Saturday 26 June 2010

Quote Day #2

Here's another quote in the 'I can't be bothered coming up with something to write about today' series. I was going to do one of these every week but I forgot when the last one was so I think I'll just do one whenever the mood strikes me, here's my favourite quote for those who missed it last time.


"He who would trade an essential liberty for temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security." - Ben Franklin



I really like this quote from Franklin, and it's still relevant today because its been happening more and more since 9/11. People seem to think its acceptable to brush aside basic human rights and defend it by saying its for 'security reasons'. Of course we need security, but that should never need to be at the expense of rights. A human right is forever, you can't pick and choose when to apply it.


And you also can't pick and choose who the rights apply to. That means everyone, even the people I hate most in the world. You don't prove you have better morals than someone else by beating them at their low level. Essential liberty means nothing if it isn't universal.


If security services can't do their jobs as well as they want because of keeping to human rights regulations, then I suggest they find a better way to do their jobs.

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