We no longer debate concepts—we applaud slogans.
“Freedom” has become the word that excuses every excess.
“Openness” a glamorous cover to justify every shallowness.
We teach our children to speak their minds… without teaching them how to think about what they say. We celebrate every bold step—even if it is empty of meaning. But are we truly living freedom? Or merely a chaos disguised in its name?
A colleague once told me: “My son rejects everything, and says: this is my conviction!” I asked: “Does he read?” He said: No. “Does he analyze?” He said: No. I told him: “Then this is not conviction—it’s contagion.”
True freedom requires a mind that discerns, not just an impulse that erupts. And openness does not mean opening all windows, but choosing carefully which air to let in.
Many nations have suffered tragic consequences from freedom without awareness. Youth swept into addiction, extremism, or even suicide—not because they were free, but because they were abandoned without a compass.
We must redefine these concepts: teach our children that freedom is responsibility, not a reward, and that openness does not dissolve identity, but refines it.
This generation does not merely need freedom, but a philosophy of freedom. And society does not only need openness, but a mind that asks: What are we opening to? Why? And what is the impact on our awareness and identity?
The one who thinks before he becomes free… survives.
The one who becomes free before he thinks… falls into a new slavery— applauded, but unaware
I once asked a group of university students: “What’s the difference between freedom and recklessness?” The answer: “Freedom is to do whatever I want!” So I asked: “And when do we say this is wrong?” One replied: “When the government says so!”
That was the moment I realized: awareness had not been built—it was replaced with echo.
According to a 2023 Freedom House report, countries with higher indicators of freedom of expression also witness higher rates of online disinformation. And societies that lack tools of critical thinking become an easy prey for a fake freedom sold as content.
This is the real danger: a generation following those who mock values, imitating without understanding, believing that a loud voice = awareness, and that followers = truth.
Here lies the role of the educator: not to restrict freedom, but to nurture thinking before unleashing it. To teach that openness is not fascination, but examination: Does what we admit into our minds enlighten—or paralyze?
We are not fighting freedom—we are rescuing it from falsification. We are not rejecting openness—we are demanding a mind to hold its hand before it slips.
For the one who shouts “freedom” without awareness is like a man waving a sword without a blade: he wounds himself first… and then his society.
