Human Rights: A Western Phenomenon
Lim Qi Hui (14) 2P1
Human right is a western phenomenon. Human rights are very crucial in our society today. It is one of the fundamental laws that govern life. Without it, the very basic social structure of developed countries will crumble, causing economic and social unrest. In less developed countries however, the violations of human rights may be a daily occurrence. In the west however, human rights are strongly advocated and are enforced by the law itself, unlike other developed parts of the world which only provide the very basic human rights to its citizens. Freedom of speech is one of the rights that are advocated more strongly in the west than anywhere else. You can say anything about the government. Crack jokes, criticize and insult. Doing all these things would not land you in a cell. In fact you would receive no punishment at all. However, if you were to do the same thing in China, or even in a developed country like Singapore, you may find yourself in jail the next day. This is just one of the many examples of strong avocation of human rights in the west. Many may say that developed countries such as Singapore promote human rights too. The government helps people who live in poverty by providing grants and subsidies to ease their financial burden. The government even helps children who come from poor families by giving them free or subsidized education. The right to have access to education is strongly advocated here in Singapore. However, upon closer inspection, we would be able to see that the freedom of speech is lacking in almost every part of the world except in the west. Many examples support this viewpoint. One of the examples is the clamming down on social networks in China. In China, the government is very protective of what its citizens can access on the internet. As a result, they have blocked popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Why do they clamp down on social networking sites such as Facebook? The
Human right is a western phenomenon. Human rights are very crucial in our society today. It is one of the fundamental laws that govern life. Without it, the very basic social structure of developed countries will crumble, causing economic and social unrest. In less developed countries however, the violations of human rights may be a daily occurrence. In the west however, human rights are strongly advocated and are enforced by the law itself, unlike other developed parts of the world which only provide the very basic human rights to its citizens. Freedom of speech is one of the rights that are advocated more strongly in the west than anywhere else. You can say anything about the government. Crack jokes, criticize and insult. Doing all these things would not land you in a cell. In fact you would receive no punishment at all. However, if you were to do the same thing in China, or even in a developed country like Singapore, you may find yourself in jail the next day. This is just one of the many examples of strong avocation of human rights in the west. Many may say that developed countries such as Singapore promote human rights too. The government helps people who live in poverty by providing grants and subsidies to ease their financial burden. The government even helps children who come from poor families by giving them free or subsidized education. The right to have access to education is strongly advocated here in Singapore. However, upon closer inspection, we would be able to see that the freedom of speech is lacking in almost every part of the world except in the west. Many examples support this viewpoint. One of the examples is the clamming down on social networks in China. In China, the government is very protective of what its citizens can access on the internet. As a result, they have blocked popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Why do they clamp down on social networking sites such as Facebook? The