Rights and Privileges

Right (definition 1) - in accordance with what is good, proper, or just

Privilege (definition 1) - a right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed only by a person beyond the advantages of most

Below is a link to the full constitution, marked at the Amendments:

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Amends

As citizens of the United States, we are given great rights. We have the right to free speech, the right to bear arms, the right to resist search and seizure (barring probable cause), and on it goes.

We also have a great many privileges - perhaps we are over-privileged. Individual car ownership is a good example. Driving is a wonderful and enjoyable thing for most people, granting autonomy and control to the individual. However, owning a car is not a right. It is a privilege. Here is where I think in the United States, we have lost sight of that line.

In the definitions provided above, it is clear that a right is in accordance with what is good, proper, or just. Ownership of a car may or may not fall into that category, depending on how one argues. I don't think that an argument of owning a car as being 'just' would be very compelling though. A privilege is defined as a right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed only by a person beyond the advantages of most. This is where we have become blind to the world. In my opinion, we who live in the United States have come to believe that something such as owning a car is a right. This is because a privilege is a right enjoyed only by an overwhelming minority, and owning a car is not just enjoyed by the minority in the United States. No, in fact most people in the United States are able to own a car, or multiple cars. So to own a car is not enjoying a right beyond the advantages of most is it?

That is true - until you start to actually look at the idea of rights and privileges in a global perspective. Suddenly the picture changes entirely. Not only can we quickly realize that owning a car is beyond the advantages of most, we realize that also is the ownership of a computer, television sets, land area per person, and large houses (Sourced from NationMaster - actual websources below)

It is quite clear that we enjoy 'rights' beyond the advantages of most. I'm not writing this to make people feel guilty for owning these things - I would be a hypocrite. I'm just trying to put it into perspective. We don't deserve these things, we are blessed with these things. So we should remember that. I am tired of hearing stories about people like Stephanie Muir and her crusade against Facebook (Facebook Won't Budge) over them taking down her breastfeeding pictures. Facebook is not a right, it is a privilege. When you sign up for it, you agree to the Terms of Use, in which is stated:

".....you agree not to use the Service or the Site to: upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available content that, in the sole judgment of Company, is objectionable or which restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying the Site, or which may expose Company or its users to any harm or liability of any type."

Don't confuse the issue here - I'm not saying whether breast feeding pictures are offensive or not. All I am saying is that she needs to accept the fact that Facebook can do whatever they want as far as their policies are concerned. She thinks that they are being unfair - I think they run the site according to user responses. People were complaining about the breast feeding pictures and she needs to understand that.



Here are some reference links for anyone who gets heated enough to question my radical claims of American wealth or anything else I put in here. If you spot anything questionable let me know and I'll look it up.

The U.S. Constitution (this deserves to be posted on every website) -
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html

House sizes in the U.S. -
http://fortworthology.com/2008/10/20/square-feet-per-person/

NationMaster Information (I actually went through the labor of finding each stat individually for the readers benefit...treasure those links)

Global comparisons:

Televisions per capita - U.S. #3
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/med_tel_percap-media-televisions-per-capita

Computers per capita - U.S. #4
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/med_per_com_percap-media-personal-computers-per-capita

Cell Phones per capita - U.S. #4
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/med_tel_mob_cel-media-telephones-mobile-cellular_percap

Land Area per person - U.S. #54
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/geo_are_lan_percap-geography-area-land-per-capita

Motor Vehicles per capita - U.S. #1
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/tra_mot_veh-transportation-motor-vehicles


Lastly, the article from the New York Times that inspired me to begin with:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/breastfeeding-facebook-photos/?ref=technology