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OT: Human Rights Framework 3-May-2010 At 2:36:33 AM Dave132

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This is all very interesting.

I don't really know where to start with the arguments presented here. Some of them are really scary. Others are on the right track and exhibit true compassion.

I will take some time to read more carefully and attempt to reply tomorrow at length.

Just a quick thought to start. When one demands human rights based on a notion of moral equality this is not because people are all factually equal. Obviously humans are all different. The question we must ask ourselves is, are these differences sufficient reasons for giving the interest of any person less consideration? Is someones race a sufficient reason for giving their interests less consideration?

People are not factually equal. But I contend that people are morally equal. Understanding why this is so might go a long way to rooting out some problems in the arguments I have read.

I suggest that everyone interested in understanding this argument reads Peter Singer's Practical Ethics. This book is something that will help when confronted with a thinly veiled racist argument and show it for what it truly is. Criticising racism disguised as rational factual discrimination is a tough job if you don't know basic moral philosophy.

On another note I'd like to point out that when we say things like "i'd prefer the world suit my interests and everyone else can get stuffed," we categorically discount the interests of others for no good reason. I also contend that just because the land you stand on is part of the country that you were born in does not make this amoral statement of absolute selfishness suddenly moral. Your citizenship is just another fact that, like race or eye colour, is irrelevant to morality.

Dave.