Disrespecting Human Rights

The essence of rights is that they are intrinsic to human beings. They are how we see ourselves, our essence, our nature. Importantly they are independent of circumstance; they are not products or services and they have no motive. Tall or short, rich or poor. executive or farmer, rights apply equally. They cannot be granted and material factors, especially technology, are not a component. They are not temporal; one right does not emerge over time or become more appropriate in one epoch than another. Nor are they geographic; the rights of a man in Somalia are those of a man in New York. Rights are misunderstood. They are qualities, not aspirations. The disguising of social aims as human rights undermines the rights.

This said, only a politician completely ignorant of the nature of human rights could pen the Fourteenth Article of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union which states that everyone has the right "to receive free compulsory education." Free" and "compulsory". Or The United Nation Declaration 16 that everyone has "the right to marry and to found a family." Are Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar abusing these rights? Does a childless couple have a claim? Does an unhappy bachelor have a claim against a much-married starlet?

And all of this nonsense fills the ancient proverb: With trivialization comes disrespect. But the real question is, does disrespect lead to trivialization?