The Privilege of Rights, The Rights of Privilege topic(s)
Growing up in a very strict home I was aware of what a privilege was and what a right was.
I could lose my privileges, but rights were carved in stone. The rights were somewhat boring, like the right to eat three meals per day. But the meals did not always include dessert, which could be withheld if one did something wrong. I could eat more bread if my dessert was revoked, so the right to eat a non-dessert food item was always there. At least I never went hungry as a kid.
Ironically, there was more responsibility attached to privileges than rights, at least in my home.
Privileges could change with age, mood, availablility--they were arbitrarily given and taken away. Rights were something permanent. Of course, they were more privileges than rights--more to lose.
What does all this mean? It is better to have enshrined rights, as visagrunt wrote. At the same time, the notion of white privilege is thankfully gone. And the privilege to be an atheist? Of course! Yet it is good to remember that with such a privilege comes a responsibility to be as strident as possible!! I have got to work on this.
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Radiant Aspergian
Awe-Tistic Whirlwind
Phuture Phounder of the Philosophy Phactory
NOT a believer of Mystic Woo-Woo