mardi, février 01, 2011

A nation of "rights": Huffington Post rant

After the Tucson shootings, I wondered if we would ask ourselves some hard questions about what happens when the individualistic ethos of our nation seems to, well, run amok.

In the eighteenth-century the idea of individual rights may have been just the thing for a new nation, which wanted to set itself apart from the tyrannies of kings. But the idea of rights doesn't work so well when your "rights" infringe upon the vulnerable, or my safety.

What should, what could supplement or even replace our "rights-base" culture? Feel free to comment.

1 commentaire:

Anonyme a dit…

Apparently the logic that Guns don't kill people, people do is the magic key which frees the NRA, gun mfg & gun owners from any responsibility. That and it's a constitutional right to bear arms. Have we become such a selfish nation, that we no longer consider the common good? Have we become so polarized that we've lost our common sense? Is there really no room for conversation on this topic and the possibility of finding common ground?