My latest podcast delves into “nature rights,” which, I believe, could reasonably be depicted as neo nature religion. It isn’t just the constitution of Ecuador, as I have discussed before. Some US municipalities have passed ordinances giving “Nature” the right to sue. We live in the most bizarre times, don’t we? We can no longer dismiss these threats to human exceptionalism with a blithe, “It can’t happen here.” It is happening here. It is happening now. And unless more of us wake up to the threat, it will only get worse, for as I say in the podcast:
This [Nature rights] is not only anti human exceptionalism, but it devalues the concept of rights altogether in much the same way that wild inflation devalues currency. After all, if rocks and streams are “rights possessors,” human rights cease to be special and the very concept of rights itself, becomes ho-hum.
January 28th, 2010 | 12:55 pm
[...] What It Means to be Human on “Nature Rights” » Secondhand Smoke … Tags: did-not, get-worse, longer-dismiss, maintain-the-bbc, militant-group, randy-hultgren, state-senate, the-threat, the-upcoming, these-threats, unless-more, upcoming, versus-governing, will-only The Six Degrees of Separation from Human Trafficking | End Human …On Human Fallibility » NFL Gridiron GabBob McDonnell, Human Wallpaper & the Stagecraft of the Response to …"Extremely serious" — Strong warning on security, human rights …Human Rights Watch disputes Hamas claims it did not target Israeli …Dissident Voice : Repudiating the Universal Declaration of Human …Clinical Cases and Images: CasesBlog: Animation: Human Body as a …James Franco & Jon Hamm Compare 'Howl' Trial To Propostion 8 (VIDEO)Cowboy brothers among 'Amazing Race' teams | Aiken Standard …Shanghai To Set Up 20 New Tourist Information Centers – China … View the Contact Powered by Video [...]
January 28th, 2010 | 5:20 pm
In order to have rights, one has to have responsibility. I have never heard of a rock or a plant having a responsiblity. They, naturally (pardon the pun) have a design, which is rather beautiful. But having a responsibility means being part of some type of ethical conduct. And that, of course, is particular to human beings.
We sure live in a wacky world.
January 30th, 2010 | 3:41 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Vince Humphreys, J. Robert Howell and ProLifeBlogs, Wesley J. Smith. Wesley J. Smith said: What It Means to be Human on “Nature Rights” » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog – http://shar.es/aPmop [...]
February 1st, 2010 | 11:23 am
Emina: Thanks for supporting my earlier claims that fetuses don’t have any rights. That should be quite obvious to all, since they don’t have any responsibilities.
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