Human Rights

Human Rights 

In 1906 Upton Sinclair published a book called The Jungle.   Upton Sinclair was called a muckraker because he went into the depths of Chicago and wrote about the unspeakable things that were being done to immigrants and the poor.  I suggest that you read this book or at least read a synopsis of it.

Jacob Riis photographed slum life and wrote an essay called How the Other Half Lives.  Yep, it's an old essay.  If you think things are bad today, take a look at this piece.  It is another reason that the US strives to have regulations and services to lift people beyond this sort of poverty.  

Ida Wells, a black journalist, documented lynching in America.  Nice to know that you could take a black person out and hang them if you had a good reason, or not.

Ida Tarbell was incensed after reading an article that said women were not intelligent because there were only 300 patents introduced by women.  She traveled to the US patent office where the list was revised to prove that at that time there were nearly 2000 patent entries by women.  She fought to expose the fact that women were indeed people with intelligence and value.

Florence Kelley was exposed to child labor when her father took her to visit a glass factory.  As an adult she fought for children's rights, especially believing they shouldn't go to work until they were at least 14 and that they should work less hours than adults until they were 16.  

Ray Stannard Baker was the first prominent journalist to focus on America's racial divide.

John Spargo fought politically controlled newspapers believing that the American public should be exposed to all political points of view.

I've just listed a ragged little bunch of "muckrakers". They are people who risked their lives and reputations creating a social awareness of the multitude of injustices in this country.  They reported what they saw.  They were not passing around tidbits of gossip.  They weren't running for office.  They were activists.  

I am struggling with the current penchant for rhetoric.  It is reminiscent of a bygone era where the snake oil was peddled to a hopeful crowd.  A mixture of mineral oil, tallow, capsicum, turpentine, and camphor is likely to cure your problem if your nose is plugged up.  By all means, buy that stuff if you want to.

I have written much beyond this sentence and have deleted most of it.  It is not my desire to educate anybody on civics, rules of order, types of government, or even point out that most of us can be manipulated by rhetoric.  No matter how ridiculous it is, if it covers a topic close to our hearts we can catch ourself quoting some pretty stupid stuff.  When someone criticizes our political choices we either attack the opposition or we defend them by saying something equally ridiculous.  

Have you ever listen to an African comedian? You should.  I don't mean a black comedian.  I mean a person who grew up in Africa regardless of their color. 

Human rights are something we take for granted.  When a person is raised in a situation with limited rights, they do not grow in the same way as those who have had their rights honored.  I am struggling again because I do not want to criticize anybody for their political views.  I do however want to encourage each of you to dig deeper into the human condition and less into political opinion.  Please don't let yourself be told what to think.  There is no need to confront people and try to make them "hear" you.  You have a tribe to discuss your views with.  You have an obligation to yourself to look up the definitions of words being used.  Please don't tell me that something is communist, socialist or fascist.  Tell me what they are doing that you disagree with.  Rhetoric that leads with name calling, labeling, or shaming, is designed to be misleading.

I refused to be defined by my circumstances.

Sincerely, Carmen Davis