IHSS Liberty Blog

 Sabrina Gubbels-Wingo

Mr. Roddy

IHSS
7 February 2021

Liberty Blog

I found that in this section of the article Montesquieu’s voice was very clear. His view that humans are inherently self-serving was apparent in both the definition of liberty and the treatment of freedom. I had never really thought about the restrictions that the laws put on true freedom. This ‘true freedom’ being where someone can do anything whether it is defined as good or bad. Instead, the kind of freedom we have is filtered by laws that prevent us from harming each other purposefully. I thought it important that the section pointed out that the laws prevent purposeful harm. If we had laws that punished/prohibited accidents then we would be crossing the line of freedom into something that’s restrictions are harmful in themselves. In this way, it defines freedom as the ability to make mistakes and learn from them. 

Montesquieu’s ideal law was based around the properties that the offense it prohibited were provable, purposeful, and that the offender committed the offense consciously. I think that that speaks a little bit to how Montesquieu, although he expressed views that most humans are inherently self-serving, believed that there was room for improvement. This is because, while the law structure he suggested did state that offenses were bound to be made, he still stated strongly that it was important that the accused offender could prove their innocence. Overall, I found it a very interesting way to look at freedom, our handling of it, and the means by which we do so. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Civil Rights Issues in Syria - Alex Gross

  Alex Gross Mr. Roddy IHSS 6 April 2021 Civil Rights in Syria Syria, the densely populated country in the Middle East which is home to over 17 million people is plagued with a plethora of different Civil Rights issues and violations. The issues in Syria range from unlawful killings and assassinations, to excessive deployment of government forces. There have also been hundreds of articles in the past few years surrounding the Syrian refugee issues, which says a lot about the status of corruption in the country. An article from the Atlantic Council that was published yesterday (April 5th, 2021) goes into detail about another aspect of the difficulties of life in Syria; the economic struggle. The citizens of Syria are forced by the government to pay ridiculous amounts of money to exit and enter the country, renew passports, and quarantine due to covid. In-turn, this causes the citizens to be less likely to leave the country, despite its many issues. This problem is exacerbated by ...
Read more

Arkansas' Anti-trans bill

  Isa Pedersen  Mr. Roddy  IHSS 9 April 2021 Arkansas’ Anti-trans bill  For centuries the trans community was discriminated against. But recently Arkansas passed a bill that highly affects trans rights and healthcare. The bill states that trans individuals are not allowed to get gender affirming surgeries. This included hormones such as testosterone and androgen, as well as puberty blockers. This is said to be one of the most detrimental bills passed against the trans community in ages. Not only this but some states have already passed bills that don't allow trans kids to take part in sports or competitions. These states include Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Tennessee and Alabama are already starting to get the same bill passed. Texas is on the list that is assumed to follow Arkansas and pass the bill as well. Certain cities were able to make bills that heavily discriminate against the trans community, but states have never passed bills this big before. The...
Read more

The Pandemic has Been Bad for Civil Rights - Andy

Andy Walsh Mr. Roddy IHSS 6 April 2021 The Pandemic has Been Bad for Civil Rights  The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a lot of challenges to today’s society. However, in Latin America it is an even bigger issue. Across all of Latin America, the health crisis has been accompanied by civic disruptions causing the lack of communication and justice in civic spaces. Widespread quarantines and lockdowns have put a lot of stress on the civic system of all countries. However, countries with high poverty and large homeless populations have had trouble enforcing rules related to COVID. The lack of enforcement and communication have caused many issues in these countries. “ The measures taken in response to the pandemic have restricted civic spaces at local, national, regional and even international levels. The situation is alarming to the international community in general, and to the international rights community in particular.” (Andrés Serbin ). COVID has brought the need for governments...
Read more