In the world of comics, two main publishers dominate: DC Comics and Marvel Comics. DC Comics promotes superheroes such as Batman, a vigilante who began fighting crime solely to avenge the untimely death of his parents. He possesses no unique superhuman ability, other than a substantial fortune inherited from his late parents. Yet, the public in the Batman comics still adore their hero. In contrast, Marvel Comics promotes superheroes such as the X-Men, a team of superheroes who possess the X-Gene, a DNA mutation that gives each member a different ability. Under the leadership of Professor X, this team fights to protect their world from evil. Despite the many accomplishments of the X-Men, society persecutes them. In fact, when the X-Men first try to recruit Wolverine, he refuses: "Be an X-Men? Who the hell do you think you are? You're a mutant. The world out there is full of people who hate and fear you and you're wasting your time trying to protect them?" (Housel 140) Because the people view the X-Men as mutants, not humans, they refuse to treat them as equals. Consequently, Marvel's comic series X-Men discusses the philosophical dichotomy of equal human rights versus discrimination, revealing that everyone deserves human rights even if they are different.
In the simplest of terms, human rights are those that undoubtedly belong to each person. These rights, from a philosophical standpoint, have certain characteristics that distinguish them from any other. According to Richard Wasserstrom, author of the article, "Rights, Human Rights, and Racial Discrimination," human rights embody several characteristics. Primarily, and perhaps obviously, human rights are those that belong solely to humans (Wasserstrom 631). Moreover, Wasserstrom...
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... Uncanny Argument in the Mutant X-Verse. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2009. Print
Irwin, William, and David Kyle. Johnson. Introducing Philosophy through Pop Culture: From Socrates to South Park, Hume to House. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.
McWilliams, Cynthia. "Mutant Rights, Torture, and X-Perimentation." X-men and Philosophy: Astonishing Insight and Uncanny Argument in the Mutant X-Verse. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2009. Print
Robichaud, Christopher. "Professor X Wants You." X-men and Philosophy: Astonishing Insight and Uncanny Argument in the Mutant X-Verse. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2009. Print
Sher, George. "Reverse Discrimination, the Future, and the Past." Ethics. 90. 1 (Oct., 1979)
Wasserstrom, Richard. "Rights, Human Rights, and Racial Discrimination." The Journal of Philosophy, 61.20 (1964).
Decades ago, everyone was supposedly given the same rights. Now days, there are such issues as gay marriage, flags, immigration, racism. Doesn’t equality mean equal? The world gets offended at everything, but wants to continue to judge people based off of the
“.When you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters.” –Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Over the years, many groups of people have been denied basic human rights based on simple things such as gender or race. These acts go against the UDHR, or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UDHR is a document of the equal and inalienable rights/freedoms all people are born with.
Let’s discuss a little bit of comic book history for starters. The most iconic superhero in all of American comic book history has got to be Superman. He was created near the beginning of superhero comic books and debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938[1]. He would remain as the blueprint for many superheroes for years to come as the atypical white American male. But as the years go by there were comic book heroes that came out that go against this archetype such as Wonder
In the past there were many biases against women and their lack of abilities compared to men. Although the male perspective has changed over the past few centuries, there are many feminists who still fight for ...
Connerly, Ward. "My Fight Against Race Preferences: A Quest Toward `Creating Equal'." Chronicle of Higher Education 46.27 (2000): B6. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 17 Aug. 2011.
Immigration is receiving both liberal and conservative views, and has become a hot topic on the ballot. Whether or not to establish immigration reform solely lies upon the people of the United States; But not all wish to show the positive outcomes of having immigrants in the United States.
Discrimination based on race, gender, class, and culture has been reoccurring since the beginning stages of mankind. Discrimination can derive from several different factors, whether sexual identity, race, gender, social-class as this paper demonstrated. The purpose of the paper was to discuss how discrimination was locked to institutional power between 1600s and 1990s, but even today discrimination is very prevalent and will continue to be, as the criminal justice system and the war on drugs acts as a form of discrimination towards people of color. Discrimination based on race, sexual ideologies and practices, and social class seem to still be very prevalent, while discrimination based on gender seems to have left the publics view.
Humans have established their own rights in society for many, many years now. However, because some humans differ from the norms that are built in society, they are shunned and denied their rights until they conform to society’s norms. There have been numerous groups of people who have been denied their rights in America. African Americans, immigrants, Native Americans, and gays have been isolated simply because that is the way they were born into this world and others do not find them “normal”. There is another group that has also been mistreated though: people who identify themselves as transgender.
In our society, certain ideals are held in high regard. Individuals relentlessly pursue these ideals to achieve a perceived perfection. These principles are often depicted in media that further glorifies and establishes a desire to pursue these paragons. In a medium such as comic books, however, these standards and perceptions are heavily distorted by the characterizations and settings. Particularly, the superhero genre absorbs the ideals we strive towards and regurgitates them in an extreme and unrealistic manner. The superhero genre is often reflective of societal changes in ideas and morals. These ideals are then molded into misleading representations that influence the behaviors of viewers. Comic books absorb elements of our society and transform them. For example, as the enemies of America change, so do the enemies of our superheroes. However, the enemies are transformed into supervillains that are extremely dark and villainous. Such characterizations cloud people’s understanding of real threats and enemies affecting our society. Also, to cater to the value that American society places on intelligence, attractiveness, and physical strength, comic books create characters that epitomize these characteristics. Though the represent society’s ideals, these characters manipulate the ideas and convey them back to the audience in an unrecognizable manner. In developing such distorted representations, the superhero genre affects human behavior and perceptions of these ideals.
Human rights are the inborn and universal rights of every human being regardless of religion, class, gender, culture, age, ability or nationality, that ensure basic freedom and dignity. In order to live a life with self-respect and dignity basic human rights are required.
Proponents of human rights argue that the concept’s universality rests in its non-discriminatory character- human rights are meant for every human being- rich and poor, white and black, men and women, young and old, leaders and followers, elites and illiterate, etc- and are all treated equally.
Despite the fact that, everyone is important, still as per the stats given by U.S. government, only 43 out of 148 countries gives equal rights to both men and women. Moreover, gender equality isn’t still achieved because of the fear of the women empowerment. Women empowerment does not means to overload women’s with some extra rights over men or make women dominate the world. It simply means giving women more hold on their personal choices and decision rather than taking permission from men. In sum, gain for women does not imply any losses for men. Men’s are more physically strong and women’s are more emotionally aware. But this is because of our biological origins. If given equal opportunities, who can say which one is better than the other?
The contemporary canon of human rights refers to the entire set of internationally recognized human rights declarations and conventions, beginning with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and including all of the subsequently drafted and enacted international human rights instruments, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Declaration on the Right to Development, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and several dozens of other international documents which identify and codify human rights norms. Given that each of these documents contain several dozen articles, many of which describe several, complex rights, all together there are probably well over one hundred things that can be identified as "human rights" based on the canon.
A general definition of human rights are that they are rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled to, simply because there human. It is the idea that ‘all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.’ The thought that human rights are universal emerges from the philosophical view that human rights are linked to the conservation of human dignity- that respect for individual dignity is needed regardless of the circumstance, leading to the notion that human rights are universal. The earliest form of human rights can be traced back to European history- the French Declaration on the Rights of Man and of Citizen which says that men are born free and equal in rights.
…rights which are inherent to the human being ... human rights acknowledges that every single human being is entitled to enjoy his or her human rights without distinction as to race, [color], sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. [To add on, human] rights are legally guaranteed by human rights law, protecting individuals and groups against actions that interfere with fundamental freedoms and human dignity (Human rights for