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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   34508 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 6, 2023

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It's quite common that the exercising of one's rights infringes in some way on the rights of others. Society then comes up with rules to balance the rights of one versus the other, usually putting some restrictions on both. As an example, consider sexual harassment. A man asserts his right to freedom of speech. A woman asserts his exercising of that right infringes her right to not be subject to unwanted sexual stimulation. Similarly, a woman asserts her right to wear whatever she wants. A man asserts her exercising of that right infringes his right to not be subject to unwanted sexual stimulation.

EDIT: Grammar.

The idea that women don't want to be sexually harassed because they become sexually stimulated is an idea that's absurd on its face. Accurate flair I guess.

Accurate flair I guess.

Unnecessary. Omit the cheap digs next time.

Fine, replace "stimulation" with "attention". My point still stands that the exercising of some rights can infringe on the rights of others and a liberal society needs to handle that.

I think the way this is usually handled is by defining the contours of the right such that they are not in conflict. I also think this is collapsing all morality into a rights based framework that I'm not sure I (or liberalism) are obliged to. People can do things that are immoral but which they still have a right to do.

I think the way this is usually handled is by defining the contours of the right such that they are not in conflict.

Well yes, and it is quite easy to frame "defining the contours of the right" as "taking away the right" when you think you should be entitled to different contours.

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