Universalism or Cultural Relativism: Where should human rights lie?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) established in 1945 were designed to be just that, universal. But due to the mere fact that the world, so vast yet so small, has so many cultures, ideologies, and religions that it seems that this declaration of human rights is relative to one’s own culture.

The thought of human rights being implemented around the world is a daunting idea; where does this idea stem from? It all starts with World War 2 and, sadly, the gross violation of human life, one’s dignity, and of humanity itself. The main idea of human rights should be universal. There should be no shortcuts or loopholes around them. The world saw the worst in each other and vowed to never see it again.

The documentary, A Girl in the River, is a short film about exactly that, the worst. A father’s attempted murder of his own daughter for the sake of his, and his family’s honour. This sadly is a common occurrence in places where these cases go unsolved and unprosecuted. A question lies in the mind of people who see this incident from a global perspective, in the father’s mind he has done nothing wrong, he thinks he was just protecting his family’s honour; should this be a violation of human rights or is it not, because it is the culture of how things are done? If this situation happened outside the context of culture and religion, it truly is. This raises the ongoing debate of capital punishment because it is the same, denying a person the right to live because of something they have done. But people agree with it because it is the culture and the way it has always been done.

So where should human rights lie? I personally think that human rights should be universal, after all, it is a universal declaration. No matter the context, no matter the power, no matter the person, human rights are something that everyone has, and like article 30 states: No one can take away your Human Rights.

Global Perspectives Blog Post: Do people really have free will?

My post is about how every person, that has access to a device that can connect to the internet, is a slave to alien overlords that put subliminal messages into our devices to do their bidding. Maybe I exaggerated, but with every good story, there is truth to it. Maybe it is not alien overlords that are controlling us, but something closer to home. Advertisement agencies!!!! These agencies do control us with subliminal messages in the form of ads and banners, ‘clickbait’ if you like to call them. These ad agencies slowly put their messages beside your favourite cat videos and vlogs. In our everyday lives, we see ads all around, in a car, surfing the net, or even listening to music. There are ads everywhere, but do they really influence us?

Ads, some people might say that they’ve only seen less than a hundred per day, which is still a lot, but the truth is far greater. These ads are taking into account your every move, your browser history, your booking history and even your LOCATION. Why? It is because they are a form of revenue, income, for these businesses and you may think that they do not affect you in any way, you are dead wrong. Ads that pop up before your videos actually do affect you. It was because of ads that you bought your toothpaste, tried that new sushi restaurant, it was because of ads that you got your new phone. You may not feel like you have, but you are, slowly. We take in information every day, and it influences us. To answer the question, whether we have free will or not, we do. We have the free will to acknowledge or ignore them because the beauty of ads is that we can forget them.

The Issues that are Invisible: The Right to Die

Out of the four topics, I chose the Charlie Gard case by Will intrigued me the most. Throughout the assessment, you realise how much ethics, faith and ideology dictate our lives. How each event and issue actually affects our lives, how they slowly shape our world. The Charlie Gard case was a prime example of the ethics of life and death, in what scenarios is murder acceptable. Not only do we see the life and death, but we also see how politics also carries ethics. Joseph’s assessment was on Trump and when he declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It showed how ethics, ideology and faith are all around us and the issues that people face affect their mind. Doing this assessment also changed my view on different things. I always thought that some forms of government are always bad, but there are some good behind each one. Miu’s assessment involved a Christian bakery which falls on faith and how some people, who truly believe that being homosexual is wrong. Even if people are atheists or agnostics, Darius’ was about net neutrality and it affects all internet users. You read about these issues every day, but you do not see how much goes behind it. The ideologies of what is right or wrong, ways of power and leadership, and what we believe in affect us every moment of our lives. It is, albeit scary, but the way life works.

GPers Blog Post: Gender Identity, Nurture and Nature Debate

The video really struck me as an insight to a real question that has plagued scientists, psychologists, and biologists for a long time. Growing up back in the Philippines, we were taught that you have to meet certain stereotypes to actually be a boy or a girl. My environment back home really shaped the way I think in life. I wanted others to not be bound by standards set up by society. I think that being either gender has certain things that one is inclined to do more often. Being a boy, you are more inclined to like action, fighting, cars, shoes and etc. Whereas most girls are not really into that. there are certain things one gender does more often than the other. These little differences can really change us in the long run. They slowly shape our perspective, character, and attitude towards life. They change the way we react to people and things. Stereotypes and cliches sway our attributes and affect our lives in various ways. A common stereotype is that men don’t cry. This slowly toughens the mind of those affected by it and slowly shifts their perspective on sad and depressing things.

I think that being either gender has certain things that one is inclined to do more often. Being a boy, you are more inclined to like action, fighting, cars, shoes and etc. Whereas most girls are not really into that. there are certain things one gender does more often than the other. These little differences can really change us in the long run. They slowly shape our perspective, character, and attitude towards life. They change the way we react to people and things. Stereotypes and cliches sway our attributes and affect our lives in various ways. A common stereotype is that men don’t cry. This slowly toughens the mind of those affected by it and slowly shifts their perspective on sad and depressing things.

Entering school with all these standards to achieve slowly shifted my view to something similar to other peers. With the help of my parents, I realised that society was dictating how I should be and how I should live my life rather than the voice in my head. I then told myself that I didn’t need to be like other peers but just be myself and be who I am. After watching the video, it made me think differently about what really defines our gender, how some people have a different gender identity to what their biological sex was. It made me question what makes me, me and how different or similar I am to others.

The very deep research on what really makes males, male and females, female changes your perspective on gender. No matter how hard you try to make it not, it will. It really challenges us to think about our gender identity in a different perspective. It makes us question the real cause of our gender identity, are we raised into it? or are we born with it?