Moral Dilemmas and Freedoms Assignment

 

 

Freedoms and Rights

 

We brainstormed a list of freedoms in class the other day that included examples from the categories of political, legal, personal and economic freedoms.  Here is the list again:

 

 

As mentioned in class our list pretty much reproduces the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a copy of which can be found here.

 

Conflicts

 

Practically speaking, none of these freedoms can be considered inalienable (absolute and unable to be taken away) because they are all inter-related.  For example, your right to free speech conflicts with my child’s right to security if you walk into a crowded public theatre and scream “fire!!”   These types of conflicts are similar to those we discussed in the classes on moral dilemmas.  Even in watching “I, Robot” we saw how a prioritized list of “moral” premises for robots could lead to an immoral outcome, so this should come as no surprise. 

 

 

 

Some other conflicts we discussed in class (and a couple of new ones):

You may not always agree with someone else’s conflict but that does not negate the fact that they see it as a conflict (see #3 below and perhaps 2 for ones you may disagree with).

 

1. Your right to information and the right to national security.  (You would not expect to be told the Bolivian state’s military plan in the event of an attempted invasion from Chile.)
2. The U.S. has recently removed the right of habeas corpus in the case of suspected terrorists.
3. The Iranian state considered Salman Rushdie’s act of blasphemy in writing “Satanic Verses” bad enough to declare a death sentence on him.
4. During WWII and in the name of national security Canada interned Japanese Canadians (an act of racial discrimination).
5. Your belief as a pacifist that killing is wrong is in conflict (for some of you) with the obligation to protect other citizens’ right to security by acting as a soldier.
6. Your freedom to own property is interfered with when the state taxes you (confiscates your property) to enforce others’ rights to security (by funding the police) or access to health and education.
7. Your freedom to information is in conflict with a politician’s right to privacy if you demand an inquiry into his or her business dealings on the premise that he or she is corrupt.
8. Freedom of assembly and speech is often denied to nazis, terrorists and revolutionaries on the premise that it conflicts with others’ right to security.
9. Your freedom to choose your employees is in conflict with another’s freedom from discrimination if, for example, you prefer to hire men rather than women.
10. Your freedom over your own body is not honoured when a government outlaws drug use or homosexuality.

 

Assignment

We lost our day in the computer lab but you should come to Friday’s class  with 1) completed.  We will watch “Minority Report” during Friday’s class and I will post some guiding questions for the film by Thursday night.  Those not prepared fully for the class will not be watching the film.

 

1)    You should come up with some of your own examples of conflicts between a pair of the freedoms from the list.  (The conflicts that you come up with can be your own as well as from other sources.)  Use these to test what you believe are the limits between these freedoms.  Come up with a strong thesis as to how the freedoms should be prioritized and write it up in about three paragraphs.  I will come by to check on your examples and thesis. 

 

2)    To test your thesis you should publish on an online discussion forum on the topic of one or both of your freedoms.  You will draw fire or agreement from other readers of the forum.  You should respond to and use these to refine your arguments and present your improved argument on the forum.  You will submit the thread of your discussion for assessment.  You will be assessed on the basis of the writing rubric used of for other writing assignments.

 

3)    Find some good quotes or graphics online that express what you believe.  Or, create your own graphic or brief and compelling statement of belief.  We will post these in the classroom.

 

Links

 

1)    Some good starting points to find an appropriate online discussion forum are: www.mondopolitico.com,

where you will find a link called “discussion” and, as an aside, some interesting online texts including 1984 and Animal Farm and pub17.ezboard.com/bhumanrights. You can also go to Google and type in a word or phrase describing your freedom and “discussion forum.”

 

2)    There are all sorts of online sources for quotes as well as reference books in the library such as Bartlett’s Quotations. A site with numerous links to pages with freedom quotes is here.

 

3)    Graphics can be easily found by using Google Images and putting in your freedom keywords.  Some good graphics on the freedom to read can be found here.  (Freedom to Read week starts next Monday!)  Also try organization sites that fight for human rights, like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union, anarchist youth, feminist and other sites, ACT UP, etc.

 

4)    An interesting timeline for censorship can be found here.

 

Quotes

 

"Freedom only for the supporters of the government, only for the members of one party-however numerous they may be-is no freedom at all. Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently."

Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919), Polish-born German communist

 

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”

Frederick Douglass

 

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all."

Noam Chomsky (b. 1928), U.S. linguist and political analyst

 

"All great truths begin as blasphemies."

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish-born British playwright

 

“Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one.”

A. J. Liebling