Topic > Equality in the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the Letter from a Birmingham Prison

“Equality, what we stand for” The famous words “The purpose of the law is not to abolish or limit , but to preserve and expand freedom. Because in all states of creatures capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom”, states John Locke, an English philosopher and doctor often called the “father of liberalism”. Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.] and On the Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights implement the concept of freedom. Freedom – an abstract term – has different perspectives usually dependent on the scenario. Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.] by Martin Luther King Jr., has a better composition with concise examples than Eleanor Roosevelt's speech on adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayThe letter from a Birmingham prison [King Jr.], becomes motivated as a result of the constant clash between different races, different ethnicities and different traditions, not embracing each other and not respecting the Constitution, which guarantees freedoms to all people. “Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere […] whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (King, paragraph 4). Martin Luther King Jr. uses Birmingham as an example when he was on the phone and was asked by an individual to “engage in a program of nonviolent direct action if it were deemed necessary” (King, paragraph 2). This implies how the situation of injustice gets worse by the second, minute, hour and day. To effectively spread the message of equal rights for African Americans, they must engage in direct action, the last of the four basic steps of any nonviolent campaign. Throughout this speech, MLK uses many types of rhetoric such as analogies, parallelism, and repetition, in which case there is an increasing presence of “we,” “is not,” and “I.” The word “we” is related to the concept of teamwork while the word “I” is related to theoretical actions possibly performed by Martin Luther King, Jr. himself, while serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Furthermore, the word “is not” describes the scenarios that may be encountered as a consequence of “people's actions, even if peaceful, [since they] must be condemned for accelerating violence” (King, paragraph 21), thus appealing to emotions. Change cannot be implemented by one man and instead requires the effort of a group of people. King also uses the concepts of “just” and “unjust” laws to further strengthen his claim of liberty for all by using parallelism. “A just law is a man-made code that agrees with moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law [...Also] an unjust law it is a code that a numerical majority or power group forces upon a minority group” (King, paragraphs 12-13 ). Therefore, when MLK describes a righteous law as one related to God's standards, he uses parallelism and appeals to logic. It shows that the concept of racism in this context cannot be regarded as right, since God does not agree with it. Throughout his speech MLK uses a passionate tone, showing his concern towards African Americans, the minority group, stating that they lack the freedom provided by the Constitution. In contrast, in On the Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Eleanor Roosevelt presents the The idea of ​​an individual's rights often differs fromrights of a group of people, since once an individual decides to become part of a group, community, state or even nation, sacrifice becomes a necessity as one cannot have everything one could want. This concept of government can relate to the days of the Enlightenment in the early 18th century, where great philosophers such as John Locke arose. In broader terms, Roosevelt's main claim includes that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should be endorsed and used as the basis of human rights and freedom. She states that the Soviet amendments “establish standards that would allow any state to deny virtually all freedom of opinion and expression without violating the article. It introduces the terms “democratic vision,” “democratic systems,” [and] “democratic state”” (Roosevelt, paragraph 5), thus implying that the Soviets do not encourage freedom of choice, and do so in a way where in the case which does not violate any law. During his speech, he uses rhetoric similar to that of Martin Luther King Jr., including parallelism, repetition, and pathos to further his point. In paragraphs 10 and 11 Roosevelt tends to use parallelism, where he states that “this Universal Declaration of Human Rights could become the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere” (Roosevelt, paragraph 11) and “serve as a common standard of fulfillment for all peoples of all nations” (Roosevelt, paragraph 10). The idea of ​​adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) has become prominent as an act of international unity, not bound by moral obligations. Furthermore, Roosevelt incorporated repetition of the word “we” in paragraph 2, in which case he seeks to convey that collectively we can “persuade… [and] ultimately [as a group one] can succeed [when we fight better ahead] ...” (Roosevelt, paragraph 2). During his speech, Roosevelt also uses an objective tone, thus showing his seriousness about the topic at hand and his willingness to see the perspective of others. Both Martin Luther King Jr and Eleanor Roosevelt address the issue of human rights and believe in the immediate need for action. , however, King's speech consists of a copious amount of rhetoric, thus strengthening the claim and leading King to present a stronger argument than Roosevelt. Eleanor does not include sufficient arguments to support her aim, which is to persuade the Assembly to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and rather falls short, without sufficient evidence and elaboration, as she claims that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Humans “may well become the international Magna Carta of men everywhere” (Roosevelt, paragraph 11). His speech can be said to resemble a compare-and-contrast speech when he begins to mention concepts from the Declaration and begins to differentiate himself from the Soviet amendments, and therefore presents a stronger view when it comes to the Declaration itself. In doing so, he only achieved that the Soviets “denied all freedom of opinion and expression” (Roosevelt, paragraph 5) and later used the concept of discrimination to support his claim that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was subject to many provisions, therefore it should be accepted and incorporated into the Constitution. the 58 nations present at the meeting. “The fundamental principle of equality and non-discrimination in public employment is valid, but cannot be accepted without limitations” (Roosevelt, paragraph 8), thus incorporating a literary technique, realism. Finally, King addresses Birmingham's minorities, African Americans and uses copious amounts of allusions throughout his speech, which.