A couple of days ago, I took a peak at the UN's Declaration of Human Rights and discovered - surprise, surprise - that the vast majority of those coveted rights have already been thoroughly trampled upon during the first year of the dreaded birdemic. These sorts of things tend to happen after global totalitarian coups . . . I mean, global birdemics.
Aw, come on, this has never been and still is not about the birdemic.
Anyway, the UN's Declaration of Human Rights is essentially little more than an expanded, global version of The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which was issued by the National Constituent Assembly of France in 1789. If the date seems somewhat familiar, it might because it also marked the beginning of the French Revolution. This fundamental document, which was composed under the auspices of "the Supreme Being", begins in the following manner:
The representative of the French people, constituted into a National Assembly, considering that ignorance, forgetfulness or contempt of the rights of man are the sole causes of public misfortunes and the corruption of governments, are resolved to expose, in a solemn declaration, the natural, inalienable and sacred rights of man . . .
. . . and so on and so forth.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen drew much of its inspiration from the ideals of the American Revolution - secular natural law, human rights, civic rights, and personal freedoms, all modeled upon the sanctity of the individual. These ideals were summarily declared to be universal and valid in all times and places. Thus began the reign of libertas, which ruled the West mostly unfettered until the birdemic coup of 2020.
The eighteenth century has long been a target of traditionalists and reactionaries, most of whom regard the late 1700s as an enormous wrong turn. I tend to agree with them, but the bulk of my agreement is not fixed upon political or social concerns.
When I think about the late eighteenth century, I tend to think about the wrong turn primarily as the culmination of a missed opportunity in the development of human consciousness. Over the course of previous centuries Man had positioned himself to attain a viable shot at spiritual libertas, but in the late 1700s ultimately missed the mark and chose material libertas instead.
Though the enlightened revolutions and declarations professed to be inspired by and aligned with the divine, they were not based upon the primacy of the spiritual, but rather on the primacy of the material. As a result, the rights and freedoms the enlightened revolutions and declarations secured ultimately failed to fully address the true nature of Man.
Since they were not firmly rooted in God and Creation, the natural, inalienable and sacred rights of man eventually devolved into the unnatural, alienable, and profane.
Nevertheless, the veneration for universal human rights continued unabated. Shortly after the Second World War it morphed into idolatry. It has maintained this status ever since and - despite the steady obliteration of nearly all basic and fundamental human rights over the past year - continues to maintain this status even now.
When the birdemic broke in the West, the vast majority of people were only too happy to surrender their natural, inalienable, and sacred rights. A year later, people continue to believe the suspension of their most basic and fundamental human rights is temporary - that their natural, inalienable, and sacred rights will be restored to them after the birdemic subsides and things return to normal.
I'm no fortune teller, but I believe things will never return to normal. A return to normal would entail a return to Western liberalism, democracy, human rights, individual freedoms - more succinctly, the world of material libertas that began in the late 1700s.
For all intents and purposes, the world of material libertas has ended. What we are in now are the initial stages of material servitus.
The only meaningful way forward is spiritual libertas through Christ.
We need to stop obsessing about the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of man and begin focusing on our divine-human responsibilities instead.
Aw, come on, this has never been and still is not about the birdemic.
Anyway, the UN's Declaration of Human Rights is essentially little more than an expanded, global version of The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which was issued by the National Constituent Assembly of France in 1789. If the date seems somewhat familiar, it might because it also marked the beginning of the French Revolution. This fundamental document, which was composed under the auspices of "the Supreme Being", begins in the following manner:
The representative of the French people, constituted into a National Assembly, considering that ignorance, forgetfulness or contempt of the rights of man are the sole causes of public misfortunes and the corruption of governments, are resolved to expose, in a solemn declaration, the natural, inalienable and sacred rights of man . . .
. . . and so on and so forth.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen drew much of its inspiration from the ideals of the American Revolution - secular natural law, human rights, civic rights, and personal freedoms, all modeled upon the sanctity of the individual. These ideals were summarily declared to be universal and valid in all times and places. Thus began the reign of libertas, which ruled the West mostly unfettered until the birdemic coup of 2020.
The eighteenth century has long been a target of traditionalists and reactionaries, most of whom regard the late 1700s as an enormous wrong turn. I tend to agree with them, but the bulk of my agreement is not fixed upon political or social concerns.
When I think about the late eighteenth century, I tend to think about the wrong turn primarily as the culmination of a missed opportunity in the development of human consciousness. Over the course of previous centuries Man had positioned himself to attain a viable shot at spiritual libertas, but in the late 1700s ultimately missed the mark and chose material libertas instead.
Though the enlightened revolutions and declarations professed to be inspired by and aligned with the divine, they were not based upon the primacy of the spiritual, but rather on the primacy of the material. As a result, the rights and freedoms the enlightened revolutions and declarations secured ultimately failed to fully address the true nature of Man.
Since they were not firmly rooted in God and Creation, the natural, inalienable and sacred rights of man eventually devolved into the unnatural, alienable, and profane.
Nevertheless, the veneration for universal human rights continued unabated. Shortly after the Second World War it morphed into idolatry. It has maintained this status ever since and - despite the steady obliteration of nearly all basic and fundamental human rights over the past year - continues to maintain this status even now.
When the birdemic broke in the West, the vast majority of people were only too happy to surrender their natural, inalienable, and sacred rights. A year later, people continue to believe the suspension of their most basic and fundamental human rights is temporary - that their natural, inalienable, and sacred rights will be restored to them after the birdemic subsides and things return to normal.
I'm no fortune teller, but I believe things will never return to normal. A return to normal would entail a return to Western liberalism, democracy, human rights, individual freedoms - more succinctly, the world of material libertas that began in the late 1700s.
For all intents and purposes, the world of material libertas has ended. What we are in now are the initial stages of material servitus.
The only meaningful way forward is spiritual libertas through Christ.
We need to stop obsessing about the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of man and begin focusing on our divine-human responsibilities instead.
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