Tuesday, May 30, 2023

The "right to take what you want" doesn't exist


So many people like to imagine that words are meaningless.

This is true with many important words, as illustrated by the word "rights". If you prefer, it could be described as the concept of rights, and less about the word (for people who can't think clearly about either). The result is the same whichever way you think about it.

They'll say "rights" is just a word or a concept. Nothing real. Nothing important. Something to ignore while geeks and nerds waste time discussing it. It's only about the power to do something. Just do what you want when you can get away with it. 

People who don't want to respect the rights of others when doing so would get in the way are big on this one. Even many who you'd think would know better. They don't understand that rights concern only things you don't have the right to do, not things you do have a right to do.

Any "right to do something" is actually an example of something no one else has a right to stop you from doing. Theft isn't in that category. No one has a right to steal, nor to forbid anyone from stopping a thief. This isn't how it seems to work in so many big cities these days.

To act as though rights are meaningless leads to destruction and the collapse of functional society.

It's how you end up with people who believe they have a "right" to steal, a "right" to govern, or a "right" to do whatever they feel like doing. No, they don't.

Look at the looters or entitled shoplifters in many of those big cities. You'll see people who believe they have a right to take what they want. To do what they want. To do anything they want to anyone who stands in their way of doing what they want. 

The same is true for politicians and bureaucrats.

They don't have such rights because no such rights exist. Because of this, I don't care even a little when they suffer the consequences and "find out".

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My surgery fund.
Thank you!