Universal Human Rights? How much do they weigh?

[Enishi]

I rather liked this article. The concept of universal human rights which trump all cultural traditions, combined with cultural marxism and several other strains of thought, is currently the prevailing ideology of the west. And, interestingly enough, it is in western countries, particularily English speaking countries, where relationships and family unity are the most messed up!

http://users.cyberone.com.au/myers/rights.html

Note: I don't mean to imply here that I don't believe in right and wrong (I believe in karma), just that universalist viewpoints on morality are seriously flawed.

[Enishi]

Part of the reason I posted this is due to a shift in my own views on things over the past months.

Though I still consider refer to myself as a libertarian, I do this in a general sense (lower case libertarian, rather than upper case Libertarian).

For instance, according to the Ayn Rand/objectivist inspired brand of Libertarianism, Big Business is some sort of persecuted minority, and the absolute, inherent, sacred right of private property bestowes a landowner with the moral go ahead to monopolize the use of a small oasis isolated in the desert. Another group which comes in, half-starved to death and dying of thirst, is morally obligated to either move on, or consent to the landowner's demands of working 16 hours a day for a small glass of water.

Though this is an extreme example, I believe that the consideration of such possibilities reveals the flaws in universalist assumptions about rights and property or whatever.

[Jackal]

It's very true that western civilizations have a lot of blood on their hands, but so do many others. I am hard-pressed to think of any country with a history that has been almost entirely peaceful throughout recorded history. Part of the reason, might be that what we generally refer to as "history" is the details of the bloodshed that caused nations or kingdoms to gain or lose resources. It's often hard to find any courses about the history of indigenous peoples in the "History" departments of most colleges; you have to go to the Anthropology department instead.

I have often viewed the Native Americans in North America before the arrival of the Europeans to be the ideal civilization. They were generally peaceful and lived in harmony with nature (something modern man is struggling to relearn to do). The Native Americans also had very different concepts about private property which I would like to study more in depth sometime. They generally didn't believe that people could "own" land. They saw themselves more as caretakers of nature.

Often in discussions about rights for various ethnic groups, the indigenous peoples of the world are the most frequently forgotten, but I think the world has much to gain from their wisdom.