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Rights: Where Should We Draw the Line?

Please note that this is a reposting of an old rant with some edits and clarifications on the principles discussed in it.

The front-page story in an article on The Times of India read, “The cost of implementing the historic Right to Education (RTE) Act over the next five years by the Centre and states works out to a whopping Rs 1.78 lakh crore [INR 1.78 trillion as per the short scale]. The new law will come into force from the next academic year and since right to education is now a fundamental right, it is mandatory on the part of the government to provide what is demanded.”

So to make it simple, the implication here is that because we have a right to education, the Government is responsible to provide that education to us for free. Many people across the world, especially the Western countries would identify with this explanation of “rights” and think it’s the most logical one. But is it? By extension, does it mean that because I have a right to life, if it happens to be in danger from some disease, is it the Government’s job to fix it for me for free?

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My Opening for an Assignment on Morality and Ethics in Professional Relationships

Ethics is “that branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct,”i whereas morality is defined as “moral quality or character.”

In other words, ethics could be considered a subset of moraltiy, because our morality defines our own personal character; and that character decides how we deal with other people, which is the domain of ethics.

It is important for me to make this distinction between the two concepts, because when I talk about ideal behaviour in a business environment, I’m talking about ethics—the way in which I deal with other people or the way in which I would like people to deal with me—and not morality as a whole.

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Green Party’s Vision: A Paradise Called United States of Moronica

Jill Stein says “it’s time for Medicare for ALL!”

How? At whose expense? What did the US government do right with healthcare and social security in the past that says they can pull off a system of universal healthcare in the future? Of course, for these answers you’d have to take some basic courses in the most irrelevant and boring subjects of all: economics and business planning. Why would you ever do that?

Another article about her says, “Stein has promised a Green New Deal for America if elected, including an Economic Bill of Rights that ends ‘indentured servitude’ for college students.”

Of course, they can use the phrase “indentured servitude” as they see fit, because using it the right way would require them to do another boring and irrelevant thing: refer to the dictionary! Sheesh, who wants that!

I say if you get yourself into debt that you can’t repay, just vote for a president who can forgive it. No responsibility; and why should you have responsibility when your own wannabe president uses terms loosely and offers you free medicare at someone else’s expense? Presidents (or aspiring ones) really do lead by example, don’t they?

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Free Software: Why do I Care

I have a couple of friends who follow the “whatever does my job more easily” principle when it comes to choosing their computer systems. Obviously, for them Windows wins hands down when it comes to operating systems. After all, it works with nearly every piece of hardware that was ever created, be it old or new, and nearly every software that is ever needed to do anything in business or personal life is available for Windows. So they find my passion for Linux and free software quite amusing and even pointless, to say the least.

Their main premise is based on this argument more or less: computers are tools just like any other, and you should pick one that does your job most easily rather than worrying about how good/bad the system is for its own sake or whether it’s open source or proprietary software. That’s where I disagree with them.

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Welcome to Noesis

The former name for my blog, “Unspoken Words,” has served me very well right since I published my first post six years ago. The name perfectly represented my situation back then; this blog was home to my thoughts and analysis written in words I would seldom use in everyday speak in the traditional Indian society in which I was raised — unless I was among close friends who knew how to agree to disagree.

However, things are different now; and I’m glad to say that I’m in a place where a lot of my individualistic thoughts have a larger audience, if not an always-sympathetic one. As a result, I think it is time this blog be renamed to reflect something that is more representative of its spirit now; a name that represents reason, rationality, and objective thought more than an outlet for my unspoken words. Therefore, I’ve renamed it as “Noesis”.

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