I am posting a little late, but I wanted to make sure my post was well thought out.
I was intrigued by the list that we made on Thursday of human rights that were most important to us. The list shared an uncanny resemblance with the ideals of our Constitution and Declaration of Independence. It makes sense that as Americans, we wrote down the rights that we currently enjoy such as freedom of speech because most if not all of us exercise that right almost every single day. We came up with many of the same ideas that the first leaders of our country wrote down. Some of the entries on the list even used the same wording as our forefathers did. One group wrote "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as one of their most important rights. I am sure that the reason that we share the same ideals as two of the most important documents of our country is because we grew up idealizing and striving to embody the values of our forefathers. What rights are valued in other countries, and are they valued because of ideals of their previous leaders? Are the cases of human rights violations around the world caused by groups of people who grew up with different sets of ideals from ours trying to live by the values set by their idols? Or are the violations caused by the lack of idealized values set by the predecessors of other nations and groups? Maybe human rights violations are caused solely because of the desire for power with a disregard for human life, but maybe the people in power of countries with questionable rights value human rights less than the "betterment of their country" because they were taught and raised that way. Is there a way to end this vicious cycle?
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Our discussion of human rights in class intrigued me, and this weekend while researching human rights, I came across The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was proclaimed and signed by the members of the UN in 1948 following WWII. This proclamation begins with the line, "Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world." This idea of freedom, justice, and peace in the world were among our main points in the lists we made in class, as all the groups mentioned either some form of freedom of speech or expression or the right to a fair trial before prosecution. The document goes on to state: "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status" in Article 2. Although this document proclaims equal rights and freedoms for all peoples, still today there are many inequalities in our society on the basis of race, religion, or sexual orientation. A quarter century after this document was signed, in America the civil rights movement was raging as African Americans struggled to gain the equality promised them by the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, two of our countries most important documents. Although I am not sure when this issue of equality with regard to human rights will be solved, I do know that as a society, we have still not achieved the ideals stated in this Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
ReplyDeleteSadly not. Unfortunately, I don't know if equality in human rights is even remotely possible. Look at the United States. The richest country in the world by far (even in the 60's) still rife with civil rights abuses. Honestly, it seems like the only way any progress could be made would be a strong, fair, world government, which will forever remain a pipe dream (which I just now realized is a reference to hashish) because:
ReplyDeleteA: Humans are scum and
B: sovereignty reigns supreme, allowing those nations with frequent, brutal human rights abuses to simply wave a flag of "our land, our rules" in the face of international community going on to ignore any number of UN reprimands on the matter.
This is not to say we should not strive for a better world, because if we do not, any semblance of world order will undoubtedly slip into oblivion. Only with constant struggle for a perfect world are we able to maintain anything approaching improvement as a society. It just saddens me how terribly far away a world with "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family" seems as far away now as it did 10 years ago.
Sorry, I had a syntax error which made the last sentence repulsive.
ReplyDeleteSadly not. Unfortunately, I don't know if equality in human rights is even remotely possible. Look at the United States. The richest country in the world by far (even in the 60's) still rife with civil rights abuses. Honestly, it seems like the only way any progress could be made would be a strong, fair, world government, which will forever remain a pipe dream (which I just now realized is a reference to hashish) because:
A: Humans are scum and
B: sovereignty reigns supreme, allowing those nations with frequent, brutal human rights abuses to simply wave a flag of "our land, our rules" in the face of international community going on to ignore any number of UN reprimands on the matter.
This is not to say we should not strive for a better world, because if we do not, any semblance of world order will undoubtedly slip into oblivion. Only with constant struggle for a perfect world are we able to maintain anything approaching improvement as a society. It just saddens me how terribly far away a world with "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family" seems to be, despite all of our efforts..
Human nature is a competitive one, and people are always striving to be better than their peers. Sadly, many choose to exercise the power they gain form success in society in appalling ways. This can be either for their own gain or security. In cases of genocide, it is either the mental complex of a leader or nation that requires the elimination of a people for security or a state or leader choosing to scapegoat a minority people. Either way, human nature will not change and there always will eb those who commit violations in human rights, even us Americans, yet there is always soemone to oppose the peopel who commit atrocities.
ReplyDelete