How To Write An Argumentative Essay About Safety And Freedom

As American essayist and social critic H.L. Mencken wrote, “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.” To be free is to have the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without restraint. This type of freedom can be offered in many places whether it be home, school, or work. Safety is the condition of being protected from or unlikely to because risk, danger, or injury. Safety should be seen as an advantage to have because it’s never truly guaranteed. Most people claim they are proud of the freedoms their nations offer, though many people manifest the willingness to give up these freedoms to secure personal safety.

An American essayist, H.L. Mencken stated, “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants be safe”. I disagree with this statement because an “average man” wants to live. In order to live you must have two necessities; freedom and safety. I believe neither is more important than one another because being free gives you the opportunity to a safe nation, and a safe nation allows you to be free. You cannot live a life without exploring and growing because that would not be considered living. On the other hand, you cannot expect to be free without safety around you.

When you ask people what freedom is they may respond that freedom is when you can do whatever you want to do at whatever time. Mostly this will be the response of kids and young adults. But this definition of freedom is incorrect. Freedom is when we are allowed to have power of right to act without violating other people's freedoms or rights. The most effective tools for establishing and preserving freedom are strong government and constitution. A quote that can help out the claim comes from the Declaration of independence “We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal: that they are endowed by their creator with unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.

There are many ways to describe what freedom is; in fact Webster’s dictionary offers nine different explanations of what the word means. “A right or the power to engage in certain actions without control or interference,” is one of the most ubiquitous definitions. There are many ways to describe freedom and American history has portrayed it in very contradictory manners. In the late 1700’s, it was very obvious that America’s forefathers sought freedom as they based their revolution on the principal of emancipation but it was only a short while later that the freedoms of others within the country were being inhibited by slavery. Slavery inhibits civil liberties and in a land of equal

Safety and freedom are both essential components of society and many argue over which component holds desirability in modern civilization. Many, like H.L. Mencken, believe that humanity’s desire to be safe trumps their ambition to be free. This view may hold true for multitudinous individuals, however safety is defined differently by each person based on their own morals and values.

Mencken stated, “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe”. Wars, terrorism, and persecution surface a desire for safety. It is a universal desire. Humans are not willing to give up freedom to be safe.

Today, public safety is a major concern for many American citizens. Since September 11, 2001, the United States has changed drastically in terms of public safety. On the morning of that fateful day (referred to as 9/11), 19 terrorists hijacked four airplanes and deliberately crashed two of those planes directly into the World Trade Center buildings (the “Twin Towers”) in New York City (NYC). These attacks, led by the Al Qaeda terrorist group, killed nearly 3,000 people. As a result the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created to protect our country from threats to our people and infrastructure, (CITATION). The destruction of the World Trade Center has been cleaned up and the Freedom Tower was built in its place, (CITATION). In addition, numerous museums and monuments have been erected to honor the victims and survivors of 9/11, (CITATION).

In the lives of Americans September 11th, 2001 will forever be embedded in our memories. This was the day that international Terrorism first struck America. A day that America’s security was exposed from there on TSA, and Homeland Security was built. I remember before the devastating attacks we were able to walk up to any terminal in the airport and wait for any of our family members board the aircraft. Since those devastating attacks Americans have seen new policies in security and new implementations in transportation, but the cost to our new security and technology is the peoples’ privacy has agonized.

Freedom means living life as one wants, everything else is a form of slavery. If a person is not allowed to make his or hers decisions, if he or she is not free to live life as he/she wants than he/she doesn’t have power over his or her existence. If freedom was not essential for every human being than no one would have found so fiercely for it. If it was not important than today we would not be still fighting to keep and extend our freedom.

Millions of Americans, whether they want it or not, whether they know it or not, are having their personal data left behind on the web collected and watched by the federal government. Although some people believe that the government is in the right to track its people, the truth is that allowing any form of government, including our own to watch the people under the guise of safety is absurd, unethical, invasive, and will take the country down a darker path in which the people will slowly lose their rights in sugar coated comfort of letting the government do everything for them.

“The idea of freedom gives more security” I see this in my life as I prepare to go into high school and pick my high school endorsement. When my fellow classmates and I get into high school we get the freedom to pick our endorsements. The endorsements we choose are going to set us on a certain pathway for the rest of high school. I like how we get the freedom to choose our endorsement and the security given with it on how the rest of high school life is going to be.

From the federalism debates of our country’s infancy to more modern political issues, the question of whether safety or freedom is more important is inescapable. While there are many different opinions on this issue, most can be explained by a basic human habit: we seek what we don’t have, and often at the expense of what we feel we do have. Therefore, if a person already sees himself as safe, he will be willing to lose some security to policies or choices that protect his freedom, while a person with freedom will strive for more safety. This is because humans instinctively wish to improve themselves by attaining benefits that they lack, and they often disregard any negative effects that these might bring.

“You cannot have your cake and eat it too”. This proverbial idiom is often applied to situations in which one is faced with mutually exclusive options – one can either eat the cake or save it for another time. H.L. Menken presents freedom and safety in the same way when he states, “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe”, implying that it is impossible to possess both freedom and safety. Just as one may point out that one could eat a segment of the cake and save the remainder, making these options compatible, contemporary society desires the maximum amount of freedom that does not hinder safety.

Human society, specifically contemporary, argues for a sense of safety at the cost of one’s freedom. As H.L. Mencken wrote, “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.” According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, “safe” is derived from the Sanskrit word sarva, which is translated as “entire,” while “freedom” is acquired from the Sanskrit word priya, or “one’s own.” Linguistically, safety is already prioritized in the modern world as a state of being whole or a part of oneself within a greater being. Belonging to oneself, however, is a fearful predilection; therefore, the human condition is one in denial of the liberties of being by limitations presented to us by technology and modern life as we know it.

I lived day by day living in a tiny house if that’s even what you would call it, I lived day by day not really eating, I lived day by day being called property, I lived day by day being a slave. I didn’t have it so easy. First I got no respect then finally sharecropping came but then Jim Crow laws ended having any rights for anything. You were lucky if you could escape I never tried I am not that brave. All you could wonder was why me, why not white people why only African American people in America is what I wondered.