The myth called "Human Rights"

[Volnotov]

Why are people always whining about their civil rights?

About their privacy, their right to have freedom of speech, their right to do whatever they wan't, the right to be treated ethical and humane, ect.

I believe it is time for this nonsense to end.

Ofcourse, right now you may think "Nonsense? Those are my god damn rights you fascist!"

Well, I have a question for you.

Who says you have those rights?

Who or what decides that?

Is it us Humans?

Well, I'll present the following question to you.

"If all the people on the world would stop believing there was gravity, would gravity cease to exist?"



Why am I posting such a silly question you may think, well the reason is that from my experience believe start to believe that human rights is a fundemental law of nature, just like gravity.

But I believe that is flawed.

I don't believe we have rights just because the media and politicians keep telling us that.

If we would all believe tomorow that the Earth is flat, then the Earth certainly wouldn't suddenly turn into a flat disk.

Human Rights don't exist, and they certainly not something like gravity or other laws of nature.

It's a thing made and invented by Human beings.

But where do these so called "Human rights" come from?

1 Word - Religion.

Think of the 10 commandments.

Or the Codex of Hammurabi in ancient mesopotamia.

And now, onto the question.

Who decides we have "rights"?

Well I would say - no one.

From this point of view I would say we have no rights, neither do we have duties.

Ofcourse, but now we live in a society.

And I believe that in order for a society to survive, and mankind in general we should make laws - to protect human from exploitation for example. And give people duties and responsibilities. Like paying your tax, going to work, don't kill other people, ect.

But I do not believe we have rights, and I can't understand how there are still those that believe believe we do - with, in my opinion having no proof whatsoever.

But ofcourse, believe what you will.

Because who says you are not allowed too?

[EvilDarkMagicians]

So what exactly is your point?

[Volnotov]

So what exactly is your point?

That people stop bitching about their non-existant human rights and stop trying to hamper the progress of human society because they can't put the greater good above their pathetic self interests and above their primitive animal instincts.

[Traceynia]

I don't think it's a particularly earth shattering notion that human rights are constructs made by humans. There are some posters who would say that there are objective natural rights that we all have, but I think they are the exception.

[Lackadaisical2]

So what exactly is your point?

Seems clear cut form the first half anyway- natural rights do not exist.

This goes against the universal objective nature of the universe.

[Lackadaisical2]

So what exactly is your point?

That people stop bitching about their non-existant human rights and stop trying to hamper the progress of human society because they can't put the greater good above their pathetic self interests and above their primitive animal instincts.

lawl. Self interest may be primitive and animal, but those are hardly pejoratives in this case.

[Takaram]

I don't think there are many people who would say that there are some kind of pre-set natural rights that we all have, simply because we are human. There are, however, rights that are afforded to people by the graces of civilization and society. These are the rights people argue for.

[Natapoc]

There are different philosophies of rights. Some people feel there is no such thing as "natural rights" others feel that "rights" are a product of society.

There are absolutely "human rights" simply because that is a term we as humans have found useful for describing something and as humans we have absolute control over language and what it means. If everyone decided tomorrow to start referring to blue as "a particularly stinky smell" then overnight blue would mean "a particularly stinky smell" because us humans decided that is what it means.

Likewise rights are whatever we want them to mean.

And no one can stop us! Can you handle the freedom?

[Central Slavia]

I agree with every damn word of this post.
You, sir are a genius!

[Lackadaisical2]

I agree with every damn word of this post.
You, sir are a genius!

This is how I generally check to see if something is wrong

[Great Nepal]

Why are people always whining about their civil rights?

About their privacy, their right to have freedom of speech, their right to do whatever they wan't, the right to be treated ethical and humane, ect.

I believe it is time for this nonsense to end.

Ofcourse, right now you may think "Nonsense? Those are my god damn rights you fascist!"

Well, I have a question for you.

Who says you have those rights?

Who or what decides that?

Is it us Humans?

Well, I'll present the following question to you.

"If all the people on the world would stop believing there was gravity, would gravity cease to exist?"



Why am I posting such a silly question you may think, well the reason is that from my experience believe start to believe that human rights is a fundemental law of nature, just like gravity.

But I believe that is flawed.

I don't believe we have rights just because the media and politicians keep telling us that.

If we would all believe tomorow that the Earth is flat, then the Earth certainly wouldn't suddenly turn into a flat disk.

Human Rights don't exist, and they certainly not something like gravity or other laws of nature.

It's a thing made and invented by Human beings.

But where do these so called "Human rights" come from?

1 Word - Religion.

Think of the 10 commandments.

Or the Codex of Hammurabi in ancient mesopotamia.

And now, onto the question.

Who decides we have "rights"?

Well I would say - no one.

From this point of view I would say we have no rights, neither do we have duties.

Ofcourse, but now we live in a society.

And I believe that in order for a society to survive, and mankind in general we should make laws - to protect human from exploitation for example. And give people duties and responsibilities. Like paying your tax, going to work, don't kill other people, ect.

But I do not believe we have rights, and I can't understand how there are still those that believe believe we do - with, in my opinion having no proof whatsoever.

But ofcourse, believe what you will.

Because who says you are not allowed too?

First time in History of mankind, I agree with you. Who gave the humans to determine there rights?

[Volnotov]

So what exactly is your point?

Seems clear cut form the first half anyway- natural rights do not exist.

This goes against the universal objective nature of the universe.

Please elaborate.

Also, I wonder if human rights per definition don't exist.

Aren't the studies of human rights and ethics obsolete?

[Makaar]

Coin has two sides. What gives the government the right to force people to do things for "the greater good"? It's PRECISELY what gives people their "human rights" - in other words, it's the society at the time saying "right, now this is what we believe".

Best way to do it is just to treat everyone equally, and in the best manner possible - i.e. treat them the way they'd most like to be treated, and stop them from treating others in a way they wouldn't like to be treated. That's what human rights and government is.

[Treznor]

So what exactly is your point?

That people stop bitching about their non-existant human rights and stop trying to hamper the progress of human society because they can't put the greater good above their pathetic self interests and above their primitive animal instincts.

And why do you believe that the greater good can't be served by defining and protecting "human rights"? Wasn't it "human rights" that enabled an entire class of people to rise up from slavery and become creative contributors to society instead of just menial workers? Wasn't it "human rights" that enabled half of all citizens to participate in government and join the other half in academic, industrial and political pursuits? I could go on, but my point is that the fight to bring inequality to an end seems to have had some very positive results toward the greater good.

[Qwcasd]

Why are people always whining about their civil rights?

About their privacy, their right to have freedom of speech, their right to do whatever they wan't, the right to be treated ethical and humane, ect.

I believe it is time for this nonsense to end.

Ofcourse, right now you may think "Nonsense? Those are my god damn rights you fascist!"

Well, I have a question for you.

Who says you have those rights?

Who or what decides that?

Is it us Humans?

Well, I'll present the following question to you.

"If all the people on the world would stop believing there was gravity, would gravity cease to exist?"



Why am I posting such a silly question you may think, well the reason is that from my experience believe start to believe that human rights is a fundemental law of nature, just like gravity.

But I believe that is flawed.

I don't believe we have rights just because the media and politicians keep telling us that.

If we would all believe tomorow that the Earth is flat, then the Earth certainly wouldn't suddenly turn into a flat disk.

Human Rights don't exist, and they certainly not something like gravity or other laws of nature.

It's a thing made and invented by Human beings.

But where do these so called "Human rights" come from?

1 Word - Religion.

Think of the 10 commandments.

Or the Codex of Hammurabi in ancient mesopotamia.

And now, onto the question.

Who decides we have "rights"?

Well I would say - no one.

From this point of view I would say we have no rights, neither do we have duties.

Ofcourse, but now we live in a society.

And I believe that in order for a society to survive, and mankind in general we should make laws - to protect human from exploitation for example. And give people duties and responsibilities. Like paying your tax, going to work, don't kill other people, ect.

But I do not believe we have rights, and I can't understand how there are still those that believe believe we do - with, in my opinion having no proof whatsoever.

But ofcourse, believe what you will.

Because who says you are not allowed too?

Your argument is nonsense. It people stopped believing gravity, the world is flats, etc tomorrow, then yes, those things would be true. If everyone thought that, then everyone would act as if those facts were true. So it would be like they were true. There is no such thing as truth.

[Flameswroth]

So what exactly is your point?

That people stop bitching about their non-existant human rights and stop trying to hamper the progress of human society because they can't put the greater good above their pathetic self interests and above their primitive animal instincts.

Cool.

So what's the practical application? Surely there is a real life example of a scenario wherein insistence upon the existence of rights is somehow hampering our progress as a species. I, for one, cannot think of an example where this is the case. Are there any?

[Central Slavia]

Coin has two sides. What gives the government the right to force people to do things for "the greater good"? It's PRECISELY what gives people their "human rights" - in other words, it's the society at the time saying "right, now this is what we believe".

.

The power they have - the greater good is good for many, so it unites the many in support of those who decide it.

[Ravea]

I'm sure if someone had a gun to your head or a knife to your throat because you look a certain way or was torturing you because you came from a certain ethnic group you'd be begging for your human rights.

[Central Slavia]

Cool.

So what's the practical application? Surely there is a real life example of a scenario wherein insistence upon the existence of rights is somehow hampering our progress as a species. I, for one, cannot think of an example where this is the case. Are there any?

Feeding an useless population of serious criminals instead of exterminating them like the vermin of society they are and using the money saved to improve people's lives through science and welfare

[Central Slavia]

I'm sure if someone had a gun to your head or a knife to your throat because you look a certain way or was torturing you because you came from a certain ethnic group you'd be begging for your human rights.

I would be begging for a kevlar scarf (first case) or a means to escape and fry his hide in second case.
Not only to mention the fact that human rights would not help me a rat's ass width.

[Takaram]

So what exactly is your point?

That people stop bitching about their non-existant human rights and stop trying to hamper the progress of human society because they can't put the greater good above their pathetic self interests and above their primitive animal instincts.

What is the point of developing society if we are all submissive drones of the state? Did you take a page from 1984 or something?

[Self--Esteem]

I agree mostly.

I do not think you have the right to be well treated. However, nature gave us the right to live and breath and to care for ourselves, so it should be somehow clear that as long as we live in an industrial society, no one may initiate force against each other. Killing for the sake of killing is immoral and condemnable. It fiercely disregards nature, in that no living, conscious creature should end the life of others without a reason.

The only reasons to kill are either to secure ones own survival (i. e. someone tries to kill you and you simply act for your own protection) or to feed from the flesh (obviously does not apply here, as we are speaking of inter-human behaviour).

[Volnotov]

So what exactly is your point?

That people stop bitching about their non-existant human rights and stop trying to hamper the progress of human society because they can't put the greater good above their pathetic self interests and above their primitive animal instincts.

And why do you believe that the greater good can't be served by defining and protecting "human rights"? Wasn't it "human rights" that enabled an entire class of people to rise up from slavery and become creative contributors to society instead of just menial workers? Wasn't it "human rights" that enabled half of all citizens to participate in government and join the other half in academic, industrial and political pursuits? I could go on, but my point is that the fight to bring inequality to an end seems to have had some very positive results toward the greater good.

I have the feeling the "human rights" argument is no longer used to protect minorities from opression and exploitation, I have the feeling people use the "human rights" argument for their own self interests.

They use it as a justification of hate speech,

They use it as a justification to hamper the progress of humanity, for example by opposing genetic modification, nanotechnology and biotechnology out of fear, even though that those technologies could maybe one day end human suffering and introduce and era of peace and prosperity,

They use it as a justiication to sevearly damage and hamper national secuirity, for example by trying to ban CCTV cameras, ID cards, Biometric passports, ect. because they claim to have the "right to privacy".

This whole "Human Rights" thing has gotten completely out of control in my opinion.

This has in my opinion no longer to do with freedom or protection of minorities.

[The Galirandi]

There are no natural human rights. Human rights are just a construct created by human societies in order to keep humans from doing horrible, horrible things to one another.

I always thought they were a bit of a waste of time though, don't you? *sharpens skinning knife*

[The Rich Port]

So... are you going to argue with several billion people who all believe they are born into the world with certain rights? As entertaining as that might be to watch, please don't try it. You will loose, miserably.