[user3939382]

I spent a lot of time reading political philosophy books from smart people with big reputations and the definition and dynamics of liberty was definitely an overriding theme. My takeaway many years later is that it's a very complex topic and many people, all with contradictory positions, have a lot of confidence in their take on it. I trump them all by having no confidence in my take!

[secondaryacct]

Yeah I m in the same boat. I come from France, an old, maybe aging, proud of itself democracy and... when I discovered Singapore then Hong Kong, two semi-dictatorships in different ways, omg: I had never seen people so free in ways we cant be free in France.

So now that Im a permanent resident in Hong Kong, joking with everyone next step is Chinese citizenship, I'm a bit at a loss when it comes to freedom. Not corruption, efficiency, representativity, predictable justice or even fairness, where clearly I cant argue against France and for China/HK. But just freedom itself, I feel it goes so much beyond the ability to vote and complain publicly. I cant define it just like you, but when I look around me in the middle of a street in Hong Kong, even now, I feel so much freer that in Paris... it's weird.

[beaconstudios]

are you sure you're not mixing up freedom and stability? Individual freedom is not something China is known for.