The
NSA’s surveillance over the private data of American citizens has
been at the center of aggressive political debate over human rights.
However, before we sharpen the pitchforks and ignite the torches, shouldn't we consider if such inalienable rights ever existed? The
virtue of human rights was a big political talking point during the
League of Nations in 1919, but they have been completely disregarded
in many historical instances since: the Holocaust, Tiananmen Square,
and the Japanese American Internment all happened since the League of
Nations. Due to many historical examples, I can’t help but feel
that human rights are a myth invented by the naive to prevent
suffering caused by governmental tyranny. The NSA claims to have
taken our natural rights for a noble cause, but they cannot take
something we did not own in the first place. Instead of worrying over
our loss of presumed natural rights, we should accept the reality of
governmental overreach and act like the world is watching… because
it is.
It is pretty sad that natural rights get trampled on again and again. Sometimes, such rights are taken away during extraordinary circumstances, other times they are taken away through demagoguery.
ReplyDeleteI feel that even if we allow for the possibility of human rights being an illusion, that allowance does not by itself obviate the need for change. If we do not wish the government to surveil us, we should act against such behavior, even without some overriding mandate bestowed through inalienable rights.
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