(Why, I wonder parenthetically, do all responses on this list have to be couched in a peevish, reproachful tone?)
On Sat, 9 Mar 2013 22:16:46 -0700 Marv Gandall <[email protected]> wrote: > in practice, you support the rights won in past struggles [excellent list of things I support snipped] Sure I support these things, but not qua 'rights'. They weren't rights before people grasped, conquered, wrested them from their masters. And they will not be rights any more once they're gone in practice. The language of 'rights' suggests something eternal, transcendent, 'out there', morally grounded. It's quite liberating to abandon this language, I think. People can argue about what your rights are, but they can't argue with facts, or even desires. I think we should claim these things because we *want* them, not because we can make some always-debatable claim of entitlement to them. > As the poet says, theory is grey but the great tree of life is green. The golden tree, IIRC: grün des Lebens goldner Baum. I never quite understood how it could be green *and* gold, but I suspect the great man was swept away by an irresistible Virgilian allusion. And I think this somewhat over-familiar tag provides more support to my position than yours: rights are, of course, always a matter of theory, but facts are the leaves of that goldner Baum. -- -- Michael J. Smith [email protected] http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org http://fakesprogress.blogspot.com http://cars-suck.org 'I'm not so sure about the Divisionnaire. He might just possibly have a soul. There's something unhappy about him.' 'Is that always a sign?' 'I think it is.' _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
