Political Musings for the Left, Right and Center

The Cruelty of Humanity

By, Prachi Sharma

December 10, 2008 marked the 60^th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While this day was celebrated by the United Nations as a reminder of progressive movements that have shaped the modern, globalizing world, it does, in no way denote the progression of human nature. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon himself stated that, “the challenges we face today are as daunting as those that confronted the Declaration's drafters."

Today’s top stories include those of government bailouts, stock market downturns and failures in the auto industry. Many top political analysts see these issues at the forefront of both the next U.S. administration and international relations, but are these really the ‘daunting challenges’ that plague the next four (hopefully eight) years of the U.S. administration and the future of the 21^st century?

Second in line to these stories are those international emergencies that are important enough to be publicized and discussed by political experts—the tragic Mumbai bombings and the ongoing religious and territorial disputes between Israel and Palestine, for example.

However, in the past six months we have also overlooked a myriad of other international crises—power struggles and a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe leaving thousands brutally murdered or left on the streets to die, Somalia nearing a ‘total famine,’ and fatal school collapses in Haiti that killed more than fifty and left several injured in addition to the ongoing rapes in the country’s slums to name just a few.

Although some of these events have had media coverage, they have been mere snippets of news articles or inserted as hollow commentaries from news anchors, reporting what “horrible travesties these nations face.”

Why is it that we—as Americans, as Westerners, or more importantly as human beings—revert to this sort of behavior? Is it justified to pay more attention to those with closer U.S. ties, to simply ignore that part of our conscience that says otherwise in order to sleep better at night?

Thomas Hobbes’ human analysis of the ‘state of nature’ (human nature, that is) in constant conflict without the sovereign state, on the other hand, has valid consideration. Rules and regulations are essential to stability and are undoubtedly grounded in the basic principles of the modern global political system. It is not always prudent, for example, to send diplomats or aid workers to a region where the results would cause more danger to the local population and those who are sent to help. This mentality creates a desire to preserve one’s own life (or the lives of a State, a people, or a cluster of nations sharing similar ideals). It is, therefore, clear why more emphasis would be put on Mumbai or Israel—the principle of practical rationality, that people should adopt what they see to be the necessary means to their most important ends (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

The signing of the UNDHR was a groundbreaking event, but a contract is not a panacea to conflict and the human condition. It is reassuring to see that the media, be it through television, newspaper, internet, or films as the wonderfully inspiring “Slumdog Millionaire,” acknowledge and bring to life some of the worst conditions that people all over the world (mostly the developing world) must face. But we have come to point in history where acknowledgment is just not enough. The word “change” can not simply resonate in a speech for the duration of a campaign. It is time to permanently instill the belief of “all are equal” in our minds and to act now. “…We live in an important time. It is now time for you to wake up from your sleep…The ‘night’ is almost finished and the ‘day’ is almost here…Let us live in a right way, like people who belong to the day” (The New Testament, Romans 13:10).