As a world, we have a lot of freedom. Relatively speaking, these days we are much more involved in the decision making process in creating laws and choosing who makes those laws. However, every so often it happens that things that we should have a right to get taken away from us. We often fight back with social media and lawsuits, but we so not always win.
A literal example of this phenomenon is Martins Beach in San Matteo County, California. It was bought by a private company in 2008, and the man behind the money has been said to be none other than Vinod Khosla, the multi billionaire cofounder of Sun Microsystems and well known for supporting Eco friendly projects. From then on, visitors to the beach had to pay $5 for access, which although somewhat bothersome to many locals and surfers, was worth it for the beautiful view and amazing waves. However, last year public access to the beach was stopped with a sign that said, “BEACH CLOSED, KEEP OUT.” This enraged locals and surfers, who argued that the beach had been accessible to the public for hundreds of years.
Martins beach. Just beautiful nature.
In my mind, this is an illustration of how private land can often be abused by its owners. Imagine that someone buys a thousand year chateau that was visited by tourists in the South of France. They proceed to knock it down and build an expensive, horrible mansion in its place. That is a thousand of year of history, not to mention the experiences of tourists, gone with one swipe of a wrecking ball. The same goes for Martins Beach. How is it fair for a company, just because it has money, to simply cut people off from experiencing this place?
Another, slightly different example of a violation of people’s common rights, is spreading across America. Many cities are implementing strict laws with regards to homeless people. City governments are attempting to “hide the dirty laundry under the bed,” by banning homeless people from parks, forcing families into overpopulated shelters, and even making it illegal to give food or money to homeless people!
As I see it, this is a double infringement of our rights as human beings. Firstly, homeless people are being treated as if they aren’t human. They are people, and don’t deserve to be treated like filth that needs to be swept up. Besides, banning homeless people from parks really does not do anything. They still need somewhere to go, because as a result of America’s lack of a joblessness net, they have no homes. Instead of attempting to solve the problem, American lawmakers are trying to hide it away. Secondly, as citizens of a country that is supposedly “based on freedom,” people should be able to give homeless people as much food or money as they want. It is as if homeless people are animals, and lawmakers are simply zoo keepers that place a “do not feed” sign in front of their overcrowded cages (I believe most zoos are somewhat unethical as well).
He looks like a person to me.
So, what is to be done about this? Well, firstly I say Tweet away. Use hashtags, tweet at famous people, do everything you can to get your opinions hears. I have a feeling there are many others who feel the same way. Next, try using the internet to write your own laws. Make the existing ones better by posting the current laws and getting people to comment how they would edit them. The internet is the greatest tool to generate awareness. Use it.
Sources:
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Surfers-sue-over-blocked-beach-access-4349486.php#photo-431757…
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/14/feed-the-homeless-pay-the-government
Just a Tumbleweed 