[lit-ideas] Re: 21. century European anti-Semitism
- From: "Judith Evans" <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 20:57:55 +0100
>At a level of abstraction so high that the claim is essentially
>vacuous, of course.
a la Talcott Parsons (sorry!). But yes, this is the whole point. My "race",
my sexual preference/s, my (former) religion, mean that while I may be the
victim of an in-group it will not be on their basis, and will tend to be
individual. (As it were. For another way of putting this point is this: in
skin colour, former religion, sexual preference, I parallel either a
majority or those who have power. Qua group member, then, I count as an
individual... my sex -- "gender" -- apart.)
>>>
Racism and homophobia are now
criminalized because they conflict directly with the proposition that
all human individuals should have equal rights to, in Jefferson's
words, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The terms carry
a specific force in this context and this context only.
>>>
Here I disagree. The terms carry a specific force in all cases.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that **all** men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form
of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the
people to alter or abolish it,"
"(All) men are born free, and are everywhere in chains."
Judy Evans
jaye@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of John McCreery
Sent: 19 April 2004 08:14
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: 21. century European anti-Semitism
On 2004/04/19, at 15:41, Scribe1865@xxxxxxx wrote:
> But to go back to my original question, which was basically a
> linguistic
> observation regarding hate crimes as anthropological phenomena--these
> are called
> race crimes because the target is often perceived to be of a certain
> race, or
> gay bashing when the target is perceived to be gay, or religious
> persecution
> because a certain religion is targeted--but aren't they all crimes of
> violently
> resisting "cultural invasion"?
At a level of abstraction so high that the claim is essentially
vacuous, of course. The only thing that keeps a psychopath from
claiming that he is only resisting cultural invasion is the need for at
least one other to share his views. Racism and homophobia are now
criminalized because they conflict directly with the proposition that
all human individuals should have equal rights to, in Jefferson's
words, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The terms carry
a specific force in this context and this context only.
John L. McCreery
International Vice Chair, Democrats Abroad
Tel 81-45-314-9324
Email mccreery@xxxxxxx
>>Life isn't fair. Democracy should be. <<
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