I was reading Rush Limbaugh's comments on a recent Barack Obama interview. Obama does not want America to impose our values on other cultures. Limbaugh responded that the value we're spreading is freedom, and freedom can never be an imposition.
Is freedom really the opposite of imposition? I would like to free Rush from the tyranny of his drug problem, so I'll incarcerate him in a socialist rehab camp. No complaining, now, it's for your own good.
It turns out feeling free is not the same as being freed.
This is not an original idea. It's the argument of the Free Tibet movement. Sure, we Tibetans are materially poor, but we are happy because of the riches of our traditions. Please don't liberate us from our schools, festivals, and culture. Memo to world: please liberate us from our Chinese liberators. A threat to Tibetan theocracy is a threat to theocracies everywhere. American Christians, take note.
Another synonym for "to free" is "to relieve". Here in California, for example: Relieve me of my property taxes, and relieve teachers of their duties.
Nationalists freed us from the Gypsies and Jews... Brittany is freeing Britons from a paucity of Brittany... Oh, spare me.