I wrote a big-ass serious post about what people on the west consider as freedom and why people on the east consider it differently, then I re-read my epic post and deleted everything.
God knows, I wasn't going to...
I think it's really cool that you can be whatever you want, even "bearded woman", and most of ppl in the western world won't give a flying fuck about it. It's great to have such a freedom even if most of us don't appreciate it.
But you got me here! Now I can't help but write about it.
What's so cool about such kind of freedom, may I ask? Yes, on the West the whole definition of freedom is - FREEDOM! You can be whatever, do whatever, as long as it doesn't break the law or other people's freedom. Sounds nice, doesn't it? He-he-he.
I think there is in fact a difference between western and eastern definition of freedom. Believe it or not, but to me "
you can be whatever you want, even "bearded woman", and most of ppl in the western world won't give a flying fuck about it" sounds frightening. Nobody would give a fuck.
I can be whatever and nobody would give a fuck. Can I be a psycho? Yes, as long as I don't start fighting people on the streets or irritating my neighbours with weird noises - yes I can. It's freedom. Can I be an alcoholic ruining my life every day? People are ready to help, but nobody would intervene. It's my freedom and my right to be an alcoholic. I can even be a bearded woman, so what? It's my right. I'm gonna walk around the streets, and people meeting me would think "Bah, let him", and when their children ask them "Why does that guy look like a woman, what's wrong with him?" they'll answer "Nothing is wrong with him, he just wants to look this way".
I'm not sure what exactly is wrong here, but something is. It must be just because I'm an uneducated and conservative Russian person, so I don't worry much about it.
The further you go to the East, the more conservative and traditional the society becomes, IMO.
It's our tradition to care about what happens around, to care in a way that almost entitles us to judge other people despite their freedom of choice. The society's opinion is a strong thing here. People like to judge each other, to judge other people, even to judge things they don't have a clue about. And if someone appears in a makeup mr. Conchita has, people would care, even though it's not prohibited by law. The reasons might be different - someone is just a jerk and wants to beat something, and hey, this guy looks different, a nice target. Someone just wouldn't want their children to see a person of such look, because they find it bad and don't want children to feel like it's normal. Some might even take the appearance of this guy as a personal insult (that "someone" is probably some overly manly military dude). People will care, they will judge and in one way or another show their discontent.
And that's how the freedom works on the east. You're free to do anything that's not prohibited by the law and by society's opinion. If you're an alcoholic, people might not even want to help you, but they sure would judge you and in one way or another show their disrespect. You don't feel comfortable being an alcoholic here. You will not go out with your head up and say proudly: "It's my right to be whatever I want, piss off".
A funny example - on the west a smoking woman is treated just as any other woman (I guess), in Russia most men will probably disrespect such a woman.
So what I want to say with all my gibberish?
Which kind of freedom do I prefer? I don't know, honestly. Why did I write so much here?
It's late at night and my thoughts are floundered, so I might have made not much sense or have written too much truth, sorry for that.
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