[halayli]

> It’s only in recent history that freedom has come to mean having a huge array of choices in life. Did we take a wrong turn?

Said who? This is an argument from invented opposition. I’m not sure anyone actually defines freedom as "a huge array of choices". The author seems to invent a mainstream narrative just to dismantle it(arguing against a straw man)

Abundance of choice and freedom are orthogonal. Having the right choice and being free are not.

[AnthonyMouse]

> Said who? This is an argument from invented opposition. I’m not sure anyone actually defines freedom as "a huge array of choices". The author seems to invent a mainstream narrative just to dismantle it(arguing against a straw man)

It's the inversion of something which is correct.

If you don't have any choice or are limited to a small number of bad options, that's not freedom. Freedom requires choice.

But choice is necessary, not sufficient. Having a thousand frivolous choices that are all bad and still not the ones you ought to have is not it either.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

The American media environment in the post-WWII era (say, 1948-1968) was full of both explicit and implicit claims that the vast array of consumer choices available to Americans was evidence of the freedom the Americans had.

[marcosdumay]

And it was.

Evidence of a fact is different from the fact.

[gtowey]

I think it's definitely the case where corporations and the media want us to believe that having a huge array of choices is freedom.

[hinkley]

Salesmanship has long been associated with convincing people they have a problem and then offering a solution.

And an evergreen one is the single differentiating feature. Like color. How many kitchenaid appliances have been sold in a faddish color only to be replaced by white or black or red a handful of years later? Those things were tanks. Still are to an extent.

[ch4s3]

Choice is an aspect of freedom. You could have absolutely freedom from any kind of social or political obligation or coercion and if all you can do with that is how potatoes then what good is it?

[dkdcio]

how? in what way? why? what does that even mean?