APRIL FOOLS 2008

I thought that this was perhaps an appropriate set of images today- in part because it must make us wonder earnestly who is the joke being played on? (out of respect I have blocked the faces for the sake of anonymity because it all seems like such a bad tastless joke from a-z)



-footnote below: from wikipedia (english)
The term "dignity" is defined as "the state of being worthy of honour or respect" (The Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary, New York, Clarendon Press, 1991, p. 403). When this concept is associated with the adjective "human", it is used to signify that all human beings possess inherent worth and deserve unconditional respect, regardless of age, sex, health status, social or ethnic origin, political ideas, religion, or criminal history. In other words, this respect is owed to every individual by the mere fact that he or she is a "member of the human family" (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, Preamble). This intrinsic worthiness is widely recognized by international law as the source of all human rights. In this respect, both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) of 1966 affirm that human rights “derive from the inherent dignity of the human person”.
At the philosophical level, following Kant, the expression human dignity is used to indicate that persons should always be treated as ends in themselves and never merely as means. Kant presents “dignity” as exactly the opposite of “price”: while “price” is the kind of value for which there can be an equivalent, “dignity” makes a person irreplaceable. Therefore, dignity can be explained as a requirement of non-instrumentalization of persons. According to this anti-utilitarian approach, there is nothing, neither pleasure nor common interest of society or science, nor other good consequences, for which it is morally acceptable to treat persons merely as a means.
---The idea is in some ways controversial, mainly in regard to the question of whether it also applies to human embryos or non-human beings and if not, why. Utilitarian philosophers see a conflict with their principle of equal consideration of interests, and sometimes the idea is criticised as an example of speciesism. Some[attribution needed] see deployment of the term as a vehicle for smuggling religious conceptions of value into otherwise secular public policy debates.[citation needed]
---Human dignity features as the most fundamental principle of the German constitution. Article 1, paragraph 1 reads: "Human dignity is inviolable. To respect and to protect it is the duty of all state authority." Human dignity is thus mentioned even before the right to life. This has a significant impact on German law-making and jurisdiction in both serious and trivial items.
Additional info about the original (top) foto can be found on the contextual texts at SALON.com
Let us also take note that human indignity is perpertrated everywhere. You can read part of a previous entry which includes some examples during the Nazi era but also very recent tragic examples where teenagers are killed by the stae in iran for being nothing more than queer.