About Those “Rights” People Are Screaming About

For some time we’ve heard anti-vaxxers, Trump supporters, Libertarians, and others complaining about how their “rights” are being violated. The loudest of which seems be those incapable of social virtues; much less describe what rights are, why they are important, and more importantly where they end.

Rights are not carte-blanche to run around like a greedy narcissistic sociopath, no matter how hot and trendy that behavior is in society at the moment.

The simple fact is that most of those screaming loudest about their “rights” in American society have no clue what they’re talking about.

What Actually Are “Rights”?

The dictionary definition always left me a bit wanting. Even as a child I didn’t feel that it truly encompassed the important concepts of it. Still, we must review this as a starting point.

In terms of social structure, the definition which applies is:

2) A moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way.

(Oxford’s US / Lexico)

In the usage case of human rights, this is both accurate and incomplete. Some four decades ago I asked the smartest person I’ve ever known — historian and a leading authority on life in the 17th century…