Why are Rights of the individual stressed, proclaimed and even used to cry foul?

Question

ABRIDGED
Where nuances based on cultures vary between group and individual (Lee P..), only the individual matters. (Jonni..) Individual rights are exclusive to Americans and the rest of the English speaking world, ranging from the good to the ugly. (Justi..)

Answer 1

Because individual rights are considered extremely important in American and in the rest of the English speaking world.

For example:
- The U.S. Government allows pornography in nearly every form, even when pornography has been proven to break up marriages. The Freedom of Speech (or in this case, the Freedom to Look at Dirty Pictures) is so important that we'd rather have broken families than a small restriction on our First Ammendment rights.

- Multiple studies have shown that it's more dangerous to talk on your cel-phone while driving than it is to drive drunk. These studies also show that tens of thousands of people die every year in cel-phone related car accidents. Why won't the government lift a finger to save tens of thousands of lives every year? Because it might restrict our individual rights.

Answer 2

Why? No particular reason. In some cultures, the rights of the group are stressed, in others the rights of the individual, and in others somewhere in between.

Answer 3

Because the individual, you and me, should and do have rights.

Do you want to give up your rights ? I don't. OK?

Yours;
Jonniel