Does anyone else find it odd that the same people who claim that racism is a prolific public health crisis and support the “no justice, no peace” protests also assert that protesting the past year and a half (and counting) lockdowns is selfish? It is the tale of two protests over rights, in which one kind of protest can violate lockdown orders, get away with crimes such as looting, rioting, vandalism, and assault, and garner support of elites. All the while the other protest is deemed illegal because it violates executive orders masquerading as law and those engaging in rights claims are called selfish. So as long as your exercise of your rights aligns with the political predilections of the ruling class you’re not selfish, you’re fighting for justice?
On the contrary, the exercise of rights is actually an antidote to selfishness in a well-oriented, principled society. First, the best way to secure my rights is for me to grant you your rights as an equal citizen. In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville claimed, “Now I know of only two methods of establishing equality in the political world; every citizen must be put in possession of rights, or rights must be granted to no one” (pg. 57). He believed, and rightly so, that those with more rights will eventually become the tyrants of those who have fewer rights, and granting everyone equal rights would be a necessary to avoid this problem.
Seeing others as equal, rights-bearing individuals can actually increase our respect and deference for even those with whom we vehemently disagree. And I fear that stripping our political opposition of their rights, or even calling for it, when we reserve those same rights for ourselves is a dangerous step towards unjustly dehumanizing others.
Secondly, most of us innately value consistency, so when we expect others to respect our ability to exercise our rights, it makes sense that we extend the same courtesy to others. We are also able to see that when others’ rights are undermined it puts our rights at risk. An example of this is that Christians have been among the most ardent defenders of Muslims’ religious freedoms in places like France. When we understand how our rights are often dependent on others having the same rights, we are more willing to defend each other, which is quite the opposite of being motivated by blind, selfish ambition.
This is not to say that countries with strong rights traditions cannot also be guilty of rights violations. The best way to remedy these rights violations, past and present, is not to eradicate the rights themselves but to recognize more citizens as legitimate rights-bearing individuals. In fact, this expansion of the full rights and recognition of citizenship has been the hallmark of American movements.
The women of the Women’s Suffrage Movement did not want to dissolve the right to vote for men because women were excluded; rather, these women fought for universal suffrage for all American citizens of age. And the Civil Rights Movement starting in 1909 with the founding of the NAACP called for black citizens to be treated the same as their white counterparts, not deny white citizens of all their rights as citizens. These are but a few examples.
What we are witnessing today is not an expansion of rights guarantees for citizens characteristic of the American rights claiming tradition. Rather, we are seeing the retraction of rights for some and excused criminality for others based on political orientation. This is due in no small part to the erosion of constitutional principles of equality and liberty as well as the democratic principles of reciprocity and respect.
And it’s getting worse. Our basic rights like free movement in public spaces, the freedom to gather with whom we please, and the right to entertain our friends and family in our own homes become “privileges” instead of rights.
We’ve been hearing this for months, and now with the slow roll-out of vaccine mandates (yes, this is just the beginning, mark my words), draconian talking heads tell us we have no right to things like air travel because it is a “privilege” that now should be reserved only for the obediently vaccinated. Never mind that the Supreme Court ruled that the right to travel is constitutionally protected under the “Privileges and Immunities” clause. (Privileges in that context means that citizens must be afforded all their rights regardless where they are in the U.S.)
We’ve come to a precarious and disturbing place when the government is able to determine who gets which rights (which they so slyly call “privileges”) based on how well we obey the mandates they themselves admit are unconstitutional. And then those mandates don’t even apply to them.
But don’t worry, this is all in the name of public health. Never mind that when the Bush Administration circumvented our rights in the name of national security, these same people were up in arms, as they should have been.
As much as public health matters, it cannot be the only thing that does. Health is a means to a fulfilling life, not an end itself. And if public health is our highest good, we all need to never consume sugar, flour, artificial substances, liquor, and deep-fried food ever again. We need to give up all trains, plans, and automobiles. All sources of mental illness like social media must be eradicated. Actually, just to be on the safe side, let’s just live in bubbles.
No one gets out of this life alive, so let’s not get reckless with our well-being, but let’s not forget to live. I would say exercising rights is a part of living a full life. And it’s not the government’s job to tell us which rights we can or cannot exercise; instead it is charged with protecting us from others (itself included) violating our rights, rights we all have based on our equal intrinsic value as human beings.
The most selfish people are not the ones who exercise their rights in ways that the rest of us wouldn’t, but rather the ones who shame you into giving up your rights in the name of their accumulation of power.
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