• cynar@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Show me an atom of equality, or a molecule of freedom. They don’t exist in the universe. Just like rights, they are a lie made true by our common belief in them.

        The idea of Rights is embedded in society. That embedding has a lot of value. It stops people riding roughshod over them.

        • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          5 days ago

          you can observe equality. you can see whether people are treated equally.

          rights are routinely ignored or revoked.

      • TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        so you can observe the freedom in same sex marriages, but you can’t observe the right to be in a same sex marriage? I don’t follow, it’s the same thing.

          • davidagain@lemmy.world
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            5 days ago

            If it’s a right encoded in law, you can see it written down in the text of the relevant law. Freedom is no less abstract than rights.

              • davidagain@lemmy.world
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                5 days ago

                You can observe someone exercising their freedom exactly as much as you can observe someone exercising their rights. What you can’t see is a freedom written down, unless it’s in the form of legal rights. Laws don’t protect freedoms any more than they protect rights. You like the word freedom, you don’t like the word right. They’re both abstract concepts.