[pp.int.general] purpose of manifesto

[Reinier Bakels]

> Beyond all that useless circus, if you think that, why then you talk about 
> author's rights being /natural/ rights?
Sigh ... Because it needs a label - if it is not utilitarian (= roughly the 
US consitution reason). The (alleged) "natural" nature of such rights is 
often related to the ideas of the 17th century philosopher John Locke 
(http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke, in Spanish, for your convenience). 
But critics warn that his theories are so vague that one could easily 
interpret them in 180 degree different ways.

In a political context, "natural" rights relate to the fact that politicians 
basically don't need a reason, they only need a majority! If the argument 
"In my opinion, it is 'X'" is not concincing, they say: "It can't be true 
that it is not 'X'". Isn't that convincing?? Note that the word 'I' is 
eliminated from that sentence, suggesting that it is an objective truth ... 
It is the difference between rhetoric and arguments ...
reinier