Human rights are one of the great tasks of our civilisation. This article discusses the importance of this task along with our personal responsibility to be involved.
When I was writing the introduction to Human Rights, there were a number of things I wanted to discuss which would have made it too long to be an introduction. Some of these thoughts are fleshed out here, such as the idea of speciesism, states and other structural issues.
Reflections and discussion about the invasion of Iraq by the coalition of the willing in 2003, and the propaganda of war.
The massacres in Rwanda were an event that touched me deeply, and taught me much about the world. Here are a couple of good summary articles about why the west should also learn from them.
It seems to me it only takes a bit of thought to realize that if wars came out of human nature, out of a spontaneous urge to kill, then why is it that governments have to go to such tremendous lengths to mobilize the populations to go to war? It seems too obvious doesn't it? They really have to work at it. They have to dredge up an enormous number of reasons.
Part of my attraction to this book is that I enjoyed his previous bestseller Fast Food Nation so much. I am from the generation that took the threat of nuclear annihilation more seriously. The cold war was still happening right through my formative years. We watched movies like "The Day...