Life-jacket | Strait-jacket

Ben has some good thoughts here about the search for a ‘just society’ being debased by ‘human rights’.

He makes the point that “the ideology of a tolerant society has become a straight jacket that prevents human freedom”. I was reminded by the metaphor a colleague once used about our National Curriculum, and to recycle it, perhaps human rights have become ‘life jacket for the vulnerable, but a strait-jacket for the just.’

They are essential in many ways to protect those most at risk. But for those who are actually just, they are so ‘tight’ that they become counter-productive.

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