freedom

Recently Noam Chomsky gave a lecture at the University of Arizona, and it is now to be found on "Youtube".   During the question time C. remarked that the USA is freer than it's been in the past.  As I recall his evidence was the ethnic diversity on college campuses, informal dress signifying informal relationships, and the willingness of students at his own institution to consider social questions and be politically active.
Very little of that has had a beneficial impact upon my own life--at least, as far as I can see just now.  The silly incident at a coffee shop which I have recently described and analyzed at such length is only one of many examples in my life where I have experienced repression.  (On re-reading, maybe "repression" is too strong.  However, there is a psychological process whereby one becomes hyper-sensitized to unpleasant experiences, and it does often seem to characterize my own life........on account of living with my elderly parents, etc.)

In my own case, these experiences started when I was a young man, living in a family, but they have continued.  (When I was a teenager, my father reacted to my expression of independent thought by physical aggression....) A university environment offers less repression than, say, the average workplace, but for all his wisdom and knowledge, I sometimes wonder whether Professor Chomsky has not quite got the real measure of the harsh repressiveness found in the USA.  Then, again, my view is influenced by time spent living outside of the USA; I wonder if that could be the difference....