• doingthestuff@lemy.lol
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        2 days ago

        How can you have a society where everyone is equal and free if you don’t define the right of individuals to be equal and free? There are always people and organizations who would give preference to their tribe, whether for well-intentioned or nefarious reasons.

        • NSRXN@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          2 days ago

          How can you have a society where everyone is equal and free if you don’t define the right of individuals to be equal and free

          it seems pretty obvious that we can just observe whether everybody is equal and free, and if somebody is preventing somebody else from being equal or free, tell them to knock it off.

          • JackbyDev@programming.dev
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            2 days ago

            and if somebody is preventing somebody else from being equal or free, tell them to knock it off.

            That’s what rights are.

            • NSRXN@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              2 days ago

              no, “rights” are an enlightenment era fiction created by people who were supposedly interested in empiricism, but never bothered to question whether rights exist.

              • JackbyDev@programming.dev
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                2 days ago

                Rights are things that as a society we agree people should be allowed to do. And if they’re prevented from doing them, we tell the people preventing them to knock it off.

                • NSRXN@lemmy.dbzer0.com
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  2 days ago

                  but we don’t agree. the government infringes on so-called inalienable rights all the time. often without repercussion.

                  • JackbyDev@programming.dev
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    2 days ago

                    So you agree that you believe in what everyone else calls rights, just that governments aren’t perfect. Which nobody said they were.

          • doingthestuff@lemy.lol
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            2 days ago

            When people are told to change their behavior, sometimes their response is just to say fuck off. How could we possibly expect compliance without codifying what they should comply with? How would you deal with conflicting values? As much as governments are the single largest cause of mass murders and deaths, this is the one thing they are good for: defining parameters.

            • NSRXN@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              6
              ·
              2 days ago

              How could we possibly expect compliance without codifying what they should comply with?

              none of this necessitates rights

        • NSRXN@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          2 days ago

          There are always people and organizations who would give preference to their tribe, whether for well-intentioned or nefarious reasons.

          you can’t prove this