John Stuart Mill - "On Liberty"

This essay seems to be primarily concerned with the limits of the powers that society can legitimately exercise over individuals. In a nutshell, what Mill really wants for the individual lies in the title of his book: liberty. Society does indeed impose a lot on us, and because we live in a democracy, the majority rules. As a result, those of us that make up the minority are often expected to assimilate because we are subject to the opinions of the majority. Mill summed it up best when he said: “When there is an ascendant class, a large portion of the morality of the country emanates from its class interests, and its feelings of class superiority” (p. 2). Mills does not want our liberty to ever be stepped upon, except for in the case of self-protection. Only when one is a danger to others is there reason to exercise power over him/her. In the case of what we can refer to as “victimless crimes,” such as abusing drugs and alcohol, Mill says that we may only attempt to reason with the person in question, but we do not have the right to force him/her to do anything.
I have to say, I found myself agreeing with Mill until the essay took what I can only describe to be an awkward turn on the bottom of page 4 to page 5. What exactly constitutes a “backward state of society,” and what’s to say that our interference will result in the betterment of the so-called “barbarians” that inhabit those societies? It’s all very reminiscent of the millions of American voices that defended the Iraq invasion partly due to our views of the treatment of Iraqi women. It became our duty to rush in and liberate them, but in the end, the onset of the war ended up causing more limitations and stricter rules for Iraqi women.