Imagine if we raised our children with the following education:
"You don't have any rights. Rights are an abstract concept in people's heads. You cannot have or hold them, they're not tangible.
"This fact becomes clear, whenever somebody with malicious intent violates what you call 'your rights'.
"Bad people don't care about your definition of right and wrong. As a matter of fact, they know that what they're doing is wrong.
"Nobody would say they have wrongs. Everybody acknowledges, they're doing the wrong thing.
"It's the same with rights. You can only do the right thing. That's why they're called rights in the first place: because it's the right thing to do.
"And it is your responsibility to do the right thing, if you want to prosper in freedom.
"Stopping people from harming you or the innocent is the right thing to do. And it is your responsibility to develop the skills, and especially the courage, to do the right thing.
"You are not a victim. You are a powerful creation of nature. You cannot rely on other people to do the right thing for you. At least not people you've never met or spoken to."
Don't you think that would be a much more healthy introduction to adult life than what we currently teach our children?
That they have these abstract rights without having to do anything for them?
Could that be the reason why nobody seems to have any courage anymore, why everybody declares themselves a victim of whatever "right" it is that they feel has been violated?
Victimhood-mentality is rampant in society, and the current social climate suggests this world is made up of victims and perpetrators.
The reality, however, is that this world is made up of good people, very few perpetrators and very few victims.
It takes good people to stop the perpetrators, which will reduce the amount of victims.
And this effect will be exacerbated, if some of the victims realize that they aren't victims at all, that they don't have to cry out to a faceless authority. But that they have the power to stop the perpetrator.
Rights can be taken from you. Doing the right thing cannot.
And before anyone tries to bring up the question of who gets to define what right and wrong is, let me say this:
No man or woman, that's for sure.
Do you really think murder or theft are wrong, because somebody just like you or me, but with 'authority', wrote it down on a piece of paper?
Of course not. The only reason it makes sense on paper is because there is something inherently true about it. You can write it down, for sure, but it's not necessary.
What is more: those words on paper will often declare something to be right on one side of the invisible line, but wrong on the other.
This proves that the decision of authority to declare certain things right and others wrong is an arbitrary one.
This is not a basis upon which we can organize human coexistence.
Luckily, we don't have to. The only reason we do, is because we are told from a very young age that this is how it has to be.
And by the time we're old enough to be able to realize that it doesn't have to be this way, our egos usually forbid us from admitting that we've been taught lies.
By the time we're adults, we want authority to be right. After all, we've given it so much credence (and money) throughout our lives. It would be a shameful thing to have to admit that all we've actually done is give up our agency - and let ourselves be ripped off.
It's not your fault. Like me, you were far too young to understand in sixth grade that democracy is not the pinnacle of all forms of human coexistence.
But now you are old enough to understand that most people are educated in institutions created by the very authority that only has one goal: to stay in power.
Of course this authority will tell you that you don't know shit, and that there are politicians that will make your life great again.
But it's bullshit.
And the sooner we realize that, the sooner we can start building a free world together.
Megalomaniacs have been craving world domination throughout human history. People always saw through their bullshit at some point.
Kings, dictators, slave masters: Their problem was that they made it too obvious to the public that they thought they were something special.
These people realized that they had to give us the feeling - and it is just that: a feeling - that we are in charge.
The democratic system has turned us all into slaves and slave masters at the same time. Now it's us forcing our will upon each other. Sometimes we happen to agree, sometimes we don't. But whoever has the majority can feel like a winner and force a minority, however big it is, to comply.
Force is the key word, and the reason why we are no better than any king, dictator or slave master.
Worse, because we actually believe that we're doing the right thing.
Dictators at least know they're exploiting the gullible masses. We're exploiting each other and pat ourselves on the back for being law-abiding, tax-paying citizens.
It's the perfect slavery.
There was a time when I, too, thought I was doing the right thing by telling others how to live their lives and see them transported off to correctional institutions if they disobeyed.
But I woke up to the true nature of what authority is. It took some meditation. And the capacity to speak the three most powerful words any human being can utter: I Was Wrong.