To lose one's freedom is to lose one's adulthood and be treated as a child - and this denial is also the essence of elitism in many cases.
To lose one's adulthood, or fail to achieve it - is ultimately to lose one's freedom.
Alan K. Henderson provides a more in-depth treatment, and an East Berliner known as 'Monica' stars on both sides of this fence (literally). Big ups to Mike Daley and Jay Manifold.
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The idea that loss of freedom = childhood comes because slavery is illegal.
It used to be that people talked about their slaves like children, and they talked like they treated their slaves with the same paternalism they treated their children. But it wasn't usually true.
We often find the childlike quality of people from certain cultures charming, but this quality is closely related to less charming characteristics.
Childlike people, by definition, are not equiped to take advantage of the opportunities freedom offers, but they are equiped to resent the fact that they don't have the goodies that free people are able to aquire.
This is a huge problem.