The Wrong Rights
Is Rights The Wrong Word?
As my profile states, I'm a computer geek who's been out of the field for over two years. I'm always looking for opportunities to get back in, and I think I may have found a lead in my church bulletin. The Diocese of Harrisburg needs a desktop support technician, and I think I possess most of the skills that the position would require.
My Dad, who might be more aggravated at my inability to get back into IT than me, seems to think that this may be a great fit for me. He's a bit concerned about some of my political views, especially on abortion and gay/lesbian/etc rights.
But that comment got me to thinking; is it a question of rights, or is it a matter of equality?
For example, homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals don't seem to want any special rights. They wish to be able to serve their country as they are, and without fear. They wish to have their unions have the same legal rights and status as those of a man and a woman.
On the matter of abortion, it could be more a case of a woman wanting the right to control her own body. What are rights is one does not have the power to decide what is best for them. In the novel Handmaid's Tale, women lack the rights to their bodies, and are treated as little more than property of their husband's.
The idea of calling these desires for equality 'rights' may have to do with cultivating fear and resentment. The idea being to convince people that people are asking for something they don't have and that they don't deserve them. It's yet another way to create outgroups, and divide people. It was tried against the abolitionists, feminists and suffragettes, and civil rights activists. Efforts to resist these changes, for the most part, failed. History does tend to repeat.