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Entry: The Wrongs of "Rights" Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_wrongs_of_rights#7066 Post contents: Mr Newman, very interesting. Paradoxically I taught the same thing to my Chinese law students in recent years, often contradicting THEIR misapprehension that as an American I believed in the universality of "human rights". That's how and why I remained welcome to teach Law in Communist China, because I stuck to the true conservative position of non-interference in internal affairs of other states. Mutatis mutandis, by paying that consistent tribute to the sovereignty of my host country, I was permitted full license to teach them First Amendment jurisprudence, always reminding them that "this is what works for us, but you gotta do it your own way." Whenever a Chinese student asked me for advice on how to be "patriotic", I would reply, "I can't tell you how to be a Chinese patriot, because it's not my country." Q: "What do you think of the June 4 incident? (That's a euphemism for the Tienanmen Square Massacre.) Do you think those protesters were patriotic?" A: "That's not for me to say. It's your country. But I will say, they could have used firehoses instead of tanks and bullets if they just wanted to clear the streets." Q: "Some cult members in China refuse to use modern medicine. Do you think this violates the Human Rights of their children?" A: "I think it's stupid and immoral for them to deprive their children of medical care. But does that mean the government should monitor and control everyone's religious beliefs? In America we only prosecute people for what they do, not for what they believe." Q: (this one was ludicrous) "Professor Ball, there is no air-conditioning in our dormitories! Our Human Rights are being violated!" (They were serious about this - and that's an example of how diluted the concept of "Human Rights" has become all over the world - in today's China, many students think it means a right to air-conditioning, but NOT freedom of religion!) A: "No your rights are not being violated. When I was a student in America in the 1980s, I had no air-conditioning, no TV, and no computer. I used a manual typewriter." (Actually I used a vintage 1962 manual typewriter throughout law school too, until 1988.) Response from young Communist Party members: "You had no TV in your college dorm? YOUR HUMAN RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED!" Yet those same students believe it makes perfect sense for the Communist Party to imprison Roman Catholic Priests. Hmmm...... Sent at: 2008 07 08