• _NoName_@lemmy.ml
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    9 months ago

    Every time y’all talk like this it makes you sound like you don’t think human rights should be respected or enforced.

    I believe leftists feel being forced to perform manual labor while imprisoned is a form of slavery/servitude.

    Yes, prisoners are outsourced via the private prison system to work jobs. In most prisons, this work is required by them. In most prisons, the inmates are paid less than $1 per hour. In several States, they he completely unpaid.

    Seeing as the definition of slavery is defined by loss of rights, majority or total dependance on ones captors, and forced labor- yes, imprisonment in the US seems to be definitionally slavery, and so are most prison programs around the world.

    China is a member of the UN, and their treatment of Uyghur muslims is pretty well known at this point.

    There have been many reports (long ago and recently) of the US government using torture as a means to produce information.

    I don’t have to tell you how often someone is frivolously arrested in the US.

    These are all railed against by leftists as violationsmof human rights, constantly.

    Yes, human rights are not some God-given rule of physics. They have to be fought for constantly.

    Yes, the US is a hypocritical body that violates its own tenants constantly.

    This does not mean ‘human rights don’t exist’. They are defined and codified. Their enforcement is does not determine their existence.

    • PlainSimpleGarak@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      I never stated “human rights” shouldn’t be respected or enforced. I said, in the US, they don’t exist. They were not created by congress, then enshrined into law. It is a concept created by the UN over 70 years ago, and yes, the US was a member at that time, but as you clearly agree, we certainly aren’t enforcing all of those “human rights” conceived by the UN. I don’t know how to make this any clearer.

      A wonderful idea, but unless said country has adopted them, then enforcing them, they’re meaningless.

      • _NoName_@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        Then continue supporting them and stop spouting drivel about them not existing.

        If you want them enforced you need to treat them as something to be taken seriously, and you need to condemn goverments when they violate them.