新一代中国青少年，因成长环境的改变，接受认知途径的拓展，常质疑我国社会现状，却极力吹捧西方民主。当然我国社会并非完美无瑕，但西方民主却更是水月镜花，远观婀娜多姿，亵玩方知实乃半斤八两。我认为，作为人类，凡事应以人为本。不管什么主义，归根结底都只不过是为人类服务的一些概念、规则和方法。不同的地域，不同的社会、文化、历史背景，不同的价值观念等等诸多的不同造就了不同的社会制度，就像喝汤用勺，吃饭用筷，而欧美多用刀叉，直接对比勺、筷、刀叉哪个更好，没有太大意义。一个制度的成败关键在人。

　　“自由民主之谬”这部分的主要内容是给西方的这一概念揭短，自由民主的可取之处大家可以自己做研究，本文既然标题是《谬》，揭短自然才是本分，褒扬的话就省了。

Remember this scene in The Godfather movie? When Marlon Brando says, "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse." So what exactly does Brando offer to that miserable guy? We know it too well, it's "Death". Since we're not vampires, we're all going to die at some point in the future. It seems death is indeed an offer nobody can refuse, not even Brando.

　　你还记得《教父》这部电影里的这个情节吗？片中饰演教父的马龙白兰度低声说道：“我会开给他一个他无法拒绝的条件。”教父开给那可怜家伙的到底是一个什么样的条件呢？我想看过这部电影的朋友都明白，那就是“死亡”。因为我们不是吸血鬼，更没有不死之身，所以我们每一个人在未来的某天都会挂掉。看来死亡的确是个任何人都不可拒绝的条件，就算白兰度本人都不行。

Fast rewind to March 23rd, 1775. When Patrick Henry was giving his famous speech at the Virginia Convention. "I know not what course others may take," he continued, "but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" Boy! THAT was something! Several decades later, when General John Stark, New Hampshire's most famous soldier of the American Revolutionary War, forced by his poor health, sent his toast by letter to an anniversary reunion of the battle he fought. The letter begins with these four words: "Live free or die." And it later became the state motto of his beloved New Hampshire.

　　快退到公元 1775 年的 3 月 23 日，当时，帕特里克亨利正在弗吉尼亚议会发表他的著名演讲，他神情激昂地说道：“我不知他人会选哪条路，至于我，不自由，毋宁死！”天，这气场不是盖的！几十年后，新罕布什尔州最著名的独立战争悍将约翰斯达克将军，因病无法出席那一年的战友年度聚会，他只能通过信件寄去他的祝词，信中写道：“活着就是要自由，否则不如去死”，后来这句名言成为了他深爱着的新罕布什尔州的州铭。

As we can see, from "Give me liberty or give me death" to "Live free or die", they voluntarily cut their options to merely two. It's whether liberty/freedom or death. That's a no-brainer, for it is only human nature that there are scarcely any of us willing to choose the latter, if the former is not otherwise tangible. Most of us, however, even fully aware of our inevitable death, do not want to die. We may sacrifice everything but ourselves to earn our sometimes compromised freedom. Now, it might not be what they meant, but Henry and Stark's words essentially tells us that we can neither have liberty nor be free, since we're all mortal, we can only choose the latter - "death". I'm sorry. The cake is a lie.

　　我们都看到了， 从“不自由，毋宁死！”到“活着就是要自由，否则不如去死”，他们都不约而同地主动把自己的选项缩减为仅两个：不是“自由”就是“死亡”。这双项选择题我们完全都不用思考，因为怕死是人的天性，就算选不到前者“自由”，我们大部分人也不会去选择后者“死亡”。我们都知道自己的死亡终无法避免，但我们却不想早早丢了性命。除了我们自己，我们愿意牺牲一切去交换那些有条件的相对的自由。下面我将要说的可能并非他们的本意，但帕特里克亨利和约翰斯达克将军的这两句话却从逻辑上告诉我们自由对我们来说永远不可选。因为人是会死的，所以只要是人，就只能选择后者 - “死亡”。很抱歉，这是二选一，“自由”我们没得选的。

I know it might be a little too devious to intentionally misinterpret some of the "greatest quotes" of our "finest fathers". But truth is, liberty and freedom does not exist, they never were, and never will.

　　我知道故意这样扭曲地解读“名人名言”确实是有点太调皮了，但事实却非常严肃：自由根本不存在，以前没存在过，以后也更不会存在。

点击进入第二章：自由是死亡