This outrage at American reactions is terribly hypocritical. Yes, people -- regardless of nationality -- should be upset when they realize their privacy is being grossly violated without cause, by any government.
However, people seem to think Americans should be more concerned about other people's rights than their own, when the real problem is the violation of everyone's rights. Despite this, all anyone is really interested is their own rights, which is quite obvious considering the central complaint here is that Americans are wrapped up in themselves while the rest of the world has the same issue. How is that rational? Your rights are being violated, and that's supposed to matter to me more than the fact that my rights are being violated by my government in the same way? Yes, it's selfish, but it's also self-preservation. If people don't stand up for themselves when they need to, they will not be around to stand up for anyone else later.
Many of us wring our hands at the various European financial crises; many of us worry about North Korea's potential to harm its neighbors; many of us anxiously watch for improvement in Middle Eastern politics. But just like anyone else, when we find out things where we live are worse than we thought, we look inwards to our own problems; that they effect others is terrible, but it's irrational and unreasonable to expect that to be our primary motivation.
I don't think the author is saying "treat my rights as your primary motiviation", nor is he saying "you should be more concerned about other people's rights than your own."
What he is saying is that the American discourse over these violations — violations perpetrated by agencies within America upon as you say everyone's rights — tends to dehumanize anyone who isn't American. It seems that if the NSA had been using their Prism dragnet to target only non-Americans, then there would be no public outcry at all — as if the real outrage is the fact that American citizens might be the target of these blatantly illegal and wide-reaching abuses of power.
Perhaps, as you say, this is simply the American public "looking inwards" to it's own problems, but I'd argue that this is not your own problem. It's everyone's problem, and we all deserve equal treatment.
No, no one thinks that Americans should be concerned more with other people's rights than their own. We think that Americans should be concerned by something more than only the rights of Americans. What pisses us off is that the biggest excuse in the whole prism debacle is that they don't spy on Americans. And then debate circles around if it is true that only Americans are spied on or not. Very few question the validity of the fundamental idea that it is perfectly alright to spy on all non-Americans.
This is the heart of the matter: the nation state is an unfit instrument in a globalized economy. We need to move towards a one-nation planet with equal protection under the law for all human beings, as well as equal obligations.
I'm just not sure how the voting system should work, because current voting systems mostly produce poor results.
I am reminded of Childhood's End where humanity is forced to grow up under alien guidance. Somehow we need to figure out a way to grow up as a species in a similar way.
Perhaps its because our rights (as foreigners) are not being recognised at all. One thing is to violate whilst recognising, the other is to just not recognise (in which case no violation exists).
what you're missing (are you american?) is that most countries generally don't make the distinction between their own people and others. laws typically apply to everyone.
sure, but when something happens like the recent GCHQ scandal in the uk, people don't get angry because "the english" are being tapped. they get angry because "people" are being tapped.
there's not the same enshrined "us v them" attitude that you see so often in american countries.
really, it's a thing. americans come off as extremely insular.
However, people seem to think Americans should be more concerned about other people's rights than their own, when the real problem is the violation of everyone's rights. Despite this, all anyone is really interested is their own rights, which is quite obvious considering the central complaint here is that Americans are wrapped up in themselves while the rest of the world has the same issue. How is that rational? Your rights are being violated, and that's supposed to matter to me more than the fact that my rights are being violated by my government in the same way? Yes, it's selfish, but it's also self-preservation. If people don't stand up for themselves when they need to, they will not be around to stand up for anyone else later.
Many of us wring our hands at the various European financial crises; many of us worry about North Korea's potential to harm its neighbors; many of us anxiously watch for improvement in Middle Eastern politics. But just like anyone else, when we find out things where we live are worse than we thought, we look inwards to our own problems; that they effect others is terrible, but it's irrational and unreasonable to expect that to be our primary motivation.