Guest Contributor – Glenn W – 06DEC2023 – Human Rights

Hi Arthur,

I agree that these ideas of rights are ours in the West, really the Anglo-Saxon West. They are the product of a particular time and place and most of us in the West no longer understand them much less the invaders. I also agree that there is such a thing as reality and it is important to discuss what that reality is. Our worldviews aren’t really that far apart.

Zman is big on western tradition which is great but he certainly values some tradition above other tradition (I know that’s not a surprise). Zman’s post disturbed me enough that I bookmarked it (see Survival of Rights). I think this quote lays it out well:

The thing they will not find among the decaying buildings, rusting vehicles and collapsed bridges will be piles of human rights. They will not open a door of some oddly preserved building and find a bunch of skeletons who had found shelter along with their sacred human rights. In fact, they will probably find no trace of human rights or any discussion of the concept. Given that most of our knowledge is now digital, these sorts of things will be impossible to detect.

 

 

 

 

 

The main reason for this is human rights do not exist. They are a thing that humans invented late in the history of mankind. People say that human rights are real and point to various authorities to support the claim, but rights are not real things. They exist only as a figment of our imagination, like the concept of lust. No other species has this concept so it is possible the aliens will not understand it either. It will be as alien to them as our entirely made up concept of human rights.

Without individual rights liberty does not exist. Personal liberty is my tradition and I will do everything in my power to keep it.