Do we still need human rights activists?

Question

Times have changed now. The constitution provides enough rights for the criminals and the people accused in criminal prosecutions.

These days my human rights friends tend to act as apologists for murderers, rapists and end up defending people like Ted Bundy.

Disclaimer: This is not a private correspondence or a personal opinion. It's just a hypothetical question.

Answer 1

You are correct, times have changed and so have the way that society think. I, like you, think that sometimes people end up defending people for the wrong things. I suppose we will always have a need for human rights activists as there will always be something that someone will feel that is worth defending for whatever reason and our lawmakers will continue to slip in things that should not be passed. This is all what makes the world go around and keeps things interesting and stirred up. I just hope and pray that people will stop "reacting" to every little thing and start thinking first and then acting. It might just save lives and make our world a happier place to be.

Answer 2

Yes. Though often times some activists get WAY too zealous. There are times when human rights DOES come back into play. The fact that activists will keep their eyes open for blatant violation often leads to quicker notice of people in the government who break those constitutional laws.

Answer 3

The day there are no human rights activists is the day that we LOSE our constitutional rights. You mention criminals that have been supported by human rights activists (although Ted Bundy is not actually one of them), but you totally forget to mention the hundreds, if not thousands, of INNOCENT people that would be in prison right now if not for human rights activists. And let us not forget the dozens of countries outside of our own that murder and torture their own people. Human rights activists help those people, too, while ensuring that we do not become like them. If you really think that a piece of paper with our "rights" written on it will protect us all by itself, or that our country is completely immune to human rights violations, then you are very naive. We need human rights activists as much as we need doctors and teachers and firemen.

Answer 4

We always need human rights activists, even when all of our rights are safe and secure. There are some that take it too far, like the ACLU, but rest assured there are many more that you don't hear about doing good work.