Schwartz about choice. After living in Armenia, I have found that I am not happier if I have the choice of 2 shampoos or 20 shampoos. I could go on and on but I will refrain. I would encourage you to view the talk by Mr. Schwartz as it relates to happiness, choice and every day life.

I would love to hear your thoughts. Do email me or post your comment to this entry.