Human Rights (2)

To be honest I am not really sure if human rights exist, but I am leaning towards the idea that they do exist, but where they came from and whether they are executed, varies. I think that some human rights originated from groups of people/communities, and others originated from the government. Like Jeremy Bentham of the 1800’s said, human rights do not exist just because people want them. Throughout history people have gathered and created values, morals, and ideas. Those combinations of thoughts then formed/helped shape some laws we have today. Why? Because their ideas were strong and they spread, and people argeed with them and used them to a further extent passed just some idea. Other human rights initiated by communities were those in religious communities, and those human rights came basically from G-d, which were then passed on to people/spread through diffusion and turned into human rights. As stated in the declaration of human rights, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Where did this right come from? It could have come from a group of people who once lived and decided that killing each other or hurting each other was not right. But those values probably came from one of G-d’s religions which were then passed down to the government. This leads into the idea that some human rights came from the government. I think there is a difference between human rights and civil rights, but I think both of them come from the government to some extent because what the government enforces usually influences people and can alter their opinions. I believe an example of a human right would be the right to be free. In another sense we are not born with human rights because depending on the time period and depending on where you live, we do not all have human rights. We are born into a family and born into a society but whether or not we execute our human rights depends on our surroundings. Less than 100 years ago we were not all free because blacks and whites were not equal, and even today people still murder each other daily and that is not an example of living freely or peacefully. I think the whole issue of human rights and where they came form is one that can be debated with both facts and opinions, and I am learning to develop more knowledge about the difference between human rights and civil rights, and also where they were originated from.