Traveller Mores

GM'ing Traveller made me think about some things harder than I would have otherwise.

An Aslan is a person, a Vargr is a person, a Hiver is a person, a Droyne is a person, even a K'Kree is a person!

Once something is a person, it's got all the rights, privileges, duties and obligations that being a person carries.

Notice that it's not all rights?

That's because I latched onto that whole no rights = no responsibilities thing.

It changes your worldview somewhat compared to your fellows in rural Iowa in the late '80's.

Suddenly it's no longer derogatory slurs about sexual orientation and ethnicity.

It's gay PEOPLE, black PEOPLE, hispanic PEOPLE.  Once they're people it's much harder to de-individualize them.  It's much easier to see their behavior on an individual level too.

Once they're people they have rights.  But rights come with responsibilities, no?

What I am seeing of late with minorities is an utter lack of responsibility.

No responsibilities means no rights...  No rights means not a person...

Denying their individual responsibility is in effect dehumanizing!

Dehumanization is to make the other and the other is easily victimized.

Please don't get me wrong, they are people and they are due their rights; but the rest of us are due their responsibilities.  By refusing to shoulder their burden and accept the obligations of being people they are, in effect, demanding to be dehumanized and surrendering the rights they'd be due as people.

I am baffled that they'd WANT this treatment.

Something that's somewhat related...

Once a group is recognized as people, I think it's time to stop talking about it and just behave as if they're people from then on.