All men are created equal,

Humanism
1

Some declarations:

1776 : US déclaration of independence

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.

1789, France, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen:

Article I – Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be founded only on the common good.

UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

For me, that’s a basic truth.

I know that at the time these declarations were written, definition of man was limited, not including women, colored people and so … .

I know that it is an ideal and that in daily life, people are not equal as some are rich, some are poor, some are discriminated for many reason, color, sex, faith and so.

I know that for some countries it is a western value that imperialism is using to meddle in the internal affairs of other countries.

I know that it cannot be philosophically proved.

In fact, it is an ideal which must be reached.

If one does not believe in it, if does not try to implement it, we accept slavery, discrimination and so.

What makes me afraid is that it seems to me that, nowadays, many people reject the idea itself, for many reasons.

 

 

 

 

 

2

It should read, “All humans are created equal”, but back then, only men were considered human and slaves were slaves and women were women and everyone must stay in their place. It was very difficult for women to find work unless it was a seamstress or teacher. It had to be traditional “women’s work” and only if they weren’t married OR had their husband’s permission to work. Unfortunately, “the Creator” was male too.

France did the same thing and said “men” and it was man’s world there too.

UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

The UN got it right. I’ve heard the excuse that “men means human”, but if this were true, why were most women only allowed to serve their man, have babies, and if her husband owned other humans, oversee most, if not all, of the house servants. It many years, decades, even centuries before the UN came along and got it right. The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the one I live by.

3

Well, there is that.

The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is the one I live by.
That's the one that the GOPers keep attacking, isn't it?
4

My CRT post didn’t get much follow up, so I’ll mention that here. Here’s the “progression” I see.

1776 - Some were already talking about abolishing slavery, but too much money was being made, so it took 100 years to get rid of it. (US being one of the last to do it at the federal level)

1863 - Emancipation, but, resistance to the programs to actually change the culture

18?? - There was a deal made, that I’m fuzzy on the details, basically the South “paid off” the North to leave them alone. Jim Crow laws kicked into high gear.

The South went on with its business while the rest of the world justified their inaction because the “slaves were free”

194x - With more non-white people participating in the workforce and the military, they gained some power and prejudice was at least discussed openly

1965 - Civil Rights legislation, but that ended the conversation again, some white people went back to quietly being prejudice while many more ignored it. Attempts to adjust for past racism using quotas are labeled “reverse racism”.

You have to find racism in pockets now, and you can find equality too, so each side can make an argument that each one exists or not, based on anecdotes. The Supreme Court won’t even allow a case to be investigated because you have to prove racism before you are allowed to subpoena the data that would prove racism

Enter Critical Race Theory, which starts with the non-controversial statement that the country your grandparents were born in does not correlate to intelligence or a tendency toward violence. But then it adds on that there must be systemic reasons. The people in power today, some of them have grandparents from other continents, say that if you support CRT, you are saying that all white people are oppressors and that a child is born an oppressors. And, like before, you can find pockets of this sort of misstatement of the theory, which is then offered as proof that the entire theory is wrong, and is “reverse racism”.

5
Some declarations:

1776 : US déclaration of independence

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.

1789, France, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen:

Article I – Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be founded only on the common good.

UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

For me, that’s a basic truth.

I know that at the time these declarations were written, definition of man was limited, not including women, colored people and so …. .

I know that it is an ideal and that in daily life, people are not equal as some are rich, some are poor, some are discriminated for many reason, color, sex, faith and so.

I know that for some countries it is a western value that imperialism is using to meddle in the internal affairs of other countries.

I know that it cannot be philosophically proved.

In fact, it is an ideal which must be reached.

If one does not believe in it, if does not try to implement it, we accept slavery, discrimination and so.


Well, there is a middle ground in there somewhere.?

What makes me afraid is that it seems to me that, nowadays, many people reject the idea itself, for many reasons.
Really? Belief in equality is quite strong today. It can never be reached and that leads to banging one’s head against the wall, but the belief is still there.
6

If you have facebook, I highly recommend Heather Cox Richardson’s daily post. She takes highlights from news and puts them in context, sometimes going back centuries for that context.

Today, she was talking about Trump and Kushner trying to rewrite the politics in the MidEast, some files got released or something, but then she related it to how “The Right” views CRT. In both cases, they make their critique of how people should act through a lens that ignores history. In the case of the MidEast, thinking they could start fresh with a trade policy and just pick who was leading. With CRT, saying that no matter what historical forces might be affecting your neighborhood, your school, your boss’ view of you, your ability to get a loan, whatever, none of that matters, the only thing that matters is your ability to find resources for yourself and engage whatever skills you have acquired. Their evidence for this being the right approach is anyone who has overcome difficult circumstances and been successful.

7

The thought of equality rises mainly from the practical application mainly regarding law and social order based rules and their enforcement, to be fair and equal to all. - The reason why it’s a big topic in several constitutions of several states which gone through this developement in the past.

In fact people are indeed unique (individualism) and not all the same. That was the contradictory problem. - Equal treatment for unique people.

Easy to fix however, in order to apply to equal rules just break it down into multiple sub-layers in order to accommodate the unique to the equal. And that’s what is usually done, and the reason why “in ideal” only criminals getting treated like criminals regarding to their crimes. Since the uniqueness of peopel couldn’t or wouldn’t be changed to equality, the commonality of the law was changed to the uniqueness in order to fit.

It’s a practical social/political matter and isn’t really a direct concern to philosophy*. - Doesn’t mean one can’t draw inspiration from it*.

8
I know that it is an ideal and that in daily life, people are not equal as some are rich, some are poor, some are discriminated for many reason, color, sex, faith and so.
Prejudice is an ancient survival technique of primitive species. We pride ourselves on the vast technological advances the human species has achieved, but as far as our base survival instinct of communal species we are no better than any other species that invades and claims another species' territory .

Check out this “cultured” favorite fishbowl inhabitant.

'Massive' goldfish weighing 9 pounds found in South Carolina lake
https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1120w,f_auto,q_auto:best/newscms/2020_50/3434167/201208-very-big-goldfish-jm-1050.jpg

Psychologically we are no different from any other predatory organism.

Remarkably, the Bonobo is one species that welcomes strangers in their midst and offer food and sexual favours to visitors. One researcher observed that in a Bonobo camp you can go to sleep at night, assured that you will be alive when you wake up in the morning.

9

Contemporary educated people are rejecting much of of the made up statements published in the last 2,000 years.

10

Well, if you don’t believe in equality of all human beings, at least from the point of view of law, and as an ideal, you accept slavery, apartheid ans so … You accept apartheid slavery and so can be legally and morally justified.

11

It’ll never be justifiable. It’ll just prove we are just like all other species. Just with bigger brains, but just as subject to the laws of nature as all other species.

Life must take life (Hellstrom Chronicle.)

#### Quotes

  • Compared with Man, we have to admit that the insect does not display what we can describe as intelligence. But don’t feel too proud about that, because where there is no intelligence, there is also no stupidity.
  • In fighting the insect we have killed ourselves, polluted our water, poisoned our wildlife, permeated our own flesh with deadly toxins. The insect becomes immune, and we are poisoned. In fighting with superior intellect, we have outsmarted ourselves.
  • Psychiatrists tell me that from childhood nightmares to adult schizophrenia, the insect is a common fixation on the human mind - partly because his face seems so evil, partly because he is so indestructible.
  • Ever wonder how David slew Goliath? Like the insect, he wasn’t afraid to die.
  • Man will point to nature, claiming War was meant to be. But here they died with reason - through selflessness, not greed.
  • Without the burden of intellect, emotion or individual identity, these creatures were given something we weren’t: the knowledge that they must work together to create the elusive utopia - the perfect society.
  • Confronted with this incredible resourcefulness - this desperate desire to survive - we must wonder, why? What is the value, even for oneself, to sustain an existence that must ultimately end in death? The insect has the answer, because he never posed the question.
  • Of the billions of living things on Earth, only Man ponders his existence. His questions lead to torment, for he is unable to accept, as the insects do, that life’s only purpose is life itself.
  • We earlier demonstrated that the insect has only a semblance of heart; let it now be known he has no soul. Free from the concept of romance, the act of procreation occurs as simply, naturally and obliviously as eating. Neither does beauty play a part, for the only requisite between consenting adults is that they be of the same species.

And that is where man ranks below the insect. We have no problem killing our own species.
Pink, Brown, Black, or Yellow skin do not a different species make.