I would argue that sometimes the correct compromise is actually for one side to realize they were wrong and to abandon the practice. Murder, Slavery, etc.
I also realize that often these are the types of compromises which don't happen without forceful action. On Mon, Jul 20, 2020, 7:18 PM Adam Moffett <[email protected]> wrote: > What would be the reasonable compromise between one caveman's right to > kill and other's not to be killed? > > Perhaps "kill whoever you want on Sunday, otherwise no killing" > > > On 7/20/2020 7:29 PM, Forrest Christian (List Account) wrote: > > Since this doesn't really reply to anyone's specific points, I figured I'd > just post this separately in the thread. > > I've recently realized that pretty much all of the conflicts we see are > where two sides 'rights' come in conflict with each other. > > Back before there were rules, I'm sure there was one group that thought > killing other humans was just fine and it was their right. Another group > just wanted to live their lives without being worried about being killed by > other humans, and it was their right to do so. When those groups came in > conflict their 'rights' didn't match so a rule had to be made - in this > case, 'the right to live is more important than the right to kill others'. > So we now have laws against murdering others. > > What I think people miss is that 'rights' are really nothing but a > construction of societal norms and laws built up over years. You have the > right to not be killed (life). But it could have just as easily been "you > have a right to kill anything you want, including other humans". Of > course, I have a feeling that a society with that as a right might not have > a long lifecycle... > > As time has progressed, more and more things have moved into the realm of > 'rights'. Right to free speech, right to peacefully assemble, and so on. > > > In our current situation, there seem to be several 'rights' being fought > over right now. Whether my desire to not wear a mask is more important > than the desire of society to reduce the transmission of a virus. Whether > the color of your skin should determine if you are more or less likely to > be shot or abused by a police officer in some areas. And on and on and > on. > > If you look at the civil rights movement, a lot of the protests (peaceful > or violent) came about where 'rights' were in conflict. For example, > the rights of black people to be non-segregated vs the rights of the white > people to not want black people to share their facilities/businesses. At > some point, there is going to be conflict and disagreement. In an ideal > society, one would hope that you could come to an agreement that both sides > would at least be equally unhappy about without resorting to protests and > civil disobedience. But when you're the party who's perceived rights are > being trampled on, it's kinda hard to get the people who are doing the > trampling to listen, since you'd end up trampling on their rights if things > changed. In this circumstance, often some sort of protest or refusal to > go along with the societal norms is unfortunately needed to bring the topic > up to the light. Thus you saw the lunch counter sit-ins and the freedom > riders and similar. > > The ignition for a lot of the current events seems to be the George Floyd > death. This is obviously a conflict between the perceived rights the > police officers believed they had, and the right of a black man to not be > killed at the hands of those officers. And obviously, this has been > bubbling under the surface for some time. There are a lot of these types > of conflicts going on right now... one doesn't have to look very far to > find some. > > I think to bring this back to another point of this discussion made by > others, it seems like a lot of this country has lost the ability to stop > and listen to both sides to understand what 'right' it is that the other > side thinks is more important than your right you're not happy with being > curtailed. And to come to some sort of reasonable agreement. > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >
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