Tuesday, December 23, 2008

True Liberalism

I do go on ad nauseum about rights only because "RIGHTS" are the only thing worth fighting for. I also become quite animated when someone begins to go on about "Women's Rights" or "Gay Rights", or any Groups rights period end of sentence. Only because they are utter "nonsense" . Grand works of fiction, created to divide people and weaken them rather than strengthen them. Divide and conquer is another name for it. Divy up the entire population into small groups give them clever labels then throw them crumbs and watch them fight over them.

Only individual people have rights only individuals can exercise their rights. If I were to put this in collectivist terms then it would be like this "We the People have rights" And "We the People shall decide what is right for ourselves" That is about as collective as I get.

I put it to you, Are we not all humans? Are we not born equal in every way? When did we become different from one another? Like or not we are all humans and we all were born equal. Our gender is irrelevant, who we fall in love with is irrelevant. The immutable fact remains the same we have two legs, two arms, one head, no tail, no fur and little hair coverage. Traits which define us as members of the human species. We come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colours. We bear our offspring live and require a long growth period for our brains to mature. Unlike our other mammalian relatives. That said, it is therefor not unreasonable to say that we are equal with the same rights. We are all members of the human family, however this is not good enough for some.

In our modern times, that being the last 500 years a philosophy was developed and defined "liberalism" The belief that the individual is the single most important part of a society and that an individual rights supersedes that of the "State" and most importantly in the beginning the "Church". The right to think and believe as one wished to, the right to say what one wished to but importantly the right to defend these beliefs. As it was put by Voltaire "Although I disagree with what you say, you have a right to say it. I will defend your right even unto death. " To be truly liberal is to respect and defend the rights of your fellow man, even when you might disagree with them. The flaw of true liberalism is that because one tries to understand both sides of an argument it lends itself to brain paralysis and indecision when it comes to action. Which in our times has left it to so called "Progressive Thinking" or the accepting of new ideas even though these ideas fly in the face of the core belief of true liberalism.

Which has lead to the rise of "group" or "collective" rights. Which as stated is a misnomer. In truth groups can only achieve special status or privilege. In this state groups get set apart from society as a whole there by ghettoizing them. The rift in society is further exacerbated by the social backlash to to the special treatment of a particular group which gives cause for further special treatment viz a viz laws protecting their "special place" within society at large. We all have heard the term "politically correct" or "PC" it is not a new concept but what is politically correct has changed over time. To be politically correct in our time has become to embrace every new hair brained idea like neutering our language or self censorship. It also has come to mean to embrace ideas that we don't necessarily agree with but it is the fashion.

These are the types of ideas that have infected modern liberalism. Thus striking down the heart of the philosophy of liberalism the autonomy of the individual thought and the sanctity of individual rights. You know the world has become a topsy turvy place when champions of individual rights are labelled as "Right wing" lunatics by the champions of collective rights. These said same champions were once champions for the little guy in a bygone age but now wish to see the little guy thrown under the bus to favour the special interests of groups. The sad reality of it is the little guy is queing up unwittingly for the bus

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