Do people really have the freedom of choice?

This is one of the very few questions that are ask about our conditioning as human beings. Most people believe that they have a free choice about what they are doing, but you are right when you say that people are like under hypnosis. People are under the strong influence of their established mindset. That what is established as their world view and self image is influencing them strongly in their decisions. Part of their self image is that they believe that they have a 'free choice'. They believe this because they are not conscious about their background program and when they chose something then they believe that this is their own wish. An example: When receiving day after day from all around the information that a certain article will make them, let's say: 'happy', then their wish to be happy will be connected with this article and so they want to buy it and they will do some effort to be able to get it. People are not conscious about the manipulation that is done by clever businessmen...

A 'free choice' only can be done if a person is conscious about the fake reality that is created through manipulation during history of mankind and that has brought us to the present fake reality established so strongly in our society, serving in the first place those who have set those dubious goals for their own power games.

You are right: 'Something is going wrong'.

One might see the present situation as a step in the evolution of humankind and that the caused tremendous suffering is a step necessary to overcome the present condition. Yes, this might be possible, but what seems to be 'wrong' in it is the fact that people are stuck in their established condition and there seems to be no way out. For every disturbing condition there is offered a remedy and that is mostly another manipulation, that eliminates the disturbing symptom, but does nothing about the cause and that is the established self image of ones personality and all the concepts that are delivered from this society. All this forming our attitude and behavior and as a result limite us from relating and responding objectively and directly to our daily reality. To get out of this stuck condition, we need to ask ourselves who we are really and not following the suggestion that is put on us as an artificial image. Can this be done? Yes it can. How? This will be a good answer to another good Yahoo Question.

Yes i agree with you about how human don't have freedom of choice. People know about smoking and how bad it is to your body, but still thousands or even millions or people start smoking everydy when they wake up.

Its the events that happened in their life that makes them depress..and they feel the need to smoke so they can relax themselves. The same with heroine, marijuana, and other dangerous drugs that might kill you.

Teenagers don't have feedom of choice either b/c if they come from a poor family then they "have" to go to a public school and not a private school where most of his or her friends will be at.

Your question is indeed the most important one can think about. What guides one to the essential question: "Who we are? From where we get the feeling of our existence? What is the real sense of our life and not that what we are told by those people who are interested to sell us their junk, wanting us to believe that this will give us sense and make us happy!

There are a very few who think about such questions, but at least it is a start and we can use this opening and the given space here to express ourselves! I can't give an answer, but your question makes me reflect about it... I will come back to it!

you are not free you are bound by a social group and if you dont fit in to that gropu you are out cast so guess what give me out cast cause now im free of the collective woo hoooo

freedom of choice = CHOICE whether I want to make a bad choice or not.