Miscellanea Sensibilium

"Equality" and "Rights"

For what I am about to say someone somewhere is going to think that I am a Nazi. This is an unfortunate side effect of living in a world that has so many simple-minded fools.

There is no such thing as Equality

No two things in the Universe are equal, at the very least they have a different position in time and space.

There is no such thing as Rights

The universe doesn't owe you a living; in fact it doesn't owe you anything at all. You do not even have a right to life.

That said, I agree we should treat people as we would like to be treated, not because they are "equal" to us but because as a human being I have empathy for others. I personally would prefer a society in which we are nice to one another happens but that doesn't mean that such a society is better than any other is.

As for "rights" the entire idea seems to be a way of avoiding responsibility. Try replacing "I have a right to free speech" with "I have a responsibility to myself and others to ensure freedom of expression is possible". Or replace "I have a right to live" with "I have a responsibility to myself and my dependants to live". Not so catchy as a political slogan I admit but much more helpful in that it is more likely to produce positive action than the kind of sickly whining that most rights arguments tend to dissolve into.