human rights
...ad built his own website using html for his work as a trainer and as a model. He also has been modeling for two and a half years now as a freelance job. He has been working all over the Bay Area and a little in Southern California. He has not done each of these jobs to his full capabilities because he put his major emphasis on completing school. He will get his Computer Science degree in this coming June. His target after degree is looking for a computer engineering position in big computer companies such as CISCO, Sun Micro System, etc. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS a) How would you describe what Human Rights are? Leo’s perspective: I consider human rights to be those rights individuals should be guaranteed as a human being. The basic physiological need rights such as breathing, eating, seeing, and sleeping should be guaranteed rights. Anything after that is controversial because it is human nature to push what some would call “guaranteed rights.” Rights such as freedom of speech, the pursuit of happiness, and the right to justice all can have negative impacts on a society where the individual may think they are benefiting. Freedom of speech could involve threatening another human being and place duress under that individual. That is not just in a social society. One person’s pursuit of happiness could destroy the environment or other living organisms, which is unjust. The right to justice can be looked at objectively by a group of people that are affected by what is supposedly “just.” A period of time about 70 years ago it was considered unjust within the American society for blacks to use the same bathrooms as whites, just because they had different skin color. My perspective: I think that human rights to be something that protects people from having extra burdens in people’s live cause from unfair courses of action by others. It includes all of the situations that are harmful to a person, such as discriminations, assaults, threats, physical injuries, etc. According to Locke, “And that all men may be restrained from invading others’ rights, and from doing hurt to one another, and the law of nature be observed” (Locke, 17). To prevent people from having these harmful situation that that do not deserve to have, people have human rights, given by an authority. Human rights are the laws and restrictions on each other’s rights that protect people one another. Another critical element in “Rights” need to be said is that rights come with responsibilities, or even can be said as duties. If people act irresponsibly and do not accomplish what they have to do to preserve their rights, their claims to rights should fail. There should be no “free right” for anyone because it is not fair to the people who do accomplish their responsibilities. b) Do you consider Human Rights as inherent, socially prescribed, or some combination of both? Explain why this position is assumed. Leo’s perspective: I perceive human rights to be both biologically inherent and socially prescribed. The right to breathe, see, and hear are biologically inherent. Rights such as intellectual property rights, personal property rights, and the right to live without duress are socially prescribed rights. My perspective: Human rights are considered to be both biologically inherent, and socially prescribed. According to “The Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson, “they are endowed by their creator with inherent and inalienable right” (Jefferson, 23). Even though it articulates that people are to have inherent rights, articulating them itself is the evidence that human rights are prescribed. An example of biological inherent human right will be the birthplace of an individual. When this individual was born in some sophisticated developed countries such as Europe and the United States, an average citizen was granted the right to express his/her opinions, and the constitution of the United States guarantees the right to bear arms, etc. On the other hand, some nations have restricted human rights of their own citizens. For instance, when a citizen expressed an opinion against the government, this “brave” individual might be spending some time in jail, or even worse. Since each society has its own sets of rules, the descriptions of human right will be quite different as well. c) How does whom or what is considered human in our society affect the concept of rights? Leo’s perspective: What human rights say to what or who is considered human is that they are the dominant species within the world. No mater who or what has to suffer outside the human race for their ways of life is of no value to them. Individuals or groups may stand up for the destruction but they are small in comparison and might compare to those who make the actual rights of humans. My perspective: Ideally speaking, regardless of their physical and social preferences, such as gender, race, color, social class, Human Rights should be applied to all human beings on the earth. However, this is not the case and there are still discriminatory ideas still exist in people. As we discussed in the class about the Declaration of independence, “All men are created equally” (Jefferson, 203) is questionable. The term “men” unfortunately did not refer to all human beings but only certain group of people, rich white males. I believe that this type of discrimination idea still leaves its trace in deeper level in some people than before and the societies unconsciously succeed it down too generations. Just like the prohibition laws on alcohol and marijuana, if laws prohibit it, it does not appear on the surface but it goes down deep into the underground such as so-called black market. Therefore, by looking at the surface, Human Rights say about all the human beings. However, by looking closer to a deeper level, Human Rights are violated in some level. d) What does Social Justice mean to you? Leo’s perspective: Social Justice is the ongoing struggle to create a society where everyone is equal regardless of your race, gender, religion, etc. My perspective: Society should treat all equally well who have deserved equally well of it, that is, who have deserved equally well absolutely. This is the highest abstract standard of social and distributive justice; towards which all institutions, and the efforts of all virtuous citizens, should be made in the utmost degree to converge. “All men are created equal.” (Jeffreson, 23) especially before Social Justice such as laws and rules. e) How does who or what is considered human in our society affect Social Justice? Leo’s perspective: Social justice is affected by everything whether it is directly or indirectly. An example of human law to maintain justice for the air, smog certificates are required in order to help keep the air clean. Nature’s law for maintaining justice for the air involves destroying human beings by increasing levels of CO2, which have been brought on by the humans, until the air is filtered out naturally. Nature has catastrophic events to help with controlling the human population along with that of other living organisms. If too many plant eaters begin destroying an area, a shortage of plants will create a lack of food to sustain the life form, this life form will die out and a homeostasis will be maintained in order to control the population. The difference between humans and nature in creating social justice is that humans can implement a strategy immediately whereas nature takes time in order to build up and retaliate. My perspective: Given that there are still discriminatory ideas exist in societies, this influences Social Justice greatly in negative manner. As discussed in the piece by Adolf Hitler, “Any crossing between two beings of not quite the same high standard produces a medium between the standards of the parents.” (Hitler, 31) This statement by Hitler leads to a conclusion that two beings from different standards should be separated as they are. Also, in his perspective, people from the higher standard should have privilege over people from the lower standard. This perspective implies that, in today’s societies, minorities are always the ones who eternally suffer for the majority. Then, it follows that Human Rights of the minorities are to be violated and the majority benefits from the violations. As seen in the pieces of Native-Americans, “You whites assumed we were savages. You didn’t understand our prayers. You didn’t try to understand.” (Mani, 27). A gulf between people will get wider, and people will start developing hatred a...