A Clockwork Orange/Freedoms

I had a sort of conversation through Myspace comments with someone the other day regarding the movie A Clockwork Orange -- she was too disturbed/revolted by it now due to the rape/murder content, despite having liked it when she was younger. I'm not sure how many people are aware that this is exactly how the movie is supposed to make you feel, and for very good reason. The point or question it presents is, would you rather that human beings had free will, no matter what the consequences? Specifically as to the examples in the movie, do you want everyone to have free will even if it means a few (or even many) people are going to get raped, robbed or killed? Is our faith in justice and the police system enough to calm our fury over these crimes? Or, as it really seems to be asking, is the importance or beauty of free will enough to make putting up with these crimes worth it?

A similar film in many ways is Larry Flynt. In this case the question is, are the principles of free speech and freedom of the press so important that can we can put up with people trying to publish anything and everything, no matter how offensive to our particular sensibilities or morals? In both cases and to most people, the answer is yes. But these films take us to the very brink of our commitment to our beliefs, showing us the worst possible consequences of allowing others to make their own decisions. We can shield porn from children, we can put criminals in jail, but that's about it. I think that the beauty of these movies is the way they remind us how important our beliefs are, how beautiful the things they represent are, and how much we may be sacrificing for them, making them all the more precious. Most of the principles this country was founded on (the various rights, commitments and tolerances) are truly beautiful things, particularly in the way they transcend individual communities, governments and religions; when we try to pin them down to one particular group's beliefs and restrict them, we take away their power and beauty and ruin them. A freedom is only meaningful and inspiring if it is complete.

On a side note, his is also why I am against most of the circumventions of civil rights placed on us since 9/11; if we allow our freedom to be stifled (our communications monitored, our houses searched when we aren't home, our civil rights suspended if arrested in relation to "homeland security," ad nauseum) because of a few terrorists, then they have already won. It would be much more beautiful to continue living our lives the way we want to, without fear, knowing it is right.