The United States Constitution guarantees certain rights--the right to free speech, the right of free association, the right to worship in the way you want, etc.
These are different than the "inalienable rights" discussed in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
As discussed in class, we don't all define those rights in the same way and that leaves us with the question, do human beings have any inalienable rights?
In the Social Justice video (http://animoto.com/play/qV2S8JWtG21GIhkcVamWow), students name things like food, education, and dancing as inalienable rights. What do you think? What do people have a right to?
How does the piece by O'Neil complicate those ideas?
What do people have a right to? How does guaranteeing those rights infringe on the other rights?
What other limitations might there be?
25 comments:
Watching the Social Justice video and seeing the student’s complete the sentence for “Everyone has the right to ____” allowed me to think and even agree with many of the inalienable rights they used to complete the sentence. I agree that everyone has the right to water, food, and healthcare, but thinking realistically about the conditions of the world outside and inside of the United States, it seems difficult to grant everyone these essential rights.
I believe that everyone has the right to expression and being able to form their own opinions. Being able to express ones feelings can make things less complicated. I believe that having the right to express one’s joy, anger, sadness, or frustration, without being judged, would make for a more civil community. Most of the time people feel they do not have that right to express what they feel internally because they feel as though no one will listen or they are afraid that others will critically judge them. If everyone was given the right to express their feelings and pose their opinions without being attacked, I think there would not be so much raucous or frustration going on in our societies.
Ben O’Neill’s “The Injustice of Social Justice” seemed to differentiate the terms of what he felt was being compared, right and desire. He shows how all of what was listed in the video as rights are “supplied by the efforts of others,” rather than something that everyone can just seek out for themselves with no problem. I understand that there are those, like myself, who are fortunate enough to have nameless resources, but others who live in some of the poorest countries or just those without such resources of what should be considered rights (e.g. food, water, healthcare) cannot access them at their leisure.
Nonetheless, I believe that people have the right to what allows them to be happy and healthy human beings, which includes the essentials like right to food, clean water, healthcare, speaking, justice, happiness, equality, free education, and to civilly fight for what they believe and make these rights accessible to everyone.
Adrianna Boles
Responding to the blog question, "do human beings have inalienable rights?" the answer is simply, yes. Human beings have the right to inalienable rights. This can range from the basic living and reproducing rights or it can go deeper within a more social and economic stance. We are living creatures with feelings and intelligence, we must have the right to live a humane life. We all have different opinions about what rights human beings should have but when it comes down to it we all just want to live our lives and prosper. Whichever rights should be established to fit within these means then those rights can easily become our inalienable rights.
Through the reading of “The Injustice of Social Injustice” and the watching of the Social Justice video, I have come to a few realizations. I believe human beings do in fact have inalienable rights that they should be awarded to all.
In the Social Justice video I felt an assortment of feelings. I agreed with some of the “rights” mentioned such as clean water, shelter, food and education; however, things such as rock and roll and ice cream seemed like a joke. It is to my belief that people should have the right to food, water, shelter, job, education and other things. I do not think it is something that should be a privilege only awarded to those who are lucky enough to be born in a place like the United States rather than a place like Somalia. I feel that everyone should have these things; they should have a good standard of living rather than feel lucky enough to be able to wear shoes. Ben O’Neil feels otherwise.
According to Ben O’Neill, the video created for World Day of Social Justice sends the message that “anything that is desirable is a right” (46). In addition, O’Neill defines an actual right as something that is morally right and he gives the example of owning property (47). He mentions the need for us to realize that things mentioned in the video such as clean water and ice cream are desires and that people fail to realize that these things must be produced and paid for (48). Yes they are desires and yes it takes effort to give and provide everyone with such things. He also brings up genuine rights, which are “principles that hold true regardless of time or place and regardless of the state of present inventions” and things such as shoes are not actual rights (47). I feel that this is not morally right and that basic needs do in fact change with time. Even with basic education, students in elementary school are expected to have computers and there are rules in stores and restaurants that require individuals wear shoes. Even prisoners, the individuals that are deemed “bad” in our society are given basic needs such as shoes, clothes, water, food, etc. These are people others may feel don’t even deserve these things yet we pay for it through our taxes.
Now I believe that to guarantee the rights I think all individuals should have, which are food, water, shelter, job, education, and other basic things, will infringe on others rights. People may feel that they worked hard to earn their rights and others who did not work as hard should not be so easily given these rights, but if we are going off O’Neill’s ideas, actual rights should be given based on morals. Should people starve and be deprived of shelter, food, or water while prisoners? I think that if we can pay for criminals to have food, clothes, and others things that morally we should supply the starving families, poor people, etc with the necessities to live. It is not ultimately up to only the United States to do this, but because we are such a powerful nation and with one of the highest standards of living we should.
I believe that everyone has the right to inalienable rights and when the students name food, education, clean water, etc. as inalienable rights I think that to a certain degree it is true. If you are presented with food or education no one can tell you you're not allowed to have food or education. But at the same time, just as Ben O'Neil states nothing is really free because someone somewhere pays for education or makes the food. This makes things very complicating because even if you think that these rights are given to everyone, it is at the expense of someone else.
When the students said everyone has the right to ice cream and rock n roll I am pretty sure they were joking around, but at the same time I believe that everyone should be able to do whatever they feel like doing, of course legally, but if someone feels like eating an ice cream who am I to say, "no I do not want you eating an ice cream." If that person feels like eating an ice cream they should be able to.
Back to Ben O'Neil's ideas. He says, "a person has a right to some particular thing as opposed merely to a desire for that thing." I believe he says this because he thinks that wanting something is different from having the right to something.
I still believe that people should have to right to do anything they possibly want to do as long as it is legal and this is because we are all equal human beings.
I did not realize when watching the Social Justice video in class that there is a really big difference between legal rights and inalienable rights. When filling in the blanks of “Everyone has the right to _____”. I believe we have the right to inalienable rights. Yes, there are different types of rights that range from those in the United States Constitution and the silly ones mentioned in the video like the right to ice cream. Although ice cream isn’t a necessity, if we desire it, I think we deserve the right to have it. There are places around the world that are unfortunately not available to the supply of ice cream or bubble gum. Yet, I believe they should be. Just because people are not fortunate to live in a place with no ice cream or candy, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve it. I believe the world deserves equal opportunities, which includes the right to desire.
Ben O’Neil criticizes the Social Justice video in his article “The Injustice of Social Justice”. He says that advocates for social justice define a right as “anything that is desirable…” (46). He disagrees with that flawed view of rights and says, “An actual right is a moral prerogative derived from the application of moral philosophy to the nature of man” (47). He realizes that when asserting a right to clean water or education, it means that we asset someone to supply us with our desires with their effort and expense. He says this goes along with the principle of theft and rape. I somewhat agree that it may not be fair for someone to desire something and receive it through someone’s effort and work. For example, there are people who are disabled and unable to work so they receive benefits such as social security, although those are paid through our hard working taxes. I understand that and agree that rights do come at others expenses, but it doesn’t mean it’s not fair. Because if that’s not fair, then it’s also not fair that you were born paralyzed unable to work or if you were dropped off in the streets because your mother didn’t want you anymore.
Human beings do have the right to inalienable rights. No matter where in the world we live, we should all be treated equally. Obviously, we all don’t have the right to complete freedom to do whatever we desire. If we want to kidnap and rape somebody, obviously that is illegal. There are limitations to our freedom, yet we should all be treated fairly.
Kristen Wood
After watching the video “Everyone has a right to…” and reading the article “The injustice of Social Justice” by O Neill, I agree with his argument that the definition of a “right” has been confused by many. As seen in the video, people are filling in words such as ice cream and free healthcare. As ice cream may at first seem “immature” in a sense, free healthcare is not far behind. They are both something desired by people that infringes on others rights. Many people think we should have the right to free health care but nothing is ever really free. If you try to think of one thing that is actually free it is very difficult. When most people come up with an answer it is usually something like happiness, which is where O’Neill also comes to a point that a right is defined as “something that is true regardless of time or place and regardless of the state of present inventions. Many people in the US believe they deserve free healthcare when many of them are lazy and do not work. So who would be paying for their so-called free health care? It is the people who are working hard for their money everyday. The United States is a materialistic country and we take for granted the many rights we have. It is sad to think that in some countries people do not have the same freedoms that are second nature to Americans such as worship. I believe that all people should have the rights listed on the US constitution and declarations of Independence. Throughout the years these rights have been misconstrued and the nation needs to be reminded what a right actually is instead of getting them confused with a desire. Although I do believe the video was made with only good intensions to inspire people, it is a perfect example of the mistake many people make when referring to inalienable rights.
After watching the Social Justice video I contemplated about the things people have a right to that was mentioned in the video and I would have to agree that everyone should and does have a right to each and everyone one of those things. I agree that everyone does have a right to love, eat, drink, be clean and to just simply be themselves. But on the other hand, I feel that, as simple as these things are, it is difficult for everyone to actually acquire these. For example, many people in third world countries do not have clean water or food or even clothing yet they still have a right to receive all of these rights mentioned in the video and so much more. As it is said that human beings are created equal, everyone has these rights mentioned and so much more.
O'Neill complicates these ideas but clarifying the meaning of a right and separating it from what a person desires. There are things that we all need and there are things that we all want.
Everyone has a right do anything that is legal and that does not harm others or the environment. Having the right to be expressive, people can do, act, or say what they please, but if it is inhumane then it should not be justified as being a right that everyone should have. With this, it seems there is a filter in the rights of the people. But there just has to be a line in what people can do or say. If there was no restriction, then who knows what the world may get into. These keep the world orderly. Rights such as these are more of a privilege than it is a right.
People should have the right to be who they want to be. They should be able to love whoever they want to love. Everyone should be able to pursue any dream he or she has. However, people tend to judge and critique others on how they live their life. This is why it seems like this right is not conducted as much as it could be.
My stance on social justice after watching, "Everyone has the right to ______" and reading O'Neil's article remains the same. I still believe every human deserves the right to food, water, housing, safety, healthcare, education and the freedom of your own opinion. People should live in a place where they are not in constant fear of whether they’ll make it pas tomorrow or not.
The students in the video had many different ideas of what rights are necessary. It was fun to see that the students and professors all the different things that they considered rights. Even silly minuscule things like lollipops were mentioned. They all had a different voice and take on what a “right” is, and it was noticeable with just one word they wrote on themselves.
O'Neil may consider this "naiveté," but it is what I believe. He makes a good argument about the costs of these “rights”, but they are worth the cost. Clean water, something we take for granted, is essential, and although it can be very costly, seeing that other countries don’t have this is painful to watch. If I had to work an extra hour everyday without pay to make sure children got clean water, I would. Water, food, opinion, housing, etc. are not “desires” they are essential, and therefore, they should be rights. Of course there is a cost to these things, we all know that, but they are things everyone is entitled to.
Emily Anderson
As seen in the video, ideas like food, dancing, education, and health care are considered inalienable rights. These are the rights that all people should be allowed to have regardless of their situation; even those in prison are guaranteed food. I do not exactly think that these rights infringe on any other rights, it is the law that children must go to school. When they don’t go to school for so long the parents can be put in jail, making education somewhat of a right and a law. For those in other countries, I think they deserve the right to education, but if they come into the United States they need to become citizens in my mind.
When it comes to the food situation, which is one necessity that should be a right to have all over the world. This comes back to the Somalia reading we did, those people should not be starving they have a right to food. This is why we have the United Nations, even though it is difficult to get food into Somalia, it is still delivered because no one should be starved to death anywhere and they have a RIGHT to food.
Health care is the only issue that could possibly pose a problem. The people who work and pay taxes that provide universal health care usually get angry at the fact that they pay for health care insurance while those who can’t afford it still get free health care. I know many people are angry at this fact, but what are we to do if a five year old boy needs heart surgery and his parents can’t afford it; it is not his fault, he still deserves the right for the surgery. Inalienable rights are those that cannot be taken away, laughing, loving, food, education are those that apply.
“Everyone has a right to…” What do we classify as a right? There are the specific rights specified in the constitution. Then there are inalienable rights, rights that are unable to be taken away from people. The video showed many of these rights, using real people to display their message.
I believe that everyone has a right to those rights in the constitution, how would we live without those? We need to be able to express our thoughts through speech as well as practicing what we believe. In the reading “The Injustice of Social Justice” Ben O’Neill interprets the message of the video as “anything that is a desirable is a right”. He does not believe that all of these rights expressed are actual rights. And he makes many good points, the rights expressed that are actual goods or services need to be produced. It takes people or workers to produce things, it takes their effort and time. “It asserts the moral prerogative to use force to attain ones desires”(O’Neill 47). Where do our rights begin and end? How do our rights triumph over others rights?
The inalienable rights that we have a right to I think change from situation to situation. We cannot be guaranteed to something, when it is jeopardizing or harming someone else. Everyone is guaranteed to the rights in the constitution, and if what we want infringes on someone else’s rights we don’t have a right to it. If we are all truly equal then we must make sure that our rights don’t harm others rights.
Our rights in the constitution are spelled out plain and simple, they are the law. The inalienable rights are open to interpretation. Human beings do have inalienable rights, but there are limitations. I believe that these inalienable rights cannot inhibit any of our legal rights given to us in the constitution. O’Neill explains it perfectly “ The error here is in their misconception that the things they rightly desire are rights”(49). The goods or things that many people today desire are wants versus rights. The inalienable rights that we do have should not be these material objects. The reasons we work, is to be able to get these material goods. No one person is given anything for free that is why we all work, and possess the ability to work then buy.
Everyone sees their own rights differently. Even though we are given certain rights, we all have the idea that we are given more. Everything is up for interpretation in the world today, and the discussion of what we are or aren’t guaranteed is no different.
The United States is know as the country of freedom and everyone is suppose to have a high opportunity for success. We are also known for fighting for rights, whether it is women rights or taxation without representation, the U.S. is very prominent on equality. To achieve equality you need rights and rights are the necessity every human being deserves.
In the Social Justice Video people were asked what everyone has a right to? Many of the answers were far from being right, as previous people have commented on, ice cream being one example. Rights should only effect the individual, so if everyone had a right to ice cream who would have to make the ice cream. This is affecting someone else’s rights. I believe that everyone should have the right to happiness and freedom. If you were born into a starving family in Somalia, I believe you have the right to try for a better life. I don’t agree that people have the right to be healthy. As bad as that sounds if we were to grant that right people would have to help Somalia become healthier and in doing so they will be risking their own lives. It is sad that some people are born into horrible conditions but I believe everyone should have the right to make better of themselves. Rights will always be debated but rights of one person should never infringe on another persons rights.
After watching the Social Justice video and seeing the responses of teachers and students to “Everybody has a right to …” I have become aware that there is not an exact definition that would represent the concept of having unalienable rights. From this video, I understood that unalienable rights can range to almost anything human beings need or want. I believe that many of the inalienable rights they mentioned in the video are in fact important to living life. I agree that everybody has a right to food, clean water, education and healthcare for the reason that these resources have become the necessities of life. Without these resources, human beings living today’s reality are not necessarily granted with anything.
In Ben Oneill’s argument “The Injustice of Social Justice,” he critics the video by stating that the video illustrated “anything that is desirable is a right” (46). The video did in fact mention rights that are from the desires of human beings. However, responses such as ice cream, lollipops, and rock and roll are materials I would not really count as unalienable rights because it has not quite reach the point where people cannot live without them. Some rights that are from the desires of human beings are however rights that they do not acquire yet they deserve. Some people might have to work for their desires while others are fortunate enough to just have it, but that does not mean it is not acceptable to have desires as rights.
According to Oneill, he negatively states that “others supply you with your desires, at the expense of their effort” (47). He negatively implies this because he describes the expense of others’ effort as a force instead of their action of willingness to do it. I agree and disagree with his statement. I agree for the reason that not everyone is able to provide the desires of others especially in today’s situation. For example, in our society, others might think that they truly deserve rights such as gay rights, but if these rights are not the desire of the majority, they would not get it even if gay rights were considered to be under the right to self-expression. On the other side, I disagree with Oneill’s statement because it might take others’ effort to give other people’s rights to essential things such as food, water, education, and healthcare but it is well worth it to be giving these rights to people whether they deserve the right to life or not.
Every human being deserves equal opportunities and rights. No one should be controlled over their rights just because one thinks it is not “morally right.” Everyone deserves the freedom to express their own rights.
Every body has a right to live a life with options!
By that I mean that every one should have the option to go to school, to go into the market and buy food, to find a job, to rent or own property, and so on. I guess you can say these are laws, and essentially they are, but they are basic laws that pave the path for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. When a life with these kinds of options is established then that is when humans finally gets to practice inalienable rights. It’s hard for some people to live out their inalienable rights because of terrorism, war, and strict government, but essentially all humans are born with inalienable rights. Although we all feel compassion for those who are affected by things like terrorism, war, and government, I actually believe we shouldn’t be obligated to help. Sure it breaks our hearts to see an image of a child from Somalia practically dead from famine but there is only so much we can and should do. America has an abundance of supplies as compared to places like Somalia but as a country we can only do so much.
Now don’t get me wrong I still think people should be allowed to live a happy life just the way many of us do, but they should count on their governments to give them what they need. In the social justice video we watched in class some of the things written on the peoples hands were actually things people shouldn’t have to go with out, others like rock-n-roll were silly but I guess it went with the general Idea of being able to express art. After watching the video I think people do in fact have inalienable rights, but we have to know were rights become desires and draw the line. This is where Ben O’Neil’s article comes in and complicates the argument of the video. In the video some of the “rights” seem more like luxuries and desires by claiming “anything that is desirable is a right” (O’Neil 46). O’Neil tells us “A person has a right to some particular thing- as opposed to a desire for that thing…” (47). I agree with what he is saying just because if someone might want ice cream that doesn’t mean the government should have to provide a person with ice cream. Honestly I never though trying to decide what a person has a right to would be so difficult. There is only so much we can do to help those who are looking for social justice around the world. Trying to decide what they deserve is really up to each one of us and I think society will never agree on one way that would be the best way to provide help for other.
In response to the blog question, I feel that every human being has inalienable rights. They have the right to clean water and food, to dancing and smiling.In the video the students made, they listed things on their hands people as a right to, and while watching that i realized no matter how minute what they wrote was, everyone still had a right to it.I believe that people should have a right to a sustainable life.
A sustainable life to me, is clean water, shelter, enough food to feed a family, and feeling secure in your community. I feel like no matter were a person lives, whether its the United States or the poorest nation in Africa everyone deserves to live a good wholesome life.
O'Neil feels different about the video that the students made, he states that the things we think are rights are "merely an assertion of desire". and that we have to use force to acquire them, we dont just earn them. He also states that the rights we believe other people are supposed to have are supplied by other people. I disagree with O'Niel safety is not a desire, it is a right as well as access to clean water and food.
People shouldn't have to fight for their rights. They deserve them.
As citizens of the United States we are given our natural rights. Rights that tell us what we are free to do and not to do. Do we deserve to be born with these rights? Some say yes others say no. I think that thanks to having these rights our country is as strong as it is.
In the video presented in class we saw both students and professors answer the phrase “Everyone has the right to _______”. Some of the answers were very serious such as having clean water, food, healthcare, education and nutrition. Other answers not so serious like ice cream, rock and roll, dancing, and lollipops. Being born with a lot of different rights and being privilege to have freedom of speech, expression, religion, and a lot others makes it seem difficult to understand that they don’t exist in other places. What to us may seem like a given, is hard to obtain in less fortunate countries, for example clean water, good nutrition and education. Therefore, I believe that everyone has the right to food, clean water, a home, education and good nutrition. These are not things that fill a craving like ice cream; they are rights that could really change someone’s life.
However, everyone has a different opinion as to what our rights should be. In the article “The Justice of Social Injustice,” Ben O’Neill gives a different point of view on what is an actual right and what is just one’s desire. :…the notion of “rights” is a mere term of entitlement, indicative of a claim for any possible desirable good…” What he means by this is that we desire a lot of things no matter how big or small and if we think we should have it, it should be our right. We manipulate the word right to make it fit to what we think we deserve even though sometimes it is not our right.
O’Neill makes a good point in his article helping me realize the difference between a desire I have and an actual right I should have. I still believe everyone should be entitled to have clean water, food, and good nutrition because these are rights that actually help is survive.
the last post was mine i forgot to put my name but ist Silvia Diaz
Just read the article by O'Neill and I agree with what he states at the end of his article. He insinuates that young people do not really know the difference between a right and a desire. As I watched the video I noticed that most of the things that were written in the hands were things they desired and not an actual right. I mean it would be nice to have the right to a lot of those things but at the cost to whom? If everyone had the right to everything that was demonstrated in those pictures, I think man people would take advantage. Now I am no saying that only certain people deserve or have the right to certain things, but in reality if everyone had the right to say, free education, there are many out there that can pay for their education. So in this case I think it's not a right but a desire. To reiterate my point I think that rights and desires are so easily confused and society have confused them greatly too. Everyone has the right to happiness, life, hope, etc. Yes there are people in other countries that are starving and dying of disease and they have the right to live.
Whether or not guaranteed by the political entity an individual is born into, I believe that every being on this planet deserves specific rights to live a healthy, happy life. The basic requirements for survival include, but are not limited to, safe access to food, water, and shelter. While it is essential to have enough nutrients to support and sustain life as well as shelter to aide in protection against outside elements for any hopes of a lasting existence, it is impossible in today’s world to guarantee those necessities to all of humanity.
In an ideal world, as expressed in the video, everyone would have safe access to food, water, shelter, education, healthcare, and eventually more frivolous things like lollipops and ice cream. O’Neil argues that many of the rights expressed to be important and necessary to the people involved in the video are better described as entitlements and desirable goods because in order for them to exist in the real world, they have to be manufactured and supplied by other individuals (46,48). To extremely simplify the process: if someone wants to eat ice cream, they must purchase it from an ice cream seller who must first go through the effort of making the ice cream before providing it to the customer. For completing their task, the seller is rewarded with money, which in turn can be used to purchase ice cream of his or her own.
While many countries are more than happy to establish a trade system to offer such services, unfortunately, not all of the world’s major leaders are interested in providing safe and healthy environments for their citizens to inhabit. People living in countries that lack strong centralized governments as well as countries that have fallen victim to extremist leaders and terrorism, have no one to enforce or create laws that could potentially guarantee rights comparable to those expressed in our own Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. It is unquestionable that people in such dire situations deserve rights and protection against the corrupt people ruling them, but when there is no force larger than the individual to step in and enforce rights as basic as “food, water, and shelter”, regardless of how deserved and necessary, those “inalienable” rights do not exist for that group of people. It is easy to say that all people are born with inherent rights that cannot be taken away, but the degree to which those rights are recognized depends on the oftentimes-unpredictable society that the individual lives within making the idea of “inalienable” rights effectively nonexistent. Realistically, in a world with nearly seven billion people and hundreds of cultures and communities, it is impossible for a set of unchanging, indisputable guaranteed rights to exist for every person at all times.
Do we have inalienable rights? A question probably many of us ask ourselves every day, whether it be a politician a simply a college student. The answer to that question may vary from person to person, however I do believe every single person on this planet starts off with inalienable right, some of the right which are shown in the video seen during class, “World Day of Social Justice.” Things such as right to speech or right to an opinion are examples of those rights which we should all have. They show the right to clean water and in my opinion I take that as more of a right to a safe environment which should be a right as well, if that is what is chosen by the person. Other rights shown on this video, such as ice cream, rock n’ roll, and music seem kind of unnecessary things, and more like luxuries rather than rights. Author Ben O’Neill explains these luxuries as desires in his article “The Injustice of Social Justice,” and I completely agree. He explains that our society has confused desired goods with moral rights, and a “right” to ice cream or rock n’ roll is really nothing more that something we want rather than need. As I was watching the video during class I was noticing I did not agree with many things shown. Yes it would be great for everyone to live a safe happy life, but in all reality, life is not always peaches and cream; and not all of us are lucky enough to be born in a country where help is somewhat available to those who wanted it. And what about those who are just bad people, who kill and hurt others, do they deserve the same rights as moral citizens? Of course not, what I believe is that we are all born with inalienable rights, right to speak, think, freedom, and things of that sort. However we have to work at keeping these rights, as well as distinguishing rights from luxuries. Like O’Neill mentions, it is great that people our age believe we should have a right to ice cream and music, but it is just not realistic especially in places where people are struggling to get even the smallest amounts of food.
After reading “The Injustice of Social Injustice”, I can't help but to realize how so many people do not really understand what social justice is. In the video "Everyone has a right to ____" the students mention that everyone has a right to things such as ice cream, and rock and roll. I do believe that people have a right to inalienable rights, but including things such as ice cream and music is not something people need. These are desires, and unfortunately not everyone can have the benefit of having such royalties. I believe that people SHOULD have the right for food, clean water, and shelter. But even these options are difficult to come by for several people. It is sad, but that is the sad reality of the world, not everyone is going to get these rights, and these are just the necessities needed for survival. In the corrupt world we live in today, people are not receiving things that they need. If they can barely hold onto fresh food and water, how can they even bare to think about an education? I agree with O'Neil in the sense that yes, everyone does have a right to freedom of speech, water, food, an education, however in today's world these things aren't just handed out as they should be. The kids in the video want to see a world of peace and love, but to me it personally does not seem it is going to happen anytime soon. Granted, I would absolutely love a world of peace and love, but the reality is that we aren't even close. We live in a country that is fortunate enough to have these necessities, in America inalienable rights is pretty common on the average american. But as of now people in countries like Somalia, don't have that privilege and must continue to fight for their survival...
Having both watched the Social Justice video and read the passage "The Injustice of Social Justice," I still agree with another man named Thomas Jefferson the most. The basic three rights that he mentions are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I believe everything else that we as humans desire can be placed in the category as a priveledge. In America today we have been spoiled by receiving all of these priveledges for most of our lives. Things like free education, healthcare, and even ice cream for that matter are not things that every human being is entitled to, because it comes at a cost as Ben O'Neill mentioned. Free education for example is not what it is titled. Hard working people's tax dollars pay the way to provide opportunity for all of us. They give us the priveledge of going to school so that we have the basic knowledge needed to get a job in today's society. Having said this, in many parts of the world today, including the United States, I believe that one needs both the inalienable rights and some of the priveledges we have grown up with to survive. Without a high school degree, it is near impossible to earn enough money to have an enjoyable lifestyle.
When most people think of rights, they often think of it as legal matters. Some important rights such as the right to free speech, religion, and so on are our guaranteed rights. Furthermore, these rights are a social construction that have been created by our founding fathers; moreover, I believe that we as humans do have inalienable rights. I think that everyone has the right to anything as long as it’s morally right, but everyone may not always agree with what is right or wrong; therefore, it involves another social construction which means that everyone will not agree about rights. It may seem simple but it’s a very complicated debate.
As I said, I believe that everyone has the right to anything. One is not superior to others because we are all humans. We are all the same but not equal. I think that no one has the right to tell someone else they don’t have the right to something because they are no different from that person. When I say anything, I mean about the similar responses that the people had in the video. It amazes me how one inalienable right is very important in someone’s life than in someone else’s.
The Video shows a lot of young people who display the rights they want by writing them on there hands. Some of these rights that they chose were; justice, love compassion, truth to healthcare, education, clean water, nutrition, shoes, dancing, rock-and-roll, lollipops, and even ice cream. A lot of these things the people listed should be rights but some fall in the category of "desire". This is the problem that Ben O'Neill had with the video. He believed that the message the video was giving was that "anything that is desirable is a right"(46). His definition of rights is that "the term is a term of philosophy designating an actual moral principle, a principle that should be derived objectively by an examination of the nature of morality and the nature of man"(47). So basically he thinks that "rights refer to what is actually right-i.e., what is morally right"(47).
I believe that the most important right is equality. Whatever right it is that someone can have, it should also be available to myself and everyone else. And Of course I'm referring to rights such as freedom, education, etc., not desires such as ice cream, shoes, etc.. I don't believe guaranteeing rights infringes on other rights because that wouldn't really make to much sense, but if we are in the topic of how we are getting these rights, such as free education, i believe that this is something that the government should be able to handle and we should benefit from such things as tax payers and citizens of this country.
When talked about Africa, the first images come to my mind are starving children, die people, and rigorous environment, and broken wooden houses, but I cannot really make sure what is it like because I have never been there before. However, this kind of imagination of Africa stops when one of my friends told me that Africa is richer than we ever thought of in many parts of Africa several months ago. The change of mind is because I do not know anything about Africa, the thing I can imagine is from school and vedio. Then, I have to admit that my pictures of Africa has all influenced by stereotypes after reading "How to Write about Africa". With so little knowledge of Africa, how can I just imagine what is Africa look like?
Kristof's article is one of the many that Wainaina talks about though his purpose of writing this article is good. What is more, maybe most of the vedios or articles to describe Africa is good. They have educational and research value for the people all the students to learn and know about it, or they just want people realize the poor "country" and take action to help the poor people there, but what they do to people is people just know it should look like what it has been described, and few people will act because that continent is too far from us, or we are scared when we hear that many people died over there. Although we do feel sympathy, we cannot do anything.
I am reffering what Kristof said is bad, it is good. He is doing so let people feel pity and stand at African people's perspective to know them, and then help them. His article is totally good purpose for me.
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