Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

>I only have the right to life because there are police and armed forces

You have the right to life because you are alive.

Throughout history, farmers haven't really fucked with each other.



> You have the right to life because you're alive

If I'm stuck on a deserted island, dying of thirst, will my right to life grant me a rainstorm? If I'm stranded in the Alaskan wilderness, dying of hypothermia, is my right to life going to magically conjure a fire? If a warlord invades my village, and puts a sword at my throat, will my right to life stay his hand? Every right is an obligation insofar as there has to be an enforcement mechanism to guarantee that right. That enforcement mechanism is government, governments are controlled by politics, and thus the question of who has which rights is inherently political.

> Throughout history, farmers haven't really fucked with each other

The actual history of the world begs to differ. The inception of agriculture is contemporaneous with the inception of large scale wars for a reason. Hunter gatherer bands may fight, but their fights are usually small scale, both because the bands themselves are small (not very many resources to fight with) and because they have the option of moving (nothing worth fighting for). Farming communities, with their higher population densities, both have the resources to fight larger scale battles, and reason to fight.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: