CAPABILITIES, NOT RIGHTS

CAPABILITIES, NOT RIGHTS

Joseph H

From: Joseph H Subject: CAPABILITIES, NOT RIGHTS Date: 12 Dec 2004 12:23:01 -0800 Ralph writes: Joseph, your fine words do not reach as far as Guantanamo Bay. Does this worry you? Are you carrying banners down Pennsylvania Avenue? Or emailing president@whitehouse.gov? Or don't you think you should be? Joseph replies: Well now, here's a dilemna: because I suggest that our single-minded pursuit of rights leads to some devaluation of our own achievements and some diminuition of our sense of society you point out a fairly obvious case of rights being denied in Guantanamo. Question: does this invalidate my case? Question: will any one single case of injustice ANYWHERE in the world invalidate all such musings? Question: will we have to wait until every single case of injustice is solved before we can move to the next phase in our history? In a way, your posting illustrates my point. We are so focused on rights that we disallow any questioning of their grip on our thinking. Guantamano is a blight on any society purporting to be half-decent. There are many more such. Maybe the way of thinking I propose, one focusing more on human capabilities, would see us ease out of the cul-de-sacs that produce obscenities like Guantanamo? Best wishes Joseph H www.humanisation.org