America Has Been Kidnapped by “Human Rights”

The U.S. State Department recently published its annual “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices” for the year 2010. The section related to China once again attacked human rights conditions in China. China has harshly refuted this and also expressed that the Chinese and American governments have huge differences on the issue of human rights. It hopes that discussions on this topic can be held, based on equality and mutual respect; however, it will strongly oppose any interference in China’s internal affairs.

Traditionally, America has not cared to listen to opposing arguments on the topic of human rights but, rather, enjoys sending out one-sided comments about human rights issues in other countries. This causes America’s foreign relations with other nations (even its allies) to become tense. In its own “2010 American Human Rights Record,” China politely advised America to reflect on its own human rights problems and to remember that just because America has proclaimed itself “the lord of human rights” does not mean that it can see its own issues clearly.

This year America launched a campaign for human rights. What are the characteristics of this “campaign”?

First of all, this campaign is to help Obama gain some steam for his re-election bid. On April 4, Obama announced that he would seek re-election in 2012. With this decided, he needed to start developing some much-needed political bargaining chips. On the one hand, he began the “prudent” military action in Libya, where the U.S. has secretly sent Special Forces to train the rebel forces; and on the other hand, he started nagging other countries about the same old issue of human rights, claiming that he is showing “concern.” This is a demonstration of Obama’s strength, but in reality, it is nothing more than a way to strengthen his bid for re-election.

Something that is even more worth the public’s attention is that America’s actions this year have shown that it is even more determined to step up the campaign for human rights. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expanded on the meaning of “human rights” during a speech. She said that suppressing civil groups and activists, restricting the Internet and discriminating against gays and lesbians give her cause for concern. According to her, a sovereign nation’s government suppressing anti-government organizations and conspirators is a “crackdown on civil society activists,” and restricting Internet access from those who would destroy the nation’s stability and spread pornographic filth and terrorist messages is a violation of “freedoms of expression.” It is not hard to see that the friction between developing and U.S.-led Western countries will only increase and that the contradictions will continue to become even more apparent. For example, in many nations homosexuality is not recognized. In Cameroon, when homosexuals are discovered, they are sent to prison. In January of this year, the European Union openly opposed the government of Cameroon by giving 300,000 euros to an anti-government organization that protects gay rights, encouraging homosexuals to oppose their government.

Actually, America clearly understands that the ethnicities, religions, cultures, laws and societal systems of each nation are totally different; customs and thought patterns are also different. So, when it forces other nations to be measured by America’s standards, it is deliberately doing something that it knows is wrong, and it loves it. As soon as America hears that another nation has so-called human rights issues, it gets excited. Government officials and even presidents get a chance to respond to this news. In order to obtain votes, politicians will use all of their energy to put on a show for their constituents. This type of response proves precisely that the American government and president have been kidnapped by their own philosophies of democracy and human rights. If America does not do any self-reflection on human rights, then I’m afraid that the friction caused by this issue will not be easily mitigated.