Since I'm on a human rights kick right now. There's also these videos that were put together by the Church of Scientology, which promote each of the points of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They are, actually, quite moving. Check it out.

It's interesting to observe the various conflicts that occur between people and nations. This article, from the Church of Scientology, describes what they are doing to bring peace in the Middle East, which I think is great. It shows that in many cases, conflict can be solved by simple communication.

For example, did you ever have the phenomenon of getting to know someone that you had seen around and had an odd opinion of? Kind of like some out-cast kid in school, some guy or girl you saw, but never new? And you actually get to know them. In most cases, you find out that they're really not as nuts as you thought they were! So what changed - well, not much - you just talked to them. Pretty simple, eh?

And if you read what Scientology has to say about that (communication), it's pretty interesting: here's some basic resources. There is also this page from their president, which expresses some of their basic views on what they are trying to accomplish.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't claim to believe that there are no truly evil people in the world: since some people seem to ceaselessly defy all logic and mercilessly insist that it's okay to destroy human rights and that it doesn't matter anyway, etc, etc. However, in many cases, it seems that basically well-intentioned people fall prey to their own lack of communication.

fading signs of life

I was driving down Franklin Ave the other day, listening to one of the "more stimulating" hosts of KFI (as their promotion exclaims), and he was stating results of a survey regarding what people thought the first five amendments to the constitution were.

While some people seemed to get it right, I believe that well over half of the people had some very misguided ideas, the hosts personal favorite being "the right to drive a car" - which sent him into gails laughter.

In my opinion, it ain't that funny. It's kind of like that viewpoint that you hear sometimes: "Well, by the time it gets real bad, I'll be long dead." I guess that's one way to look at it, but that viewpoint also assumes that all that happens to one in the here and now is what counts (and people I know like that, generally, are miserable).

I did check around and found this page on the Scientology Human Rights France site, as well as some other stuff that was put up by Scientology: Scientology News on CCHR. This seems like interesting stuff. It'd be great if we could see more of it in the main stream media.

Just out of curiousity I decided to look for the Declaration of Independence on Google. Guess what comes up: ushistory.org, and an animationed zooming Flash movie in the upper right hand corner branded with "Declare Your Independence - Buy Your Copy Now". Hmmm... my opinion: We've slipped a bit.

human rights

The subject of Human Rights is an oft neglected subject. And you know what? It's sad, because it's really one of the basic concepts on which our modern society is founded.

A brief excursion into a few classic literary works helps light the way: Have you read the Declaration of Independence, and the United States Constitution? And when you did, did you think about what they must've gone through prior to that which led them to write such documents? And then there are works such as 1984 by George Orwell, and a host of other books of that ilk. Some would say that such works are extravagent in their efforts to warn people of the dangers of letting our Human Rights wash away and become forgotten. However, in my humble opinion, it is only those who have chosen not too look at the past who would say such a thing. As the saying goes: History often repeats itself (unless someone does something about it - I might add).

And, with that said, it's good to see that there is something actually happening on this. Here are some links that I've found:


Human Rights Violations in France

An Interesting Article on Alain Vivien

Some Personal Stories of Human Rights Violations

A Discussion of the French Constitution as Regards Human Rights

Companies That Have Been Discriminated Against

"French McCarthyism"

About Citizens Commission on Human Rights