June 7, 2024
Upside-Down World
In the West, over the past few centuries, we have built an upside-down world compared to how it had always been. Personally, I consider it the best world realized so far (though not the best possible). However, the idea has spread that these principles are self-evident, obvious, starting with what we can consider a foundational act, the American Declaration of Independence, which states that it was "self-evident" that "all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." This was asserted in a society where slavery had even been reintroduced: how can principles be considered self-evident when they are not generally recognized?