Tags: Hong Kong ∙ China ∙ protest ∙ capitalism ∙ human rights ∙ City That Ate A Country

““None of these companies has a problem operating in European countries with much more restrictive abortion laws than those in the US, nor Arab nations which ban it outright. Disney has a resort in China, not a country known for its liberal approach to human rights. But apparently Georgia is now beyond the pale.””

— Tim Newman, Personae non gratae

Tags: Tim Newman ∙ Georgia ∙ Europe ∙ Arab ∙ China ∙ Disney ∙ abortion ∙ human rights

❝❝You're making unjustified assumptions.

Is the climate crisis a thing? To some (like most pagans), yes. To others like (not conservative) me, no. It's an article of faith, not far removed from monotheism or forgiveness of sin. The issue is that because of the alarmism, those who believe in the climate crisis don't tolerate dissent because of the "urgency" of the problem.

At their best, American Christian conservatives are extremely community minded. A child lost in the woods? They are there looking. Death in the family? Somebody is bringing meals by. The problem is who they identify as being part of the community. Something that is not helped by some like pagans setting themselves outside the acknowledged community.

Most claims of conservative racism are because the conservatives involved didn't see any reason to grant special privilege when people already had rights recognized by law. It doesn't help when conservatives are routinely accused of white supremacy simply for being the wrong skin color regardless of their words and actions. There is a vast difference between not supporting the claims of groups like BLM and being racist. Because conservatives (and libertarians too) see rights as individual and not collective, the idea of identity politics is repugnant. You have rights because you are human, not because you are Hispanic, female, wore a pink hat in a march, or consider yourself non-binary.

What's more, the idea that only "whites" can be racist because of something that was done in their great-great-great grandparents time just doesn't fly. Racism comes in all colors. I've seen casual racism my entire life. I've also seen most people reach out for no other reason than someone else needed help.

Finally, judging people by label is a mistake. The label has no inherent vice or virtue. It's the individual who makes the label mean something through their words and actions, not the other way around. Power from victimhood depends on the pity of others and will make you less than you are.

---

Here are some of the demands for privilege I've seen during my life.

The idea that one skin color and one skin color alone can decide what is and is not racism. I still know people who try to convince me that a "black" minister saying "Hymietown" is not racist.

The idea that inner-city poverty is a more important than reservation poverty.

The idea that a person whose family came from Nigeria two generations ago has a claim on the success of a person whose family came from China five generations ago.

The idea that skin color should trump evidence in a crime.

And as long as we keep qualifying the legal definition of who is and is not allowed to marry, that problem will not go away. Previously I've pointed out in discussions on this site that somehow in the call for marriage equality poly marriage wasn't even a consideration. That selectivity is a consequence of defining rights by group instead of individual.

---

Pardon, but the bit about how some threw poly people under the bus should be stressed. Because the "struggle" wasn't about marriage in whatever form it could take between consenting adults, it was about "gay marriage."

It wasn't about rights. It was about privilege for some taken at the expense of others.

No, there wasn't a "polyamorous community" fighting to be recognized. I had some LGBT activists tell me emphatically that poly people didn't deserve marriage because they hadn't fought for it.

That is where my issue is. I'm perfectly willing to fight for equal rights. But I hear demands for "black" rights, Hispanic rights, women's rights, gay rights, and for all I know rights for people with ingrown toenails. Not to mention Christian rights, pagan rights, Muslim rights, atheist rights, and pastafarian rights. That doesn't even count the constant efforts of government to define government powers as rights (police rights, Congress has the right…). It seems that everyone wants to carve out their own piece but no one is willing to help carve out a piece for any group but theirs. Especially if they don't agree with other groups.

It's not about rights. It's about privilege for some taken at the expense of others.

Oh, and by the way, "white" cis males are guilty for all the troubles in the world. Especially when they don't abase themselves to the demands of self-identified victims-of-the-week. No matter what they personally have done or said, "white" cis males are undeniably and collectively guilty. Or so I am told. Again and again and again.

How that is not racist is beyond me.

Meanwhile "people of color" tell me that they are fighting for the rights of the victimized. And they are. But not if those victims live almost invisibly and don't advance certain causes. And definitely not if those victims have different politics. If there is an oil pipeline that gets TV coverage, the "champions" are all over it. But every day poverty on Amerindian reservations, well, that just isn't important enough.

So tell me, when is it reasonable when some victims are deliberately overlooked? Maybe it's not about rights. Maybe it's about privilege.

Human rights are the only ones worth fighting for. Maybe we should worry about the rights we share instead of a place in the pecking order. It's not a right unless the other has it too.

---

“I still wouldn't characterize them as privileges.”

I know. That's what's so frustrating. Human rights get moved to the back seat, then to the bicycle with a flat tire thirteen rows back.❞❞

Tags: maxims ∙ unjustified ∙ assumption ∙ climate crisis ∙ article of faith ∙ American ∙ Amerindians ∙ reservation ∙ Christian ∙ conservatives ∙ community ∙ racism ∙ privilege ∙ rights ∙ label ∙ marriage ∙ gay marriage ∙ polyamory ∙ people of color ∙ victims ∙ overlook ∙ human rights

❝❝For the record, there are no LGBTQ rights. There are no black rights. There are no women's rights. There are no Hispanic rights. There are no pagan rights. There are no Chinese rights. There are no Christian rights. There are no police rights.

There are human rights. Period.

It's not a right unless the other has it too.

Too many times there are privileges passed off as rights. Privileges benefit a select few at the expense of everyone else. Too often, what should have been rights for everyone were enforced privileges for some. This is a big reason why rights and privileges are confused.

It's not a right unless the other has it too.

---

Which means they get a head thump when they demand I submit.❞❞

Tags: rights ∙ LGBTQ ∙ black ∙ women ∙ Hispanic ∙ pagan ∙ Chinese ∙ Christian ∙ police ∙ human rights ∙ Other ∙ head thump

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: Federal Reserve ∙ memo ∙ FBI ∙ Barack Obama ∙ gun ownership ∙ California ∙ Democrats ∙ Marvin Goodfriend ∙ NRA ∙ virtue signaling ∙ government accountability ∙ Parkland ∙ school shooting ∙ gun rights ∙ human rights ∙ Florida

❝❝It's one of the simplest human guidelines. Everyone shares a right. You don't have it unless the other does.

Privileges exclude people. Only some get privileges. Privileges are not rights, and rights are not privileges.

It's why there are human rights. Most muddy the waters and call privileges rights. Black rights? Christian rights? Police rights? These do not exist. These are privileges that rule out whole classes of people.❞❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: rights ∙ privilege ∙ human rights ∙ maxims

Folks probably already know this, but this brand of revisionism uses hard confrontation with constantly escalating stakes. You can't win against it by being loud, that just makes you the closest and biggest target.

---

There have been many terrible things done in the name of an absolute, "transcendent" morality. Many by Christians. Many by Christians to Christians. And many by Christians to Christians in the last century alone.

A label doesn't define morality. In the words of Mark Twain, "Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often."

I'd rather know what someone has done than what they call themselves.

---

I have defended rights for homosexuals in comment threads on this site.

I want to make a distinction here. What the radical feminists are "fighting" for are not rights, but exclusive and irrevocable privileges backed by the force of law.

Rights do not emanate from a state, nor do they require state sanction or approval.

Most importantly, it's not a right unless the other guy has it too.

I tell people that I am not for Native American rights, homosexual rights, "black" rights, or women's rights.

I'm for human rights.

And you should be too.

Tags: Crux Files ∙ revisionism ∙ hard confrontation ∙ constantly escalating ∙ rights ∙ Christians ∙ labels ∙ RadFem ∙ privilege ∙ human rights

❝❝I've read enough of your stuff to understand why you misuse Science as a Higher Authority, One That Must Not Be Questioned. I can advocate science without being "scientific." I don't need test tubes, a microscope, or a Geiger counter to lend credibility.

I can defend human rights without being gay, a woman, Navajo, disabled, or a money-grubbing politico.

I can promote religious freedom without being Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, Protestant, Buddhist, or atheist.

I can even type a few replies before I've eaten breakfast. Not before my tea though, I'm good but not that good.❞❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: maxims ∙ science ∙ Science as a Higher Authority ∙ scientific ∙ human rights ∙ religious freedom ∙ breakfast ∙ tea

❝❝I've seen the arguments in enough other contexts to distrust anyone who claims rationality prevents any opposing view. Even more so when they dismiss any other possibility unheard because they have the Ultimate Truth That Must Not Be Questioned.❞❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: maxims ∙ humor ∙ Crux Files ∙ Christianity ∙ Christians ∙ climate change ∙ global warming ∙ distrust ∙ rationality prevents any opposing view ∙ Ultimate Truth That Must Not Be Questioned ∙ government approved line ∙ anthropogenic climate change ∙ The Science Is Settled ∙ criticism ∙ obedience ∙ dogma ∙ government ∙ science ∙ condemn ∙ Science as a Higher Authority ∙ Must Not Be Questioned ∙ advocate ∙ scientific ∙ human rights ∙ gay ∙ woman ∙ Navajo ∙ disabled ∙ politicos ∙ religious freedom ∙ Jewish ∙ Catholic ∙ Muslim ∙ Protestant ∙ Buddhist ∙ atheist ∙ moral relativity ∙ conservative ∙ liberal ∙ homosexuality ∙ religion ∙ guns ∙ virtues ∙ Pagan ∙ thou shalt not dissent ∙ Truth Out ∙ criminal corporations ∙ Republican ∙ no virtue or vice in the label ∙ That's the excuse, not the reason. ∙ race ∙ pedophilia ∙ religious oppression ∙ racist ∙ choice ∙ threat ∙ moral morass ∙ Satanists ∙ totalitarianism ∙ purged ∙ moral superiority ∙ Bible ∙ Pharisee ∙ scripture ∙ Divine

❝❝The man has not even been sworn in yet. Nobody knows what he's going to do. Some this this same stuff was going around about both Bush the Elder and Bush League, it didn't happen.

Personally I'm a little tired of being lectured about which Tragic Victim Group I'm supposed to genuflect before to show my compassion this week. The second someone escalates their victimhood over all others because of a label is the second I lose interest. Might-be-victims are even less interesting.

You have rights because you are human. Not because you are gay or transgender. Not because you are pagan or Navajo. And not because you are a man or a woman. Because you are human.

I won't defend rights because of labels. I won't fight for privilege that comes at the expense of others. I won't acknowledge group rights. I won't accept responsibility for things I didn't do or say.

I won't feed the victimhood anymore. But I WILL take a stand for human rights. Talk to me when someone has been denied their human rights and we'll see what we can do then. If that's not enough, I can't help you.

Until then, it hasn't happened and I'm not going to worry about it.❞ class="ghoster">❞

❝❝

Tags: victimhood ∙ Bush League ∙ Bush the Elder ∙ labels ∙ might-be-victims ∙ genuflect ∙ human rights ∙ privilege ∙ group rights ∙ gay ∙ transgender ∙ pagan ∙ Navajo

Comments

I've every reason to fight religious discrimination.

Tags: Christianity ∙ discriminate ∙ human rights ∙ homosexual rights ∙ Muslim rights ∙ pagan rights

This is a page from the original version of Pagan Vigil. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.paganvigil.com/C149884619/E668386334

This is awfully familiar. The U.S. has been accused of human rights abuses before

““As usual, individuals with no responsibility in the matter, their humanitarian impulses outraged by conditions that were frequently beyond help, began carrying to America tales of indifference, negligence, and callousness on the part of the troops.  Generally these stories were lies.  The thousands of men assigned to the job of rescuing the DPs and organizing relief for them were Americans.  They were given every facility and assistance the Army could provide, and they were genuinely concerned in doing their utmost for these unfortunate of the earth.  But because perfection could not be achieved some so-called investigators saw a golden chance for personal publicity.  They did so at the expense of great numbers of Americans who labored night and day to alleviate the average lot of people who had suffered so much that they seemed at times beyond suffering.””
     — General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe

Hat tip to William Katz at FrontPageMagazine.com

Posted: Mon - June 13, 2005 at 05:48 AM

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ humor ∙ Eisenhower ∙ human rights ∙ skimmed ∙ short

I’ve called the internet the last, best hope for humankind.

Yes, I caged the line from Babylon 5. It’s still true though.

Tags: internet ∙ FCC ∙ Obama administration ∙ lies and lies some more ∙ human rights

It’s not a right unless the other guy has it too.

Tags: Crux Files ∙ individual freedom ∙ Tenth Amendment ∙ informed choice ∙ human rights ∙ initiate force ∙ choice & consequence ∙ labels ∙ none of your business ∙ religion ∙ coercive power ∙ moral justification

I do dissent

Tags: personal freedom ∙ forbidden ∙ human rights ∙ Christianity

Baubles & distractions

Tags: liberty ∙ victimhood ∙ MLK Day ∙ freely chosen ∙ personal responsiblity ∙ human rights

So no matter what I’ve said before now, no matter what I’ve done before now, if I fail to do this now, I’m racist.

Tags: goal is freedom ∙ personal responsiblity ∙ Arizona ∙ good intentions ∙ criminal foreiture ∙ human rights ∙ reciprocity ∙ progressive ∙ mala prohibita ∙ victimhood ∙ civil forfeiture

From one of my freedom lists

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ J1W ∙ robot ∙ human rights

Rights are inclusive. They don’t depend on color, creed, or gender.

Tags: Pledge of Allegiance ∙ human rights

Despite the "push for impeachment," it is not one individual or party we should be worried about

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ classic ∙ progressive ∙ conservative ∙ RICO Act ∙ Sherman Anti-Trust Act ∙ Brown ∙ originalist ∙ victimhood ∙ human rights ∙ favorites

Just the FAQs about my Vigil

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ libertarian ∙ progressive ∙ socialist ∙ modern liberal ∙ religion ∙ economic freedom ∙ human rights ∙ personal freedom ∙ conservative ∙ bad choices ∙ for your own good ∙ smaller than absolutely necessary ∙ Zero Agression Principle ∙ KYFHO ∙ Pagan ∙ individual freedom ∙ personal responsiblity ∙ part time troublemaker ∙ person of faith ∙ Zero Aggression Principle ∙ Non-Aggression Principle ∙ Veritas