"...Where human relations are concerned, value shifts only with regard to subjective and external circumstances. Where nature is "concerned," value is proven by a human's ability to survive."
>>> Than 'nature's judgement' of 'value', and man's, differ in important respects. (Idi Amin 'survived'... not so sure many would say their was any value for mankind in that.....)
"Except for the attribute of MIGHT, no attribute in any single human is sufficient to objectively designate a human as worthy of determining which other innocent humans should live or die."
>>> So, you are opposed to the death penalty?
"I am not trying to avoid your question, Buddy, but citizenship is an entirely different matter. It is arbitrary. An individual can exist in nature and validly never acquire citizenship in a country."
>>> Correct. But we exist as a 'nation of laws' (as do all nations to varying degrees). So, the legal framework that organizes our social structure has significance in our lives.
"But the very moment a human is conceived, he acquires the fundamental right to exist and express as nature has designed him to express. This is true because he possesses essentially the same biological mark that gives us all identity and rights as "humans." The same process whereby he exists and expresses in nature is the same process whereby we exist and express in nature. To deny his fundamental right to exist and self-express is to deny our own right to exist and self-express. Such denial is obviously no basis for human civilization."
>>> Back to the death penalty again, (or, to industrial pollution, etc., etc., which may deprive individuals of their lives or health --- albeit, at some remove from the individual, and often a difficult causual link to precisely verify... especially when dealing with the interactions of MULTIPLE pollutants.) |
