Brainwashed Freedom

Two days ago I saw an article about the freedom index and as if someone has arranged the events in my life, last night while searching for some documentaries, YouTube offered me one about Turkmenistan having the most bizarre and ruthless dictatorship, after which came another documentary about Brunei. Both countries are on the freedom index list obviously and if you know a bit about the world, you know at which end these countries are situated.  Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@darkres?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Andrés Beltrán</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/three-stacked-terracotta-pots-shaped-like-faces-1tpeodRNDuY?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a> The things the documentary says about Turkmenistan are shocking to say the least but only for those who were born and lived in a free country. The reporters went through a lot of trouble to get what they could on camera, as in most places filming was prohibited and the only option was the use of a hidden camera at their own risk. It's shocking that such country exists and even worse than it is not the only one, there are other countries in a similar situation.  [](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-freest-countries-in-the-world/) Here's the two ends of the list, you can check where your country is situated and if you don't find it on the list, you can visit [the page](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-freest-countries-in-the-world/) and search it manually. You may be wondering what criteria has been considered when putting together the list and without knowing them all, here are a few that the article mentions and also looks logical: strong electoral systems, independent courts, press freedom, and protections for civil liberties. It's good to see 11 out of the first 15 countries are European and if you know what life is like in Europe, you understand why. At the other end of the list you can only find ex soviet countries, that are still dominated by Russia to some extent and that can't or don't want to move on from dictatorship yet. I'm kind of surprised Russia and China are not lower on the list, but as I see it, both are working hard on earning a place near Turkmenistan for themselves.  Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@ginkgoshutter?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Tegan Conway</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/arched-hallway-with-a-window-and-hanging-lantern-WSHdvPCT_Tw?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a> The two documentaries were very different in so many ways. The journalists could not really get real interactions with locals and even if they were able to speak to a few of people, they were either the people of this brutal regime or terrified of the consequences. People from Brunei were very different, more open, but what struck me a lot was how people see their freedom compared to other countries. Brunei is one of the six remaining absolute monarchies, where the sultan and his family are living in the biggest palace of the world, which is three times the size of the Versailles palace. Have you been to Versailles? I have and trust me, the palace is huge. This is all self assigned wealth as in an absolute monarchy, the only person who has a saying in this is the sultan. It is temporary in my opinion as 95% of the countries income comes from gas and […]