Sam, All
Sam I too will echo the praises of your recent posts in this thread and
when you say,
> I don't agree that "human rights" is equivalent to the intellectual level of
> the MoQ, but as I said in the original post, "let's call it the doctrine of
> human rights, although in a separate post, if I have time, I'd like to
> challenge that". I think that there are richer formulations, incorporating
> the MoQ, that could be - and indeed, need to be - developed to support those
> high quality moral outcomes (of respect for the person, banning of torture
> etc). Hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to offer some more substantive
> thoughts.
I fully agree the whole issue of "rights", which been discussed at
various times in numerous different threads, is one which needs an
in-depth thread of its own. The absoluteness of the term "rights" as in
"human rights" within an pragmatic philosophy ,such as the MoQ, that
eschews "absolutes" and that holds all first premises are hypothetical
and thus subject to change is a very difficult one indeed. The never
ending turmoil's in the Middle East are a prime examples of what can
happen when people believe their "rights" are "absolute".
The lead headline of an international newspaper on April 26th read, "In
crisis, Israel rallies behind settlers.". Just below the headline,
beside a picture of a bearded man in glasses who could by appearances be
my older brother, in bold letters is a quote from him that in part
reads, ... "This is my birthright."
In the article, which outlines the growth of Jewish settlers in the West
Bank and Gaza from 1500 in 1972 to over 200,000 in 2001, the man is
quoted as saying, "The only way to have security is though force"...
"Force and facts on the ground. It has taken a long time to convince the
people of Israel of this."... Under a later bold heading "Facts on the
Ground" we read: "By settling in scattered outposts, cities and villages
among approximately 3.3 million Palestinians in the occupied territories
-a move that has been either encouraged or tolerated by every Israeli
government since 1967- the setters have created "FACTS ON THE GROUND"
and succeeded in becoming a serious obstacle to creating a
geographically contiguous future Palestinians state."
And the reason this man help create these "facts on the ground."
"He moved to the West Bank 11 years ago he says... [because] "he was
'sick of hectic modern society' and looking for 'some clean country
living' The last vacation he took was to the Gaza Strip. "I like the
beach there." he says and grins."
his "absolute" justification:
"The Bible says this is our homeland. This is my birthright. If not
here, where else can I live?.. I have no other place. Every other place
I go, you kill me, you murder me, you burn me. We have to do what we
have to do. We have to stay here, and have to fight for what we believe
in. Especially when we know it's right."
This, I believe, is an example of the "myth" that Wim referred to in his
most recent post. It might be more understandable, though not any more
justifiable, if this man's intellectual experience was only that of an
isolated, orthodox, fundamentalist religious education, such as the
Taliban was dictating in Afghanistan, but the man has a masters degree
in resource management from Columbia University is New York ! It just
goes to show that when social values (religion) preempt or co-opt
intellectual values (rights) the consequences are a ongoing threat to
biological values (life itself).
3WD
PS: I think I have posted this resource before, but maybe not. For a
detailed discussion of the expansion of "rights" laws in the U.S. since
the 60's and their unintended consequences read: "The Death of Common
Sense - How Law is Suffocating America" by Philip K. Howard , Random
House 1994.
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