thanks to social media, it’s easier than ever for people to talk about equity, social justice, and human rights. more and more people write linkedin posts on equity and social justice, and to be honest, most of the time i just scroll past without really paying attention. most of them are speakers, advocates, blah blah-ers. who's behind the scenes, actually doing the work, is much more interesting to me.
as social creatures, we crave connection and relevance. we want to feel seen, involved, and part of the narrative. so we talk about human rights. so we wish others see us with integrity - "justice certified". otherwise how do we get noticed? how can we feel relevant to what's happening?
then more and more people talk about human rights, competing with each other to stand out and get noticed.
until, if someone asks, who is actually doing the work?
"because people in the west are not threatened by concentration camps and are free to say and write what they want, the more the fight for human rights gains in popularity the more it loses any concrete content, becoming a kind of universal stance of everyone towards everything, a kind of energy that turns all human desires into rights."
(kundera, immortality, 1991)
what’s the difference between a desire and a right? if we’re just saying things without putting in the work, isn't it just a desire? and most often, a selfish desire.
"the world has become man's right and everything in it has become a right: the desire for love the right to love, the desire for rest the right to rest, the desire for friendship the right to friendship... ..."
(kundera, immortality, 1991)
hmm, paradoxically, i'm sitting on my couch writing about human rights. as a young generation, i often feel confused and lost. who's telling the truth? who's taking the action? what can i do now?
photograph: sipa press/rex features
reference
kundera, m. (1991). immortality (h. asher, trans.). grove weidenfeld.
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