rights and privileges

I frequently hear about the rights of society in opposition to the rights of the individual. Society has no rights and can have no rights because society is a concept, not a thing. A society is simply a set of individuals. It cannot have anything more or less than the individuals that comprise it. If a society has the “right to be safe” all that could mean is that the individuals who comprise that society have the “right to be safe”.

~ by robkeeney on 1 August 2007.