Why It Matters That Human Rights Are Social Constructs

Eleanor Roosevelt descended from Mt. Sinai . . .

Let’s, for the moment, skip past the usual impossible task of explaining what it means that everything is a social construct to the guy who replies “Is this brick that I’m bashing my head with a social construct, you idio . . .” (exit stage right). Let’s go, instead to a particular example that’s been causing me trouble of late: human rights.

I recently told someone that the murder of Israelis by Hamas was immoral, read more

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Nuclear War Will Only Kill People Already Impacted By Nuclear Weapons. That’s Everyone.

In the photo above, World BEYOND War Board Member and Treasurer John Reuwer, a physician, at right, supports downwinders impacted by nuclear weapons testing, demanding restitution from the U.S. government that has experimented on and lied to people for decades. John commented:

“I often think the two reasons most otherwise good people support war is they don’t count all the costs, and they don’t know the alternatives to protecting freedom and self determination. Here are indigenous read more

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How to Avoid Reporting That a University Is Lying About Police Violence

I’m old enough to remember a video of a New York Times reporter who let slip that she’d been instructed never to say the president of the United States had lied, even if he (George W. Bush) was just blatantly lying. Not that she objected to the policy. It made perfect sense to her. Now I can’t find that video because the internet is so weighted down with accounts of Trump and Biden lying.

But I was quite pleasantly surprised when the only local daily here in Charlottesville, the read more

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NATO Spreads Nuclear Weapons, Energy, and Risk

Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty declares that NATO members will assist another member if attacked by “taking action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force.” But the UN Charter does not say anywhere that warmaking is authorized for whoever jumps in on the appropriate side.

The North Atlantic Treaty’s authors may have been aware that they were on dubious legal ground because they went on twice to claim otherwise, first adding the words “Any such armed attack and all read more

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Does Every Person in Israel Deserve to Die?

I fervently hope, dear reader, that you do not agree that every person in Israel deserves to die. But I know some of you do, and I hope to suggest a better way of looking at it. I know that you’re even more unlikely to agree with me that nobody ever anywhere “deserves to die.” But the closer you can get to agreeing with that, the better!

Have you heard people calling the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel a “success,” despite the perfectly predictable results piling up in mass graves? You read more

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Video of Online Debate: Can War Ever Be Justified?

Is Large-Scale Violence Ever a Better Choice Than Nonviolent Action?

Arguing that war can never be justified was David Swanson, an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is executive director of World BEYOND War and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson’s books include War Is A Lie. He hosts Talk World Radio. He is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and U.S. Peace Prize recipient.

Arguing that war can be justified was Jared Ball, a Professor of Communication and Africana Studies read more

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Support Students or Support Genocide

May day! May day!

We raised young people to believe that genocide was wrong. We told them they had the right to free speech and assembly. We told them that lots of wars were somehow not genocidal (pay no attention to the millions of dark-skinned corpses behind the curtain, children) and that those wars even somehow mysteriously created those rights to free speech and assembly. Now those young people are being attacked by police, beaten up by judeonazi brownshirts, and unceremoniously suspended read more

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