Rights of the Minority

The right of the minority to defend themselves is a founding principle of the United States government, as is shown through the United States Senate. In the Senate, without 60 votes in favor of a bill, the minority party can deter a vote and ultimately defeat a bill without actually having to vote on that bill. It's an interesting system, as the legislative portion of the US government is divided; in the House of Representatives, the majority reigns supreme, while in the Senate, without the "super majority," the minority can easily control debate. Now, I'm not looking to analyze the US government, but the abilities of the minority to defend themselves in general.

What is a minority? A portion of a particular population that constitutes anything less than 50% of that population; for example, out of 400, 199 is the first minority number. Obviously, there are degrees of majority-minority relationships, but viable minorities (minorities with actual power) would typically have to constitute more than 20-30% of a particular population. In general, if fewer than 20% of a population is part of a minority, it's a fringe minority with some trait that is either very esoteric or idiosyncratic.

Now, why should a minority get the same rights as a majority? After all, they are essentially powerless to fight back against the majority. There are several philosophical precedents on which to make an argument, typically that all humans are deserving of equal treatment because we are all born with equal physiological standards (with some to little variation). There are also historical precedents, i.e. the Civil Rights movement, centuries of slavery, etc. Throughout all of recorded history and up to this moment, we have established that all people, regardless of their social status, are equal (or should be equal) in life, liberty, and rights implicit in life.

So why do we still see rights of minorities suppressed in certain places? From more extreme cases of genocide in Darfur, Rwanda, The Balkan Wars, etc., to more religious or social issues, there are still many instances of rejection of rights to certain minorities.

For example, an instance of this is in the recent revelation of the NYPD going beyond their given powers to spy on Muslim students in multiple schools across multiple states, including schools in New Jersey.

Another example is in China, where the Uyghur population has been suppressed violently because of the Uyghur protests against the Chinese government. Now, while China is not the best example of a country that upholds human rights, it is still necessary to hold them to some sort of standard because they are such a powerful nation.

So why do some countries insist on repressing the minority groups in their countries? A general explanation is a bit hard to elicit, since the reasons often vary on a case-by-case basis. Perhaps some majority groups feel as if they would be oppressed by the minority if the minority were to gain power (such as when Sunni Saddam Hussein ruled over predominantly Shi'a Iraq); perhaps other majority groups feel that being the majority favors them because of the ability to give oneself multiple advantages.

That being said, a minority could come with intangible powers, such as through money or through items (such as weapons, land, etc.). Manipulation then comes into play, which is an entirely different issue that I am much too tired at the moment to write about.

Oftentimes, it is the intangible items that set the two groups apart, whether they are the majority or not. The intangibles are seemingly more important than sheer numbers, as having a greater amount of resources with which to centralize power creates an environment conducive to the will of those with the intangible items.

So, if a minority controls a majority of the intangibles, and the intangibles are later de-powered or have their abilities removed, can the minority continue to feign being a majority? If the reverse is true and the majority controls the intangibles of society and those intangibles are given no value, does the minority realize their new power?

That's all for now,
Das Flüg

A Serious Man Post

Since I haven't done a political piece in a while, I figure that the one person who actually reads my blog (You) would appreciate something well-written and erudite. Hooray for consideration!

What's on my mind right now is the possible connection between the release of the Lockerbie bomber and BP's drilling contract with Libya. Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, also known as the Lockerbie Bomber, was sentenced for life imprisonment after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people. (There is speculation that he was simply a scapegoat, but that is a topic about which I know too little.) He was released last year to a hero's welcome in Libya due to a diagnosis of terminal prostate cancer. This obviously raised quite the disturbance in Scotland, as many wondered why a man who senselessly killed hundreds should be given compassion at the end of his life. But, that is only the beginning of the story.

It seems that BP, the highly-revered defenders of all that is black and grimy, influenced the UK government's decision to release Megrahi in order to secure an oil contract with Libya. If BP did not already seem like the dominatrix of the world, whipping us while we enjoyed it, now BP appears to be Hedonism Bot from Futurama, basically doing whatever feels like it would give them pleasure.



Corporate greed at its finest. So, what happens now? Well, if I were president (which only happens in approximately 3 of the infinite parallel universes), I would likely cut all contracts with BP, have them fined, and send them to work on the next Michael Bay movie because, let's face it, Transformers 2 was worse than waterboarding.

On a side note, I'm pretty sure those Russian spies caught in the US were the rejects from the KGB, since the information they were searching for could easily be found on the internet. Hell, it's posted on whitehouse.gov, opensecrets.org, etc. They were probably the kids who ate the crayons during KGB school.

That's all for now,
Das Flüg

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