Tag Archives: rights

Empty Words

I responded to a post on LinkedIn by Arun Jee, on the topic of “Justice is no less challenging to teach in the classroom” by saying:

“The worst form of injustice is pretended justice.” ~Plato
The world I see today has many people using the word justice… but in defence of unjust ideas.

This is the crazy world we live in.

People talk about defending their freedoms by doing things that undermine the communities they live in… the very communities that offer those freedoms!

No, enforcing a mask policy isn’t an infringement of your rights, it’s preventing a lockdown that will reduce your freedoms while we take care of our community.

No, stricter gun laws in the US are not infringing on your constitutional amendment rights, but they will reduce easy, dangerous, and deadly weapons access to unfit people that are likely to harm your community.

No, your flat earth or QAnon conspiracies based on pseudoscience and fake facts are not counter-arguments to actual science, and don’t get equal footing in an argument.

No, All Lives Matter is not an argument against Black Lives Matter, it’s actually an argument to support the Black Lives Matter movement, “If you truly care about living in an equitable and just world.”

No, right wingers are wrong to think left wing ideals are a path to a socialist controlling government that will strip away your rights. And no, left wingers, being violent against opposing views, because you disagree with them, isn’t a left wing ideal: It’s fascist and authoritarian to block free speech.

No, media outlets you should not be sensationalizing the news by polarizing ideas. You are not reporting news when you do this, you are selling out. You are sacrificing factual reporting for the price of views and clicks. You are not reporting, you are entertaining, angering, and dividing people with bias on the verge of being called propaganda.

Justice, rights, freedoms, and truth are no longer things that have the meaning they intended. They are empty words filled with polarized and rationalized meanings shared by less convincing and less reliable sources. Each ‘side’ believes these words belong to them. But words only have meaning when their definitions are shared.

Anti-Yellow Line

That’s it, I’m fed up! I’m sick and tired of rules limiting my freedom. The roads are public, the government shouldn’t be able to tell me which side to drive on.

It’s my car, my choice.

Prohibitive yellow lines are a symbol of tyranny.

I will not succumb to someone else’s fear.

It’s not about road safety, it’s about control.

When injustice becomes the law, resistance becomes a duty.

I’m not a sheep that you can keep in line.

Motor vehicle death statistics are exaggerated to scare you.

I should be able to drive as close to other cars as I want to.

Mandatory lanes are illegal. They limit my rights and freedoms.

Yellow lines are a symbol of false security.

—–

How ridiculous would it be if we didn’t obey the laws of the road that kept us from colliding with oncoming traffic?

How ridiculous would it be for us to ignore laws and norms designed to keep us, and those more vulnerable than us in our community, safe during a pandemic?