When freedom has nothing to do with actually being free

When Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, he said it was to “free Ukrainians from [Nazi] oppression.” According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Putin was denazifying Ukraine, so that, “freed from this oppression, Ukrainians could freely determine their future.” Never mind that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish (a.k.a. not a Nazi) or that Ukrainians were already free and didn’t need any extra freeing.

Of course, Russia has not freed Ukrainians. Instead, they’ve bombed and assaulted and terrorized them. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have died being “freed.” And tens of thousands of Russians have died “freeing” them. Ask any Ukrainian if they feel freer today than they did a year ago. My guess is (when they stop staring at you like you’ve lost your mind) they will say, “No.”

Ukraine doesn’t have a Nazi problem. It has a Putin problem.

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis claims he is “freeing” Florida from woke oppression. But is he? During the height of the COVID pandemic, he “freed” Floridians from having to wear masks and get vaccinated, but in his push for freedom, he made students at a press conference remove their masks because it didn’t fit his agenda, and he banned cruise lines and other businesses from requiring vaccines. Never mind that the students might have wanted to wear masks to protect themselves and others or that cruise ships were a petri dish for COVID and could be sued by passengers who contracted the virus — or by their loved ones if passengers died of COVID after being on the ship. At least Floridians were free to spread COVID without that pesky mask getting in the way.

More recently, DeSantis banned many discussions of gender and race in Florida classrooms. He said it was to protect students in K-3 from age-inappropriate content, but the law was just vague enough that it could be applied to all students. His rationale was that students should be free from discomfort in the classroom. He even declared that students could sue teachers who talked about racial subjects that made students “feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress” because of their [white] race. And he gave parents the freedom to ban school books that might do the same.

Never mind that not talking or reading about these things can cause students of color and students who struggle with their sexuality to “feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress.” This “freedom” doesn’t apply to those kids. Nor does it apply to teachers who live in fear that anything they say can be used as a weapon against them if a student (or more likely a parent) disagrees with it. Or just plain doesn’t like them.

I taught middle and high school for years, and the best way to encourage robust thought and maturity is to challenge students with ideas they might disagree with. Not teaching critical thinking skills is a travesty and doesn’t bode well for future generations of Floridians. But at least they’ll be free. Or some of them will.

DeSantis also banned diversity training, even in private businesses. He banned a woman’s right to decide whether or not abortion was the best option for her after just 15 weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape and incest. He banned peaceful protests by signing an “anti-riot” bill that makes all protesters liable if a single protester gets out of hand. But he didn’t ban people from driving their cars into protesters and killing them. So, at least people who kill protesters are free.

He banned ex-convicts from voting, even when the state told them they could. He banned an African American studies elective because it had no “educational value” (i.e., wasn’t white history). And more bans are coming.

All that banning doesn’t sound like freedom. Freedom of speech, only if you say what Ron DeSantis says you can say. Freedom to protest, only if you protest against what Ron DeSantis doesn’t like. Freedom to teach, only if you teach what Ron DeSantis tells you to teach. Freedom to learn only what Ron DeSantis wants you to learn.

When Ron DeSantis says he’s freeing us from oppression, I suggest that, like the Ukrainians, we are not actually freer now than we were a year ago.

Florida doesn’t have a “woke” problem. We have a Desantis problem.

FILE Gov. Ron DeSantis at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando on Feb. 22. In a the run-up to his likely presidential campaign, DeSantis has cast himself as America’s preeminent right-wing culture warrior.