Snapped this over the weekend at Disneyland. It’s part of the now-repurposed theater that used to house "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" but now runs a documentary on Disneyland commemorating their 50th anniversary. (The documentary, by the way, is narrated by Steve Martin — definitely worth 15 minutes of your time if you happen to be visiting the happiest place on Earth.)
Aside from the fact that this display is somewhat decontextualized in the absence of Giant Robot Patriotism, it occurred to me that the average visitor might not know what the first four freedoms are. (I knew who came up with them, but I had to look them up to see what they actually were.)
The "four freedoms" is a speech that FDR made in early 1941 — the four freedoms are freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear. The first two are pretty straightforward (they’re in the constitution, after all) but last two have gotten folks bent out of shape since Roosevelt spelled them out. The concept of a "fifth freedom" seems like a bit of conservative agit-prop right tucked away in a corner of the magic kingdom.
This came along at a really good time — I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how easily we demonize concepts like "maybe it would be a good idea if we don’t let people starve to death" while we take concepts like free speech for granted and don’t do much to actually further freedom. Is it really necessary for principles of freedom and progressive principles to be diametrically opposed?
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Jeffery, Do you have a sister named Jill?