Spartacus and Human Rights

Every human right included in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights was shown as abused in the movie Spartacus. Being slaves, they were forced to work without a good amount of pay in very difficult conditions. The slaves had no rights before the law. Slaves had to work while they were weak and starving. The slaves didn’t have freedom of expression, right to education, right of movement, and association. Women slaves were used mainly for their sexual abilities. The list goes on and on. Though the movie is fictional, it does shed light upon what life might have been like as a slave in around 80 BC and the human rights abuses during that time. With the Romans breaking nearly all that which is defined as human rights, one might wonder if they, or anyone at that time, believed in human rights—and if they did not believe, then did they actually have human rights?

Though this question might have some wondering about, I have been enlightened to see the answer profoundly clear: of course they had human rights! To say otherwise would to be to either claim that they were not human or to say that human rights are nothing more than a creative illusion. I think I can safely assume that the majority of wonderers would choose the latter. If the concept of human rights is a creative illusion, than we have no business compelling others to accept it. Yet by definition, human rights was endowed to us a species. It does not matter when or where the human was/is or what the human believes—or what I believe for that matter, all humans at all times have rights simply because of their humanity. It is upon this robust foundation, that we are empowered to claim such rights and to empower others to do the same. Those who say that the concept of human rights is created by our belief in it being true are wondering in the darkness of a cave.