human rights
Who has the right to the land in Israel-Palestine?: Palestinian rights
4 a.m. in the South Hebron Hills The bulldozer arrives before dawn. A family of eleven watches an IDF escort clear the perimeter around their home — declared illegal because the Civil Administration denied every building permit over twenty years. By sunrise the house is rubble.... Is moral progress real?: Moral realists
The assertion nobody can ground In 1945, the Allies liberated Auschwitz. Within three years, the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — premised on a claim so ambitious it is easy to miss: human dignity is inherent and universal. Not granted by states.... Is moral progress real?: Progress realists
The chart nobody believes In 1950, roughly 60 percent of the world lived in extreme poverty. By 2015, under 10 percent. Hans Rosling spent his last decade showing audiences this chart and watching their faces.... Is moral progress real?: The Story
The arc bent, and then it bent back In 1807, the British Parliament passed the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. William Wilberforce wept in the gallery.... What does developmental history reveal that's hard to see any other way?: Developmentalists
The convergence In 1948, forty-eight nations voted for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The document was drafted primarily by people whose governments had, within living memory, denied those rights to most of the human race.... Is tradition a resource, a trap, or something else?: Progressives
The grandmother’s hands On a September morning in 1994, a nine-year-old girl in rural Yunnan had her feet bound by her grandmother. The grandmother soaked strips of cloth in warm water, folded the girl’s four smaller toes under each foot, and wrapped them so tightly the bones... Help. I've been contemplating non-violence and us-vs-them and many people I admire here say that's the way to go. The Texas Supreme Court just ruled that judges can deny gay couples marriages today.
Help. Please tell me how to grieve. I never see you guys hate online. Is it weird that I don't feel loved when I just see silence on these issues?
on the object level, the fact that anyone thinks we need this ruling is eye opening for me on the illusion of 'progress' i was living under. i imagine steelman libertarian counterarguments in my head, but they don't hold up when i get into the details (how much government is... Deportations in Dominican Republic
This morning, on my drive home after dropping my boys off at school, I saw a pickup truck full of Dominican soldiers stopping various vehicles, mostly public transport, looking for dark-skinned Haitians to arrest and deport.... 🧨 We Need a Better Way to Talk About Landmines
Finland just pulled out of the global treaty banning landmines — and it’s stirred up a storm. Human rights groups like Amnesty International are calling it a dangerous step backwards. And I get it: landmines are horrifying.... Discussion of border/immigration answers
I have the sense that Vance/Trump probably want to be fairly inhumane in deporting extremely large numbers of people. Various quotes I’ve seen from them have suggested this (though I’d like to fact check myself at some point).... It's time to make circumcision illegal. Here’s the deal.
I believe it’s time to abandon this outdated procedure. It’s easy to maintain personal hygiene today and have access to healthcare, which were the two, IMO, worthy arguments for allowing this procedure.
The others- cultural, religious, or aesthetic arguments are outdated.
I agree almost completely, and also feel really passionate about this topic. My top reasons are 1. Never unnecessarily alter a body of a person who hasn’t made that decision for themself 2.... I Don't Have To. I’ve had an intellectual understanding that I don’t have to do things, but I’ve recently realized that it was tethered to old beliefs.
I don’t have to visit my grandmother if I’m willing to be a bad granddaughter/bad person.
orI don’t have to buy my friend a birthday present if I’m willing to be a shitty friend.
I’m freshly looking at a new version of
I don’t have to
which is just a literal seeing of reality without the tether.I don’t have to clean up my stepmother’s hoarding house after she dies.
It’s just true, I literally don’t have to.Have you seen the movie "A Hidden Light"? It’s about an Austrian peasant who simply refuses to join the Nazi wehrmacht. He’s just like "No, I just don’t want to. I heard they’re killing cripples, and that’s not my thing".... More People Should Die. Elderly people should be able to legally choose to end their life when they’re ready. In fact, any adult should be legally allowed to choose to die. They should be able to invite people, be present for their memorial service, and have a medical professional end their life.
And we should be more present with death in society. People should be able to attend their loved ones’ cremations. Embalming should be illegal.
Dark short story idea: society treats a marginalized group so badly that the only rational choice for them is to self-genocide, which they do. Smug onlookers: "Well looks like all the individuals independently exercised their freedom!...