What's ironic is that this kind of freedom is actually so easy to achieve in this consumer society. All you need is a job, self discipline, and a mindset where you don't value materialistic things, therefore keeping your expenses down to just what you need. The money keeps coming in as long as you just put one foot in front of the other, and pretty soon you're free.
Yeah that's true! You don't have to like this utilitarian/consumerist society but you can take advantage of it at the same time, which is nice and ironic as you say. It's sort of like falling through the cracks in a good way.