# Fuck respecting cultural differences! Basic human rights are real! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 1, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460 "2010-06-01T04:04:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/161 "2010-06-06T05:48:49Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Denying them a place at the dining table the world eats from would be a start. And I don’t mean blockades on the country involved, I mean specific targeting of all a country’s shakers and movers, intended to cramp their lifestyles considerably. Yes, but we all know that’s not going to happen. It’s easy to say you don’t think people should be killed, tortured, or enslaved. It’s another thing to actually do something about it. And you know the saying, “Shit flows downhill”? If you do specifically target a country’s movers and shakers, they’re going to pass that suffering down to the average person in the country anyway. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/162 "2010-06-06T07:24:04Z")
Yes, I know the saying. It’s not exactly a statement of fact, is it? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/163 "2010-06-06T14:45:18Z")
[**Execution of a teenage girl**](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5217424.stm) > [@](#): > > Disturbed by the death of her mother when she was only four or five years old, and her distraught father’s subsequent drug addiction, Atefah had a difficult childhood. > > She was also left to care for her elderly grandparents, but they are said to have shown her no affection. > > In a town like Neka, heavily under the control of religious authorities, Atefah - often seen wandering around on her own - was conspicuous. > > It was just a matter of time before she came to the attention of the “moral police”, a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, whose job it is to enforce the Islamic code of behaviour on Iran’s streets. “moral police” is about as accurate as calling the Soviet Union the “capitalist pep squad”. Except Stalin wasn’t quite as evil. > [@](#): > > Previously arrested for attending a party and being alone in a car with a boy, Atefah received her first sentence for “crimes against chastity” when she was just 13. > > Although the exact nature of the crime is unknown, she spent a short time in prison and received 100 lashes. > > When she returned to her home town, she told those close to her that lashes were not the only things she had to endure in prison. She described abuse by the moral police guards. So sick fucks arrest 13 year old girl for being alone with a boy as “chaste crimes” then abuse her in prison. What the hell was she supposed to do with no family support? Was the prison abuse “chaste”? Given the kind of pedophilic trash they have working for them I’m going with no. > [@](#): > > Soon after her release, Atefah became involved in an abusive relationship with a man three times her age. > > Former revolutionary guard, 51-year-old Ali Darabi - a married man with children - raped her several times. > > She kept the relationship a secret from both her family and the authorities. > > Atefah was soon caught in a downward spiral of arrest and abuse. So sick fucks rape a 13 year old girl with little consequence. But they have oil. > [@](#): > > No court transcript is available from Atefah’s trial, but it is known that for the first time, Atefah confessed to the secret of her sexual abuse by Ali Darabi. > > However, the age of sexual consent for girls under Sharia law - within the confines of marriage - is nine, and furthermore, rape is very hard to prove in an Iranian court. > > “Men’s word is accepted much more clearly and much more easily than women,” according to Iranian lawyer and exile Mohammad Hoshi. > > “They can say: ‘You know she encouraged me’ or ‘She didn’t wear proper dress’.” Yea bitch had it coming, that sexy 13 year old ass and all. Also apparently it’s perfectly okay to marry and fuck 9 year olds. As a man I find that last part offensive as all hell. They’re basically saying us guys are out of control pedophile rapists, every one of us. > [@](#): > > When Atefah realised her case was hopeless, she shouted back at the judge and threw off her veil in protest. > > It was a fatal outburst. > > She was sentenced to execution by hanging, while Darabi got just 95 lashes. Yes clearly we don’t have a natural right to free speech. Here we have a person, after her short and brutal time on earth choosing to sacrifice any last possible hope of life for one last act of protest against her injustice. This woman is a hero. If free speech, fair and equal treatment under the law, and freedom from cruel punishments are not innate to the very things that define our species. Then why did this martyr sacrifice all hope of life when denied them? Give me liberty or give me death is a phrase we Americans have had drilled into us from a young age to the point of meaninglessness, but the sentiment isn’t American. It’s a reflection on humanity. She made her choice. Taking sure death for just a moment of liberty. What would you choose? ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/164 "2010-06-06T15:50:44Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > [**Execution of a teenage girl**](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5217424.stm) > > “moral police” is about as accurate as calling the Soviet Union the “capitalist pep squad”. Except Stalin wasn’t quite as evil. That sums it up right there, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/165 "2010-06-07T02:11:22Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > Yes clearly we don’t have a natural right to free speech. Here we have a person, after her short and brutal time on earth choosing to sacrifice any last possible hope of life for one last act of protest against her injustice. This woman is a hero. > > If free speech, fair and equal treatment under the law, and freedom from cruel punishments are not innate to the very things that define our species. Then why did this martyr sacrifice all hope of life when denied them? > > Give me liberty or give me death is a phrase we Americans have had drilled into us from a young age to the point of meaninglessness, but the sentiment isn’t American. It’s a reflection on humanity. She made her choice. Taking sure death for just a moment of liberty. What would you choose? I don’t think she traded life for a moment of liberty, I think she fought back (in the only way she knew how) when attacked or provoked, which is a natural instinct for pretty much all animals. Don’t get me wrong - what happened to this girl is clearly abhorrent and offensive to most humans currently living on Earth. But, I still don’t think it’s proof of the innate nature of human rights. And despite us, and most likely the UN, thinking this _shouldn’t_ happen, I still don’t see a workable way of making sure this _doesn’t_ happen. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/166 "2010-06-07T02:47:31Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > That sums it up right there, thank you. Np > [@Meyer6](#): > > I don’t think she traded life for a moment of liberty, I think she fought back (in the only way she knew how) when attacked or provoked, which is a natural instinct for pretty much all animals. So you don’t think she knew taking that veil off was assured death? Let’s work from the premise she’s not an idiot, and assume she did. Therefor we know she tried her life just to take that veil off. She didn’t take that veil off because it was hot or to try to use it as a weapon. she took it off in anger and frustration at being tried for being a rape victim. If that isn’t making a statement about her injustice I don’t know what is. She might not have even been aware of the concept of natural rights, but she gave her life just to use one. To just to tell those bastards who persecuted her for the crime of being born female off. Rosa Parks later said she was just tired after a day of work and didn’t want to give up her seat. Does that make her actions any less of a stand for civil rights? > [@](#): > > Don’t get me wrong - what happened to this girl is clearly abhorrent and offensive to most humans currently living on Earth. But, I still don’t think it’s proof of the innate nature of human rights. And despite us, and most likely the UN, thinking this _shouldn’t_ happen, I still don’t see a workable way of making sure this _doesn’t_ happen. You just don’t get it. You’re too busy trying dehmanize people to nothing but animals. The Constitution proclaims a right of Free Speech, but it can’t enforce that right, only serve as a tool to measure if that right has been infringed. If someone chooses death just to make a statement that is another measure. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/167 "2010-06-07T03:07:20Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > But, I still don’t think it’s proof of the innate nature of human rights. I think you are arguing against yourself. Apart from a few casual words here and there, I haven’t noticed anyone fighting for the idea that there are inherent and innate rights. Such an idea would really only be workable in the context of a deity, I think. What I have argued is that certain fundamentals should be considered basic human rights and protected as such. Because I agree… no rights are innate, just as there is no such thing as innate value to human or any other kind of life. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/168 "2010-06-07T04:03:13Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > You just don’t get it. You’re too busy trying dehmanize people to nothing but animals. PEOPLE _ARE_ ANIMALS. We are not immune to the instinctive responses that they have. Reading that report as written it seems that she responded that way when she believed she was going to be killed regardless of what she said. It was a reaction of anger - lashing out in the face of extreme threat. This sounds like an instinctive animal reaction to me. > [@Stoid](#): > > I think you are arguing against yourself. Apart from a few casual words here and there, I haven’t noticed anyone fighting for the idea that there are inherent and innate rights. Such an idea would really only be workable in the context of a deity, I think. > > What I have argued is that certain fundamentals should be considered basic human rights and protected as such. > > Because I agree… no rights are innate, just as there is no such thing as innate value to human or any other kind of life. Really? You don’t think that these people believe rights to be innate?: > [@Stoid](#): > > Because we are by nature social animals and we are innately concerned, to one degree or another, with our fellow beings. And that concern stems in part from our understanding of the fact that if we don’t protect them, they won’t protect us. > [@spark240](#): > > Natural rights are the product of our very existence, eternal and inalienable. > [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > No, there are things that are almost universally reviled, thoroughly enough that they almost scream out as being a consequence of human nature. Self evident, one might say. The point I’m making with my above example is the visceral despisement people have to rape, slavery, torture, and stuff isn’t something they’re taught. Its something that is inborn. Being a social species our ancestors evolved concern for one another because that shared concern benefits us all more then we put into it. Empathy is natural, but some vile evil beliefs train people out of it. Anyways, I see that you agree that human rights are not innate. You and I and I’m sure everyone else reading this agrees that that teenage girl was treated terribly and certainly does not deserve death. But the fact remains that that is what will happen to her under the laws of her country. If you were, say, the president of the United States (or some other position of power), what would you propose doing about this? I’m interesting in how you would actually stop this from happening. I still would like to hear the answer to this: > [@Meyer6](#): > > If your idea is so simple and so obvious, why do you think it is that the UN has not tried such a thing? They’ve been around since 1945, and they have yet to stop all these atrocities you claim are simple to solve. This is an organization peopled by proffesionals from around the world, educated in International Relations. What do you know that they don’t? ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/169 "2010-06-07T05:16:17Z")
Sanctions, kidnapping, war… whatever it takes. It would be far easier if more people would agree. More people would agree if the list of things that would trigger sanctions, war, kidnapping, whatever it takes, were way shorter. The longer and more conplex, the more people fall away. Start small: torture, rape, murder. and by the way, when I said “Because we are by nature social animals and we are innately concerned, to one degree or another, with our fellow beings. And that concern stems in part from our understanding of the fact that if we don’t protect them, they won’t protect us.” how do you arrive at the idea that I’m declaring that RIGHTS are innate? I was explaining why people feel that way, by identifying what it genuinely true of us that leads to that idea in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/170 "2010-06-07T05:25:32Z")
I just read the “Execution of a teenage girl” article and if someone pointed it out, I missed it, so I will- Shariah Law’s age of consent for sex & marriage- Nine year old. And anyone who knows the history of Islam knows why. The Prophet & his law actually institutes pedophilia. At least the pedophile priests & their accomplice bishops who cover for them are acting in violation of Catholic teachings. To Hell with respecting that! And kudos to any Muslim who breaks with that despicable tradition! ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/171 "2010-06-07T11:20:14Z")
> [@](#): > > When I hear the word culture, i reach for my pistol. This line has been attributed to various members of the Nazi hierarchy. According to the wiki [Hanns Johst - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Johst) , it’s adapted from a line in a 1933 play by the Nazi playwright, Hanns Johst. > [@](#): > > THIEMANN: That’s for damned sure! Barbed wire is barbed wire! I know what I’m up against… No rose without a thorn!.. And the last thing I’ll stand for is ideas to get the better of me! I know that rubbish from '18…, fraternity, equality, …, freedom…, beauty and dignity! You gotta use the right bait to hook 'em. And then, you’re right in the middle of a parley and they say: Hands up! You’re disarmed…, you republican voting swine! — No, let 'em keep their good distance with their whole ideological kettle of fish… I shoot with live ammunition! When I hear the word culture…, I release the safety on my Browning!" For a long while, I more or less agreed. When I look around the world, from my admittedly limited perspective, I see a world driven insane by religion-fired culture. I still can’t shake the idea that if one were to selectively assassinate all religious leaders who do not actively preach global human rights and an end to violence, things would change PDQ. But then, I’m a pacifist and I don’t need religion to tell me. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/172 "2010-06-09T01:35:37Z")
Hitler, not religious, European. Stalin, not religious, European. Mao, not religious, Asian. Yes, religious people in less-developed countries are in need of assassination. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/173 "2010-06-09T02:00:41Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Hitler, not religious, European. > Stalin, not religious, European. > Mao, not religious, Asian. And, of course, none is with us today and all have been repudiated. The “free market” is the dominant religion in “developed” countries today and it is no more observant of human rights and is every bit as violent as any other and certain politicians are its priests. > [@](#): > > Yes, religious people in less-developed countries are in need of assassination. I can think of a few in this country we’d be better off without. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/174 "2010-06-09T02:38:08Z")
> [@adhay](#): > > I can think of a few in this country we’d be better off without. How unchristian of you. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/175 "2010-06-09T03:23:26Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > How unchristian of you. I can see how you might think that. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/176 "2010-06-09T04:14:38Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > PEOPLE _ARE_ ANIMALS. We are not immune to the instinctive responses that they have. Reading that report as written it seems that she responded that way when she believed she was going to be killed regardless of what she said. It was a reaction of anger - lashing out in the face of extreme threat. This sounds like an instinctive animal reaction to me. You aren’t protesting your treatment if it’s out of anger? Are you fucking stupid or trolling? Did you type that post out of soulless instinct? I ask you again, was Rosa Park’s stand any less meaningful because she just didn’t want to get up after a hard day’s work? If you’re trolling, well played. If not I ask you this. Do you believe what happened to this girl was wrong? Do you believe there are no circumstance that would morally justify her being executed for being raped by a pedophile regardless of what the law says? If so congratulations on your recognition in your belief of inalienable rights, you believe she had an inalienable moral entitlement not to be raped then murdered that was violated. The only way your arguments make sense is if you’re fighting some kind of straw man that a right isn’t a right if it can be unjustly violated. Which just isn’t the case. Even civil rights are violated, they might be redressed, but that doesn’t stop them from being violated in the first place. For example you have a civil right not to receive an arbitrary beating, but if a cop gives you one during arrest, the judges rebuke and legal attempts to make you whole won’t undo your actual beating. [http://www.merriam-webster.com/netdict/right[2]](http://www.merriam-webster.com/netdict/right%5B2%5D) > [@](#): > > 2 : something to which one has a just claim: as a : the power or privilege to which one is justly entitled \ \ > [@](#): > > 3 : something that one may properly claim as due \ [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/right](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/right) > [@](#): > > a just claim or title, whether legal, prescriptive, or moral: You have a right to say what you please. I see nothing about it only being valid if it’s not violated. Do you have a cite that a right is only valid if it isn’t violated? > [@](#): > > You and I and I’m sure everyone else reading this agrees that that teenage girl was treated terribly and certainly does not deserve death. Good so you do agree. Congratulations. Your own posts show your agreement of natural rights. > [@](#): > > If you were, say, the president of the United States (or some other position of power), what would you propose doing about this? I’m interesting in how you would actually stop this from happening. Irrelevant, and a hijack. Solutions may not be easy, but recognizing it is a violation of human rights is a damn bit better as a first step then blubbering about ducks. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/177 "2010-06-09T04:17:08Z")
Also, **adhay** bullets in brains is the wrong way to go about it for so many reasons. Be more like **FriarTed** , he’s got the right idea. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/178 "2010-06-09T09:03:35Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > You aren’t protesting your treatment if it’s out of anger? Honestly, no, I don’t think a reaction made in anger is the same thing as a protest. If you hit a guy in a bar because he’s hitting on your girlfriend, is that at protest? Yes, protesters are usually angry, but I think protest implies more forethought, your meanderings about Rosa Parks notwithstanding. > [@](#): > > If not I ask you this. Do you believe what happened to this girl was wrong? Are you unable to read? Or do you just not bother? I said: > [@Meyer6](#): > > Don’t get me wrong - what happened to this girl is clearly abhorrent and offensive to most humans currently living on Earth. Never anywhere in this thread have I suggested that I personally am down with things like this happening in the world. In fact, if you read what I have written, I think it’s pretty clear that I find it appalling. I have not defended the rapists and murderers of the world. Rather, the people I’ve disagreed with are those that have said things like “natural rights are the product of our very existence, eternal and inalienable”, and people who have acted like outlawing these acts would be simplicity itself. > [@](#): > > Irrelevant, and a hijack. Solutions may not be easy, but recognizing it is a violation of human rights is a damn bit better as a first step then blubbering about ducks. Again, I don’t think anyone in the thread has claimed that these girls were not violated _in our view_. The problem is that the concept of rights violation is a product of our culture (that was the point of the ducks part, which obviously went over your head). The question of how to address international issues that are not considered crimes in their own country is hardly irrelevant. In fact, right in the OP it says: > [@Stoid](#): > > Jesus fucking christ sometimes I can’t help it… I think certain areas of the world could be bombed into oblivion and the human race would be none the worse for it. In other words, the OP BROUGHT UP THE IDEA OF PUNISHMENT, therefore I don’t think it’s outside the scope of this thread to ask how these human rights are to be upheld (assuming she wasn’t serious about the bombing to oblivion). Without discussing practicalities it’s just all so much first-year sociology naval-gazing. If you want to naval-gaze, be my guest, but don’t blame the realists for ruining your ‘deep philosophical discussion’ with reality. As Captain Amazing said, way back on page 2: > [@Captain Amazing](#): > > Evidentally, there aren’t those rights in Afghanistan for women. Obviously, you think there should be, and that it’s wrong to maim genitals, force someone to submit to rape, etc, but when you say that basic human rights are “real”, what do you mean? Do you mean anything beyond just that you have moral objections to those practices? And there you were, a few posts later, calling him stupid too. It’s still a reasonable question - who decides what rights exist? What makes these rights ‘real’ and ‘natural’ when obviously there are parts of the world where they are \*not \*rights? What are we going to do about it? ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460/179 "2010-06-09T10:09:10Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > … To Hell with respecting that! And kudos to any Muslim who breaks with that despicable tradition! > [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > Also, **adhay** bullets in brains is the wrong way to go about it for so many reasons. Be more like **FriarTed** , he’s got the right idea. If you’ll check my first post here, > [@](#): > > For a long while, I more or less agreed. I was speaking in the past tense. These days, I’m a bit more charitable, christian, if you will, having given up on Christianity and its “just wars” and its sanction of institutionalized greed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-respecting-cultural-differences-basic-human-rights-are-real/541460.md?page=8)