Rights Inflation

Corpulent Human Rights

Freedom (civil, political, words, speech, thought, etc.) is a fragile flower.  It does not take much to squash it flat.  These days the most fragile "freedom flower" in New Zealand is freedom of speech or expression.  The reason is that taking offence or being offended has been elevated into an enduring crime against humanity.  If someone causes another to be offended, the latter has suffered a quasi-criminal act, of similar ilk as theft, assault, or battery.  The offender has transgressed upon the rights of another.  We have discovered yet another human right, hitherto not known--a right not to be offended.   

It seems that a retail clothing company, Hallenstein Glasson has offended people.  It had deployed mannequins in stores dressed in skimpy bikinis.  The plastic "models" represented skinny teenagers.  The mannequins were displaying ribs in a very realistic manner--just as you would expect to see on such a young lady if she had an arm extended upwards, as was the bodily attitude of the mannequins in question.  But people (mainly women) took offence because it was promoting an ideal body shape for women that is allegedly unhealthy.  The public outcry, combined with sensational, breathless beat-up articles in the media, resulted in the company sacking the mannequins without even the courtesy of redundancy pay.  Just like that.  Behold the power of our new human right.  Another fragile freedom flower is crushed beneath the relentless weight of a few offended human beings who have suffered near-criminal damage.

But obesity (we are told) is also unhealthy.
  Therefore each and every representation of obese women should also be banned--whether on the teee-veee or in the newspapers.  Such pictures implicitly promote an ideal body shape that can be a harbinger of more plagues than we care to enumerate.  Therefore, we are offended, we tell you.  Offended.  Such images must be banned because they assault our human right not to suffer offence. 

There are companies specializing in garments for the more portly female.  All their advertising and promotional material must be revised, lest offence be taken.  By using portly models they, too, are implicitly promoting obesity as ideal and we are mighty offended at that.  Better still, send such companies bankrupt  Force them out of business.  Make portly women go unclothed.  Only then will our raging offence be assuaged.

We live in a neighbourhood where the average bloke and blokesse  has overindulged in carbs and sugar.  We are assailed by offensive sights on every hand.  These people have no right to cause such offence.  They need to be removed from public view lest people get the idea that such corpulence represents an ideal body shape.  That monstrous consequence would ramp up our offence meter by a factor of ten.  Away with them from public sight.  Otherwise we are going to play the offence card.  We may even lay a complaint to the Human Rights Commission. 

Come to think of it--and yes, now the truth is coming out--we are offended at the silly offensive people taking offence at those poor mannequins in the windows of Hallenstein-Glasson shops.  Mightily offended.  So we are going to complain to Hallenstein-Glasson about how they (and the complainants) have offended us by taking their mannequins off the job and making them redundant.  We are going to insist that they be reinstated.  Only then will our offended feelings dissipate. 

Conflict of interest disclosure: we hold no shares in Hallenstein-Glassons and are mighty relieved we don't.