Are human rights the responcibilty of all?

[kvnchrist]

I've always felt that the rights of human beings are essential to everyone involved, not just those who are effected by this situation or that. I've heard people talk about this groups rights or that groups rights. I've seen every form of division known to man, separating the afflicted from the rest of society and I was wondering why those not effected by the intentional withholding rights of others don't defend these people as they would themselves.

It seems to me that it would be in everyone's interest to have a society of equals, that work together for the common good of all. Are we so self important that we can't see the wrongness that begins with the systematic disfranchisement of those who live in our communities and under the same sky?

Rights should not be designated by race, religion or affection and those who stand for the elimination of certain human beings should be confronted be the whole of that society, so that injustice can be reduced, if not eliminated.

The one solitary question remains is when should society revoke or restrict these rights and what would be the basis for doing so. (age, maturity, criminal behavior)

[HeyYou]

An idealist? :D

 

It would be nice if people would watch out for each other, and lend a hand when necessary, but, human nature, and most societies..... frown on people 'getting involved'. Generally, this is due to things like lack of specific training. (like interfering in a crime in progress, when you don't have any law enforcement training.) Sometimes, folks cause more harm than good, and those situations are the ones that get the most press, thus, folks are encouraged to 'do nothing', or, report the situation to the appropriate agency.

 

Not to mention that in our current society, people are more likely to simply record the incident, and then post it on youtube, than they are to call the cops, or whatever....

 

Then you have self-preservation. There are not many folks that are willing to put themselves in harms way to come to the defense of someone they don't know. Be it an individual, or group.

 

And there is always those that WON'T help, because they disagree with whatever the victim is being prosecuted for in the first place. (don't expect a homophobe to come to the aid of a gay person being assaulted....)

 

Nope. In today's society, you need to look out for yourself, because chances are REAL good, no one else is going to help you.

[KakeiTheWolf]

I have no problem with human rights. I have no problem with equal rights. I'm anti-racism and a feminist, though I am slighty homophobic (though I have pretty good reasons why). Regardless of positions, I am an advocate of humane treatment and equality for all.

 

However, I am quite against what some people do with the term "equality". Some people use equality as a weapon, a vehicle for furthering themselves in an agenda at the cost of the rights and safety of others, something reprehensible. There will always be people to abuse this ideal, and use it to break the equillibrium equality promises, by imbuing themselves with more rights than others, some of which can even endanger others.

 

I also detest people using equality to justify horrible actions. A good example is when people such as pedophiles, animal rapists, the incestuous, and necrophiliacs try to excuse and justify their actions by using the same central argument used by the LGBT community: "You can't help who you love". I'm all for equality, but when it is used to justify breaking the law, I have no choice but to fight against such people, for the good of mankind.

 

The world I want to live in is where people can be united despite the differences they cannot help. A world where all are equal in rights. A world where all are free to abide by the path of choices presented that do no harm to others (Clearly, people who harm others of their own volition are not a good thing). A world where people can be free to pursue the good of all.

 

But that world has no place for supremist opportunists or conniving lawbreakers. It has no room for those with genocidal agendas or brutality of lesser men. The world I wish to live in cannot embrace these violences, it must instead move past them. To be a paradise, it must be without vice or violence. For now, we as people must turn a blind eye to destructive regimes which hope to subvert and warp the meaning of equality. For now, we as people must defend those who would let this utopic paradise of peace, freedom, and equality come to fruition.

[JimboUK]

We're not equal so we can't have a society of equals, it's no good trying to create one either because it goes against human nature and thus is doomed to failure. Communism seeks to create equals yet always has to resort to oppression to keep people "equal", we want what's best for ourselves and our families, it's our nature, there's no changing that.

[screendrop]

Life is almost totally dystopian in nature. We can attempt to forecast or otherwise effect our wills on it, but ultimately, life acts and behaves in somewhat comparably sentient manner. Thus, if considered arbitrarily and disjointedly, there can be no "total human rights". Take the westernisation of Africa, for example. Western culture has turned AFrica into one of the largest humanitarian disasters, and it's on going. It will be, and is progressively proving to be impossible to reverse the intracractable impact Western culture has had on the largely nomadic culture of Africa, thus, it is at least conventionally, if not fundamentally morally western societies responsibility to intervene. However, as further invention occurs, it has only shown that the increasingly mutable and permeable nature of poverty stricken societies can actually result in increasing the decline of these states.

This is only one example of why it is not any ones responsibility to do ANYTHING let alone intervene under the generally abused proviso of "human rights".

Social libertarians will tell you that all humans are equal. This is false, I come from a lower-mid class society and I KNOW for a fact that not all humans are born equally. Some are born with crippling diseases, other poor upon birth. Whatever it is, where ever, humans are never born equally, it is a simple inescapable fact of existence, there are shades of grey to responsibility and as our culture becomes increasingly progressive and contemporary, we are beginning to recognise this, albeit too late.

In short; no one has ever been born equally and ever will be. Optimists will tell us that anyone can get anywhere with work, but this is a fabrication to invoke labour.

 

~SD

[Beriallord]

A person is only worth as much as they can prove by their actions. And yeah, that means a lot of people aren't worth much, unfortunately. Equality and egalitarianism are alien concepts to me. If you want to be equal to someone else, then prove it. Don't whine and complain, and make excuses. Its not possible for every individual to work their way to the top, it has not ever been or ever will be. And nobody should expect it to be. Some people are simply smarter, and/or more driven and motivated than others. The vast majority of tasks that need to be done in an economy are menial grunt work, and someone has to do it. That means there isn't even enough room at the top should everyone aspire or even be capable of achieving it.

 

You currently got a situation where higher education is being made too easy. And what I mean by that is there are more college students than there are professional jobs for these people. And a lot of people are going to run into the incredibly harsh reality that they may have went to college to obtain an unemployable education, or studied in something there isn't a whole lot of demand for in a fiercely competitive field where people with ivy league degrees are preferred over their humble community college degree.

 

How much would it suck to go to college for 4 years, rack up student loan debt and THEN be stuck doing grunt work like being a cashier at walmart for 10 or 11 bucks an hour? And then be stuck there for 3-4 years? This happens, because no matter how much anyone tries, the simple fact is not everyone is equal. And when you try to get in the way to prop the little guy up, in the end they end up getting screwed even more. Like, instead of just working a grunt job, now they're working a grunt job WITH a student loan debt to pay off for that unemployable education they got. My cousin is in this exact same situation. And she regrets it. So if you're going to college, you better think long and hard about what you're going to major in, or you could find yourself in the same shoes as my cousin who got an unemployable education.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Beriallord

[HeyYou]

As to college degrees becoming too easy to get... Yep. wholeheartedly concur. What we see today is folks spending huge sums of money to get a degree that will get them a job that barely pays enough to cover their student loan payments...... Nice.

[Nadimos]

Pardon doublepost.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Nadimos

[Nadimos]

Whatever you do to someone else, you do to you and vice versa. So in essence just extend your heart/soul and see what miracle happen and this way is kinda wild, but teaches you a lot.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Nadimos