I think it's good to have more people talk about this kind of thing. I sort of feel like without a big national enemy that stands in stark opposition to these ideals, the idea of liberal democratic values sort of just became culturally hegemonic where most people passively agree with them, but not really have any understanding of why they're important or form a real ideological commitment to them. The result is that now they often feel like they're under attack from the far left and far right (sometimes with the help of propaganda from illiberal governments) and a lot of people don't have the mental framework to push back against that, which really is a problem because liberal democracy to some extent only works when people broadly believe in it.

@Pan_Z

20 күн бұрын

External threats hold societies together. Look at President George W. Bush's approval ratings after 9/11. They hit as high as 90%. Not sure if this is a strength or a weakness of the species, but it is a unifying behaviour nonetheless.

@thomasprat7760

Күн бұрын

The USA famously only overthrew the governments of illiberal democracies and only replaced them with liberal dictatorships! Long live American backed liberal dictatorships that oppose any kind of leftism!

This is the most JJ video title 😂😂

@dejankulusexy4472

22 күн бұрын

never change JJ

@KGBSpyGeorgeCostanza

22 күн бұрын

Love to Djibouti from Russia 🇩🇯 🇷🇺 🇩🇯 🇷🇺

@Marylandbrony

22 күн бұрын

I thought it would “Quebec hates Mario and exercise balls, an award winning video”

@Nerfyboy800

22 күн бұрын

"Midcentury liberalism" sounds so boring that if it was anyone other than JJ I'd ignore the video completely

@RegnumHungariae

22 күн бұрын

Why do they record you on yak baks?

Many people wonder what JJ's political inclinations were, I think this is the clearest you can get it lmao

@nartnugget

22 күн бұрын

what do you mean?

@_xeere

22 күн бұрын

I'm still wondering. He doesn't say much of anything personal in this video.

@johntr5964

22 күн бұрын

I know J.J. self-identifies as a conservative, but by European standards at least, he is closer to classical liberalism: a support for the free market and civil/social liberties, together with a somewhat defensive position towards overall political/social/fiscal reform. Somewhat closer to John Locke’s ideas (which, to tell the truth, also inspired the modern moderate conservative movement as well).

@Hemalkukurkure

22 күн бұрын

@@johntr5964 yeah, in modern standards that is conservative

@johntr5964

22 күн бұрын

@@Hemalkukurkure sure, although I’d be highly skeptical about many modern western European/North American conservatives wanting to protect civil and social rights….

If I had to guess, the right to a nationality probably has to do in part with statelessness. Remember that part of the repression Jews endured in Germany was the stripping of citizenship. Being stateless basically means you have no legal recourse.

@dungeoneerofphilosophyphd172

20 күн бұрын

I think it has far more to do, just as the man and woman making a family right, with the fact that it's a doctrine upholding the predominant ideology of the nation state which Europe holds as sacred. The same ideology which justified their endless colonialism. I mean, to use your own example, just look at how Zionists use this line today to deny a nation to one people in order to preserve their own.

@occam7382

20 күн бұрын

Yeah, that's almost certainly what they meant. ...Could've used some clarification, though.

@Hwje1111

19 күн бұрын

Essentially being stateless means that you are outside the law, as in outlawed, and you can suffer all sorts of atrocities and nobody will aid you.

@williaminnes6635

19 күн бұрын

(sign of the crescent to ward off the evil eye of the algorithm) There was an old conversation I had on social forever ago where it was Tea Partiers on the one hand and then nonAmericans mostly looking in due to curiosity where this one German guy chimed in that the way, for decades, that the gun rights thing had been taught in Germany was that gun rights were seen as a component of citizenship rights during the Weimar Republic and German Empire, and that it was in the context of removing all citizenship rights from some classes of people that their disarmament was justified. A big chunk of why that whole explanation has been evaporating would seem to me to have been the increase in consequences for Holocaust denial, combined with the increase in the scope of what is considered to be Holocaust denial, meaning the best way to avoid getting tarred as a Holocaust denier is simply to omit absolutely all mention of it. Now, the Holocaust is ancient history, and in modern times, the Jewish ethnostate has nuclear weapons, an iron strong lobby, and the best foreign intelligence service in the world, so, if that's a set of discussions that are off limits, then there is no practical impact. Besides, the pattern following the adoption of the various standards where people agreed that trying to eliminate an ethnic group due to the various atrocities of the Second World War wasn't never again, it was again and again. The value of using inductive reasoning to identify a genocide happening which grew out of the initial attempt to describe how the Holocaust had happened and how it could be avoided in the future has clearly been zero. The salient point here is not that the Holocaust needs to be discussed - it doesn't, QED there is no probable positive practical object in rubbing those scars - but more that clearly enough, when something is positioned as an absolute moral evil to the point that all interrogation of it is verbotten, the next move is to suppress its discussion. Hence why the gender and carbon things need the yeet.

I think one of the greatest parts of the US is how the Bill of Rights is explicitly stated in the constitution. Many countries recognize similar rights but don’t necessarily see them as law.

@peterroberts4415

22 күн бұрын

Hate speech is free speech. Places like the UK, Germany, and Canada may claim to espouse free speech but they don't

@williaminnes6635

22 күн бұрын

@@peterroberts4415 Canada is mostly dragged down by the secularists.

@oliviastratton2169

21 күн бұрын

Yes, it is one of our constitution's strongest features.

@EmisoraRadioPatio

15 күн бұрын

And that was thanks to the Antifederalists, who refused to support of the Constitution unless the Federalists agreed to amend the Constitution to include the Bill of Rights.

The Vatican consistently quotes from the UN's Declaration of Fundamental Human rights as an authority. Pope John Paul II called it a "milestone on the long and difficult path of the human race,’ and as ‘one of the highest expressions of the human conscience.' He said that about a secular document!

@maxwellli7057

22 күн бұрын

maybe says more about the roman catholic church post vatican I than it does the UN document

@MyEnemiesLoveDeath

22 күн бұрын

@@maxwellli7057 it probably does. I just found it interesting

@michaelterrell5061

22 күн бұрын

@@maxwellli7057Wait what do you mean? Is it a good or a bad thing?

@DAndyLord

22 күн бұрын

@@michaelterrell5061 You're a grownup, you can decide that for yourself. :)

@TheCatholicNerd

21 күн бұрын

@@maxwellli7057 I think it says more about the fact that the particular pope who said this was from Poland and had to deal with two totalitarian takeovers of his country.

I think saying that Saudi Arabia rejected the UN Decleration because of gender equality is a bit misconstrued. They had the largest slave market in the world at the time in Mecca, and saw slavery as part of their ultra-conservative Islamic way of life. The king owned many slaves. I think this would be a more fundamental conflict of interest problem for them then the status of women at the time.

@nade7242

22 күн бұрын

Saudi Arabia consistently shit

@williaminnes6635

22 күн бұрын

@@nade7242 compared to what?

@JJSmith-hn2sv

22 күн бұрын

Yet the status of women is STILL a sticking point not just in Arabia but in most Islamic countries

@lipingrahman6648

22 күн бұрын

Quite a lot of Muslim states did sign up to it then. The Wahhabist evil has over the generations spread like a cancer.

@atomiclight8574

22 күн бұрын

Also the whole democracy thing

A great video as always! I would've also included the European Convention on Human Rights, adopted in 1950, which unlike the other documents you included is actually enforceable, via the European Court of Human Rights. It's completely separate from (and was established before) the EU, includes many of the rights listed here (such as the right to an interpreter during a trial), and new rights have been added to it over the years, e.g. rights to property, education, free elections, and the abolition of the death penalty.

@JJMcCullough

22 күн бұрын

Does it have a poster??

@matthewmccallion3311

22 күн бұрын

@@JJMcCullough Excellent question! I haven't been able to find one, other than unofficial ones summarising the rights. A proper poster is definitely something the others do much better

@valleyshrew

22 күн бұрын

The ECHR allows 20 years in prison for blasphemy. Turkey is a member, and Russia only left in 2022, to show you how great its human rights standards are. All western European countries have far higher standards on their own and would be better off leaving the ECtHR since now it mainly serves to protect terrorists. Same with the ICJ/ICC which have been hijacked by anti-west extremists and all decent nations should leave them ASAP.

@night6724

22 күн бұрын

The European Court of Human Rights is awful. Also why abolish the death penalty?

@williaminnes6635

22 күн бұрын

Europe is a thing without which the world would be a better place.

JJ bringing the Canadian Heritage Minute to the masses

Sometimes it bugs me when partisan activists take an approach of “the rights I want are inviolable and obvious (even if it’s not explicitly stated, like abortion in US), but rights you want (like guns in US) are debatable”

@garrett8707

21 күн бұрын

It comes down to what you value. With the examples you gave, it’s do you truly value life, or do you value policing and self protection.

@willb.nimble6749

20 күн бұрын

So, before the bill of rights, none of our rights were stated. It's clear that rights can exist that are not stated. So, to state that one is more or less debatable isn't really true. Both can be debated. Once you get to the debate though, you get different levels of what's considered sacred. OF course there will be people who say that abortion isn't debatable because it's their own body, or something along those lines. While the gun is a tool. It's not dangerous alone, but it's not something that's we're all either born with or without. The right to carry it we're born with in America, but we can have a debate of if we can ever lose it, and what it would take to get it back. There are plenty of tools that require a license or training to use, and then with a gun, we have no mandatory training. But then, who's making the list and the requirements, and what stops them from being prohibitive? Truly a monumental task to do through legislation alone.

I think the physical presentation of the Freedom Foundation's tenets as two stone slabs, the first of which being about worshipping God, is a little on the nose lol

@chickenfishhybrid44

22 күн бұрын

Doesn't the term "on the nose" generally imply irony or something to that affect? I honestly assume they did this on purpose

@rkt7414

22 күн бұрын

@@chickenfishhybrid44 “ 'On the nose' is a pretty common phrase which means lacking in sub-text, too obvious, having neither subtlety nor sophistication.”

@chickenfishhybrid44

22 күн бұрын

​@rkt7414 right.. my point was they could have knowingly chose this. For it to be "on the nose'

@mohammedsarker5756

22 күн бұрын

considering the climate it was produced in, it was very much intended to be as explicit as possible

@cly_

22 күн бұрын

​@@chickenfishhybrid44the saying applies in the sense that when they chose it they chose the most obvious choice possible

Near the end with the mentioning of the fetishizing of rights and only caring about what rights pertain to them really resonated with me. I keep thinking about the whole "I don't agree with what your are saying but I will fight to defend your freedom to say it" or something along those lines.

Very nice, J.J.! I think you've pointed out, we as democratic societies in North America, have become less concerned with an overall sense of human rights, and more concerned about what affects us personally. Can or should this be rectified? I would hope so. ✌️

@_xeere

22 күн бұрын

They had no concern for an overall sense of human rights back then either. Half the documents described in this video are essentially just rights for straight white able-bodied men. They only made it seem like an "overall sense of human rights" by ignoring all the humans they didn't like.

@StephanieJeanne

22 күн бұрын

@@_xeere I agree about that. It certainly wasn't perfect.

@bobsteve4812

22 күн бұрын

@@_xeereThe issue is today we don’t seem to strive for the ideals laid out, just because those that made them sucked.

@_xeere

22 күн бұрын

@@bobsteve4812 That isn't true. It's just a vague statement about how you don't like the world.

@williaminnes6635

22 күн бұрын

@@bobsteve4812 oh, and the best example, a fucking province passed a law that is a straight up violation of the speech rights of religious minorities. The law was due to pass a PROCEDURAL challenge that it had violated their speech rights the correct way. The federal response, for being made to tell the communities of many of its organizers to go fuck themselves on the fundamental individual right to freedom of speech, was to table a bill plainly intended to be used by those communities' faith leaders to lynch a couple of their critics. Modern liberalism does not just spit on the concept of rights, it defecates on them.

5:32 Funny how out of those 8 countries who voted against the declaration of human rights only the Saudi goverment still exists. South Africa has ended Apartheid. Belarus, Ukraine and Poland have all overthrown their authorotarian goverments. The USSR, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia don't even exist as countries anymore.

@reddykilowatt

21 күн бұрын

not if Putin can help it. 😂

@williaminnes6635

21 күн бұрын

KZread did not like me calling Zelenskyy an authoritarian.

@reddykilowatt

21 күн бұрын

@@williaminnes6635 yeah russian bots arent allowed. 😂

@williaminnes6635

21 күн бұрын

@@reddykilowatt The funny thing is, after month two of that shit show, I told myself I'd tune it out. At this point, I'm not even antiwar any more. Wars for profit are part of the system. After maybe 18 months of listening to Ukraine supporters' shit, I think at this point I would write my MP to ask for Canada to withdraw from NATO if the Russians ever got close to the Vistula, on the grounds of fuck Poland. Ukraine isn't worth a nickel.

@williaminnes6635

21 күн бұрын

@@reddykilowatt so yes, I do shit on Ukraine, and I do not think I will ever not shit on Ukraine.

I love to call myself a liberal in this sense. I believe in freedom and democracy. I attend the Lutheran Church every Sunday. I always vote. I was privileged with a good public education system. I was privileged to live in a country with a market based economic system.

@stpedro-ht9ng

20 күн бұрын

Same here. It's weird looking at so many people who would vote the same way as me in the general election not agreeing on those core points.

@Sebman1113

17 күн бұрын

@@stpedro-ht9ngyup, we are gifted with freedom in this great land of ours and countries with similar systems

I teach classes on American History and American rights. I'm going to include this video as homework in both classes. Thank you!

@EyeLean5280

22 күн бұрын

PS: I totally dig your midcentury design at the outro of the video!

@EyeLean5280

22 күн бұрын

Aw, JJ, I'm sorry I obliterated your "like" by updating my comment to include both my classes. But I did see it in my notifications and really appreciate it. :)

@necroseus

21 күн бұрын

​@@EyeLean5280 It sucks to loose a heart because of editing, yeah, but it is absolutely vital to ensure that someone doesn't use it to frame the creator for liking something heinous.

The “right to work” part is interesting when it is juxtaposed with the right to join a union. Here in the US, “right to work” usually is associated with so-called right-to-work laws which are laws prohibiting employees from being forced to join a union or pay fees to a union. It’s a hot button issue with labor unions here in the US, with unions feeling it creates free riders and workers disliking their money going to unions whose political positions they disagree with.

@longiusaescius2537

21 күн бұрын

RtW laws are good

@jojbenedoot7459

19 күн бұрын

​@@longiusaescius2537eh. They exist to weaken organized labor, which is generally bad for labor as a whole. You might not be paying union dues, but you're making less money anyway

I am renaming my ideologies to Triumphalisms. That is an amazing name :) Awesome video as always JJ., another topic I had no idea about. I do think that there has been a shift from "how you act in a decent society" which my parents constantly pushed at us growing up to less respect or maybe just less value for societal norms or historical elements and more value on individual freedoms. It is certainly interesting and I think the cause of this shift would be interesting to understand. Thank you for this and have a great week!

Always making endlessly interesting content, and I always find myself coming back. Keep up the great work, JJ!

@JJMcCullough

22 күн бұрын

Thanks so much my friend!

Hey JJ, I have been thinking about how cool embassies are and realised that hypothetically at least embassies should be really cool cultural objects with a lot of cool trivia and lore behind them. I think its something that would fit your channel really well!

@occam7382

20 күн бұрын

Some embassies definitely are like it. Others... not so much.

Wouldn't the right to be a citizen of a nation involve dealings with stateless peoples and refugees and such? Seems like it.

@JJMcCullough

22 күн бұрын

I think at the time they were conceptualizing it more in the context of anti-imperialism

This approach of seeing rights as a package is still common in law schools, at least in Latin America. We usually refer to those rights as "indivisible" to bring this idea that you can't have just one without the others. It is also common to separate human rights in "generations" or "dimensions", so 1st generation rights would be civil and political, 2nd generation would be economic and social, 3rd generation would be collective rights and so on... Although, as I said, this is more of a legal approach and I don't know if it is understood this way by lawyers elsewhere.

@williaminnes6635

22 күн бұрын

Curious - which jurisdiction?

@Devil_Dog_98

22 күн бұрын

@@williaminnes6635 Political Science Major here, unless you’re living in an authoritarian regime like Cuba, Venezuela, or Nicaragua; what OP said applies to most countries in South America.

@williaminnes6635

22 күн бұрын

@@Devil_Dog_98 Did I ask the guy who didn't get into law school?

@Devil_Dog_98

22 күн бұрын

@@williaminnes6635 You asked. If you consider the answer worthless, I suggest you get into law school and find out.

@williaminnes6635

22 күн бұрын

@@Devil_Dog_98 "political science major" means you were too stupid for law school

Certainly we can disagree with specific "rights" added, with some genuine rights left out, and even with how some documents ground these rights. However, declaring rights as above government is a noble act. The world would be better if all countries adhered to Lockean and Jeffersonian aspirations.

@dunnowy123

19 күн бұрын

Good luck with that. These rights were never universal lol

@MrAlen6e

18 күн бұрын

" if countries adhere " unfortunately in today's world that's further from ever happening, the UN is constantly undermine

My late grandmother was named after Eleanor Roosevelt. A lot of girls in that era were, and that was before she was the chair of the U.N.'s commission of human rights.

Those Canadian Bill of Rights flyers are actually sick. I wouldn't pay hundreds for one but they're for sure cool

@GrandHoff

17 күн бұрын

You can actually order a copy of both the Bill of Rights and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms from the Canadian government for free, as well as a few other things.

Thanks for giving us digestible takes on such important but under-valued topics, JJ!

Once again, J.J., brilliant. And so very timely. While focused exclusively on the U.S. scene, Richard Rorty's 1998 Achieving Our Country also honors mid- (and early) twentieth century liberalism.

Makes me wonder if a new human rights credo is necessary in the internet age... Should we have a right to digital privacy? Should some speech be forbidden in the digital space? Should an individual be able to block speech they don't like? I don't have the answers, and it may get messy as we try to find them.

@longiusaescius2537

21 күн бұрын

It's not messy at all. you're just too afraid to say you dont believe them

17:51 "do you know who I am? I am John George Diefenbaker, prime minister of Canada and a member of the queen's privy council"

@lucasfonseca3990

21 күн бұрын

And i am the man who serves butter

@occam7382

20 күн бұрын

That's nice; now will you please move? I'm trying to order my Happy Meal.

I was taught in Social Studies that Diefenbaker inspired the Canadian Charter of Rights, actually! My teacher had a picture of the original Bill of Rights on his wall.

I am a courtroom intepreter from Montreal. I never studied law, but, man, was it nice to hear my profession is solidified in the Bill of Rights 😁

The suburbs getting turnt with this one

I applaud J.J's bravery in the overt provocation of the under 30 crowd by making such inflammatory statements such as Communists Are Bad and Rights Are Cool.

@williaminnes6635

22 күн бұрын

I get the vibe J. J. isn't in the best of moods today.

@longiusaescius2537

21 күн бұрын

Hs doesn't believe the first

@williaminnes6635

8 күн бұрын

@@schoolofschrock before the revolution, yes

I like to identify as a Cold War Liberal for a reason

@mohammedsarker5756

22 күн бұрын

Scoop Jackson Democrat?

@uncouver

22 күн бұрын

Catholic or Protestant Liberal?

@trombonegamer14

22 күн бұрын

I've always liked New Deal Democrat, though that's not exactly how I'd describe myself

@chrisbrass8930

22 күн бұрын

I think the proper term in Vogue these days is "traditional liberal" or maybe in some circles "Bill Maher liberal"

@jimmyjones8676

22 күн бұрын

So civil liberties in one hand and deathsquads in the other?

As a long term JJ viewer - probably his best video ever! He does a great job of distilling a complex subject into a 20 minute video. OK - it helps that I'm probably close to him politically. Intrinsically a conservative, but I recognise that nothing stays still, and shouldn't. We need change, but with minimal disruption to people's lives. We need people of a more liberal bent to demand these changes, but we don't want them to be the ones to make them!

Excellent video as always. In my view, mid-century liberalism (post WW2; post New Deal but before Watergate) was likely the halcyon days for modern liberalism. Things started to shift post Nixon and that shift was accelerated when the Information Age commenced. Definitely award worthy video.

A sequel about the multiple post war european constitutions with new rights (france 46, german fundamental law and the ECHR) would be cool!

@williaminnes6635

22 күн бұрын

ha after this comment section I don't think that is very likely

I like how you positioned that North America politics was dominated by a "Classical Lberal" view no matter which party in which country. Gives me comfort because though I am Conservative I see myself as a more Classical or in Cdn Terms Laurier Liberal (he being on of my favourite PM's I am curious what would you see as the Claassical Liberal view today is it anywhere. I would think a Libertarian Party if it wasn't so rooted in a poipulist point of view might be the answer.

@JJMcCullough

21 күн бұрын

I think Biden is basically one.

@longiusaescius2537

21 күн бұрын

Look at my anglophones dawg, they think killing free speech is classically liberal

Hey JJ, great video, I would love to see you do a video about BC politics or premiers, as I feel like the politics of individual provinces are often overlooked.

I really enjoyed this video! Thank you 😊

We need to get back to our roots as members of the human family. And the universal rights we all enjoy.

@AyranAncap1087

21 күн бұрын

This statement reeks of egalitarianism

@marcello7781

21 күн бұрын

​@@AyranAncap1087 hundred times better than reeking of authoritarianism and inherited hierarchies.

@longiusaescius2537

21 күн бұрын

@@marcello7781 one actually existed

@longiusaescius2537

21 күн бұрын

Nice strain bro

@AyranAncap1087

20 күн бұрын

@@marcello7781 hierarchy is natural and good, “all men created equal” is an enlightenment lie

Great video! I bargain with employers regularly as a non-union building trades employee. Love the content!

@dl2839

22 күн бұрын

What do you think of "right to work" laws?

@AmbassaJer

13 күн бұрын

@@dl2839 I believe everybody has the right to create productivity that they can sell.

@AmbassaJer

13 күн бұрын

@@dl2839 further, in regards to American right to work laws, what is a union but another nepotistic institution between a worker and her profit of labor? Of course every person should have a very clear right to associate or not with whichever club they choose. Mandatory membership is basically fascism

I'm a very mid century values type of guy and a proponent of the Great Books.Movement. im currently reading the plays of Sophocles in the Great Books of the Western world so i really liked this video, im always interested to get your prospective on things jj.

@longiusaescius2537

21 күн бұрын

French and Dutch names?

@MarcBienenfeld

21 күн бұрын

No, Sophocles was from ancient Greece

My high school economics teacher had a poster of the Canadian Bill of Rights in his classroom, so I was surprised to learn how obscure it is

I Think that maybe the question of the attribution of "the most parts of the work" in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN is something that every other country that have participated in the redaction claim as their. In France we tend to say that it was mostly René Cassin, 69 Nobel Peace Price and man of many talent that have done the most, including the choice to say it is an "Universal" declaration and not just an "international" one. We tend even to connect that with the old Declaration of Human and Citizen Right from 1789 but clearly the UN Declaration was a collective and international effort. René Cassin is still a great character nontheless

@JJMcCullough

22 күн бұрын

No Cassin was just a liar. This is well-documented. His involvement was minimal and the French government actively and consciously constructed a myth to exaggerate his importance.

@teofanucesari

22 күн бұрын

@@JJMcCullough I never knew that. In fact I just check in english speaking sources and in the Encyclopedia Britanica they say that his role in the first draft was far less important than annonced compared to that of Humpfrey. But his contribution to Midcentury Liberalism could also be found in the European Human Right Convention and his legacy to the France Libre Governement and the post-war France restoration of right after the dark hour of Vichy. (René Cassin is the founder of my School were I studied International Relations) Have you good recomandations of source concerning his involvement and how France tried to put him on the spotlight ? Good video by the way, as always

@JJMcCullough

22 күн бұрын

@@teofanucesari check out the human rights book I cite in the video description

Hey! Its the guy from the skytrain! Good meeting you irl!

A series of human rights conventions have been directly incorporated into Norwegian law. The Human Rights Acts of 1999, Section 2 states: "The following conventions shall have the force of Norwegian law insofar as they are binding for Norway" then lists five such conventions. It then states in Section 3 that the provisions of these conventions "shall take precedence over any other legislative provisions that conflict with them". (While the UN Declaration is not among them, the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights, is). In 2014, as a part of a bicentennial "makeover" of the Norwegian Constitution, §92 was added, which says in part: "The authorities of the State shall respect and ensure human rights as they are expressed [...] in the treaties concerning human rights." The Constitution itself then gives a list of rights. A neat one, I think, is §97, which explicitly states: "No law must be given retroactive effect." This one was actually in the original 1814 Constitution. That the retroactivity of laws is understood as directly relating to human rights, is interesting.

Love this video!

Wanted to give you a like and comment for the algorithm gods. I must confess I'm not exactly in the best head space to offer a nuanced opinion on the state of politics and where I fear we're headed, I hope you aren't offended J.J. I always enjoy your videos and have an immense respect for your ability to remain rational and even-tempered what talking about potentially partisan topics. Even I don't reply to a given topic you cover with an indepth response, what you say does stay with me and I do meditate on your conclusions.

There is also the international law that you can't make someone stateless. Terrorists who were dual citizens of Australia and NZ had their citizenship taken away by Australia, so NZ had to take them in

@williaminnes6635

22 күн бұрын

That one's funny because the famous abuse of the trans Tasman agreement was allegedly by Australian coward Brenton Tarrant.

@rubeniscool

21 күн бұрын

Except they can make you stateless and they do. Shamima Begum was made stateless after being groomed into joining Isis as a 15 year old Bride. The British govt claimed she had Bangladeshi/British dual citizenship but this was not the case; Bangladesh didn't recognise her as a citizen. Went to court, didn't matter: She's now stateless. What's worse is that there's pretty certain suspicion that the person who groomed her was an undercover Canadian, secret service or something.

@williaminnes6635

21 күн бұрын

@@rubeniscool yeah that one felt like they were baiting UK public opinion into weakening UK citizenship even more than it was all ready.

@longiusaescius2537

21 күн бұрын

@@rubeniscool I wish

JJ never fails to find random gold from history 😎

Nice video and an important topic. Documents written over 60 years ago will feel antiquated in parts, but, in their way, the authors of these documents were trying to make things better.

Eleanor has a great Mid-Atlantic

Love JJ mentioning Ireland!!

The reference to Ireland's 'family' constitutional article, omitted to mention that a recent attempt by the 'progressive' government to remove it was heavily defeated in a referendum. So actually, as it turned out, not that contentious ideas after all.

@occam7382

20 күн бұрын

The actual article itself doesn't seem to be much of a problem, but having some exta legislation to clarify it would be pretty useful.

The referenda in Ireland failed by the largest margin of any referenda in the state's history. So much so that they would have failed even if they had the same turnout as the abortion and gay marriage referenda and every extra vote voted in favour.

@brian1206

22 күн бұрын

Yeah, chiefly due to general anti-government sentiment and scaremongering

@night6724

22 күн бұрын

Ireland’s referendum process to amend the constitution is astronomically stupid

@reddykilowatt

21 күн бұрын

they’re always after me Lucky Charms! ☘️🧝

@longiusaescius2537

21 күн бұрын

Democracy as long as they make the right choice, classic Anglo Candiana

Great video mid-century liberalism was the peak of the concept of liberalism. Since the 60s it's all turned into me and I rather than what is best for people to flourish in. I really wish the idea of calling the American first 10 amendments the bill of rights had never happened. After all, it isn't a bill of rights, it is a list of restrictions on the US government. There is a lot of congress shall not and associated/similar phrases in it. The constitution was how the government should be structured and operated, and the 10 amendments were a collar and leash to restrict the power of those who have evil ambitions.

@Jonas_M_M

22 күн бұрын

You have rights as consequence of natural law, so constitutional rights should reflect that and protect you from governent infridging on them. The government cannot give you something you already haven, or else is a authoritarian interpretation which modernliberals have adopted

@jds1275

22 күн бұрын

@@Jonas_M_M Umm, I know that. That doesn't counter what I said.

@night6724

22 күн бұрын

The post WWII period was awful and liberalism is a failure

good premise, don't let mccarthyism rain on your parade

@AyranAncap1087

21 күн бұрын

McCarthy was right

@stanisawzokiewski3308

21 күн бұрын

"mccarthyism" is a myth. The soviet union was a hostile power, and did emply espionage during the cold war.

@entimomenti7055

21 күн бұрын

​@@AyranAncap1087care to explain? Also you mispelled Aryan

@Jabberwockybird

21 күн бұрын

Does the situation with the video kind of proove McCarthy was right? The evil communist governments didn't sign the declaration of human rights. And then they yadda'd some excuse about preventing facists by being a strict facist government.

@jeffslote9671

21 күн бұрын

McCarthy was correct and should have been praised

@JJ - another great video. What you said about people picking and choosing rights in today's age really resonated with me. I found "Freedom of expression" and "Freedom of speech" have really been the biggest political ping pong ball in my lifestime. To your point it is this basic right that has been co-opted by either side of the political spectrum to suit their specific needs in the moment. The Bush post-9/11 years saw the political right angrily shoting down anyone who was deemed to be "anti-American." The polticial left of the time cried free speech and also tended to make and produce media which pushed the envelope of what was acceptbile culturally speaking . The rise of cancel culture and "woke politics" in the 2010s saw the political Left "cancel" those who did not fit within their idelogocal prism in some cases invoking the law to limit what their polticial opponents could and could not openly discuss. It was generally the polticial right in this case that made "freedom of speech" their ralllying cry. I naively thought that the pedulum would never swing back, but since October 7, 2023 it seems as if the polticial right is once again censoring those who would speak negaitvely regarding the State of Israel and the ongoing crisis in Gaza, a sort of throwback to the Bush post 9/11 years. Admittedly, this topic is still developing. To your point @JJ, rights today (since the Golden Age of Midcentury liberalism) seem to be cynically invoked to suit one's political needs and less so as an omnibus postitive in and of themself.

Crazy how politics now spin human rights, healthcare for one, as a bad thing

@longiusaescius2537

21 күн бұрын

It doesnt exist

Back in these days, left or right could always agree on those guaranteed freedoms and rights. Nowadays, they are sometimes up for debate on hot topic issues like immigration and climate change. That's scary and quite ignorant of the recent history.

@zjzr08

22 күн бұрын

I will say I don't get why environment discussions is a partisan issue - protecting nature doesn't conflict any religion from what I know and humanists also agree with it too.

@emkultra2349

21 күн бұрын

what rights are being talked about getting rid of in the name of climate change????

@chatboss000

21 күн бұрын

Maybe because you don't actually scrutinize 'back in those days' that deeply. Agreement in principle rarely plays out in fact. "Separate but equal" on its face sounds liberal and then you see the condition of the white vs colored water fountains of thr Jim Crow era and realize how much the political establishment cared about equality at that time.

@lajya01

21 күн бұрын

@@emkultra2349 Some hardcore environmentalists are into democracy denial to prevent "unpopular" measures to be defeated in elections and are over apologetic of the Chinese type of government.

@NineNoRouge

21 күн бұрын

Segregation being a topic conservatives and liberals agreed on is news to me.

While this is a very "feel good" kind of nostalgia, it's worth pointing out that it triggered reactionary groups in my very southern part of the United States to reject the concepts of UN and form an ultra nationalist "Americanism" that fed imperialism, anti-secularism, and anti-humanism. They claimed that WW II was to defeat other nations and not their political philosophy. The "John Birch" society was prominently referenced when I was growing up in the South as well as "Americanism" whatever that means! I identified very early with the "counter culture" because of this ignorantly hypocritical leaning.

@williaminnes6635

22 күн бұрын

See, you guys still had the puff to have that kind of a reaction. We didn't. Secularization slit the throat of Canada as a nation, by Benedict Anderson definition, and nothing has replaced it ever since. I think the only reason it was even allowed to get going in the first place was because majoritarian Protestants were low key bummed out by full on decolonization. Most of Ireland quit in the 1920s, and India quit in the 1940s, but India quitting just meant we got to be number one at something for a change. It was when all that pink started to get removed from the new maps that I suspect there was an instinct just to sit down. Had it not been for that loss of puff, I like to imagine that prick Jean Lesage would have got his ass kicked, with about as much hesitation as the Malayan colonial authorities kicked the shit out of the chicoms immediately prior to decolonization in what would become Malaysia and Singapore. 'course the bandaid only came off in 2015, after over a decade of getting blasted by the War on Terror. We definitely lost that one.

@williaminnes6635

22 күн бұрын

Not to come off like I live in the days of my grandfather, of course. I've done my mourning for what was.

@longiusaescius2537

21 күн бұрын

JBS was comunist

Great video!

Awesome video!

"Nationality" and "citizenship" are not synonymous, and we see this in Canada. So-called "First Nations" sometimes comprise a tribe of only a few hundred people in a few families, but they have a shared ethnic (genetic), cultural, and linguistic heritage. The Quebecois constitute a nation within Canada on the same grounds. Someone does not step on magic soil and transform into a member of a different nation, nor does the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen granting citizenship act as a wizard's wand.

@DaDARKPass

22 күн бұрын

nationality and citizenship should be synonymous. Those who try to justify nationalities via culture or ethnic or lignuistic heritage hold countries back. If you have Canadian citizenship, you are automatically Canadian - any claims against that are attempts to take the world backwards into dividing people by ethnicity and linguistics.

@maksymiliansmiech6093

22 күн бұрын

@@DaDARKPass You are just blind to reality. Nations are not abstract federation of people who happens to be in one place and one law( slaves or serves in imperies as well can be under one ruler) . Without shared culture, language and values community cannot survive any hardship( especially democratic community)

@DaDARKPass

22 күн бұрын

@@maksymiliansmiech6093 America. Enough said.

@merrymachiavelli2041

22 күн бұрын

I think this is perhaps a slight misuse of the word nationality - what you're describing to me is ethnicity. Ethnic groups are extended kinship groups of humans who share a common culture and, crucially, heritage. One of the defining things about ethnicity is continuity with the past - to a Hungarian, Árpád leading the Magyar tribes to conquer the Carpathian Basin was something that happened to _their_ people, _their_ ancestors. Any sentiment that begins with 'my people did this...' or 'in my culture....' is usually invoking an ethnic identity. You can't really _become_ an ethnicity - if even if I moved to South Korea, became a Korean citizen, spoke fluent Korean and became an expert in Korean history, they'd always be a sense in which I wasn't fully Korean. Adoptees are the semi-exception that proves the point - for trans-racial or trans-ethnic adoptees, 'learning their roots' is something that gets stressed quite a lot. It's tribal, but there are deep-seated evolutionary reasons we care who we're related to. That being said, nationality is slightly different. Nationality is about political community. It's a political, ideological concept that varies depending the country. There are many countries which are multi-ethnic, where affiliation with specific ethnic group/s is not a prerequisite to be a fully member of a political community. Most Western countries are like this - you truly do not have to be English to be British, nor are African Americans perceived as being less 'American' - even by people who aren't remotely progressive. In an North American context, there are newer ethnicities - Quebecois are one, others might be Amish, or Mormons (esp. Utah Mormons who have been in the Church for generations). African Americans are also an example, (although it's thought of as a racial group, there are many shared identifiers that a fresh-of-the-boat Nigerian does not share). I guess my point is that being can become a nationality, you just can't really _become_ an ethnicity, and it varies from country to country how important that distinction is.

@constantinethecataphract5949

22 күн бұрын

​@@DaDARKPass Pls check your testosterone levels. No human with normal hormonal level would think something like that.

My man JJ wearing an American flag t-shirt. Just let him move to here, already!

Most jj video to ever jj

Simpler times in many ways. As you suggest, the concept of rights now is less idealistic and aspirational and instead is much more fluid, controversial and combative in many ways.

Regarding the Second Amendment, Many people did not give it a lot of attention because the threat to self-defense did not exist in such a pronounced fashion as it does now. It's quite telling also that a so-called list of freedoms does not include the right to self-defense.

@jacobandrews2663

22 күн бұрын

1. Because America's gun-obsessed culture seems pretty nuts to most nations. 2. Because empirically speaking, America's overall attitudes towards gun ownership have resulted in disproportionately more deaths than in any other developed country. Edit: Separated the points

@JJMcCullough

22 күн бұрын

After world war 2 there was not a lot of interest in coming up with reasons for people to use violence against each other.

@chickenfishhybrid44

22 күн бұрын

​@jacobandrews2663 Good for most nations. These are clearly American centric concepts, hence "American creedo". Cope about it

@jacobandrews2663

22 күн бұрын

@chickenfishhybrid44 You sure you replied to the right person?

@yuhboijosiah8083

22 күн бұрын

​@@jacobandrews2663 Should good people not be allowed to defend themselves from immediate crime? Most of America's crime is caused by demographic minorities that would make the country's gun crime on par with northern Europe if they disappeared. M4ricon

I think that it is just as important to understanding midcentury liberalism to look at things like the Second Bill of Rights or Economic Bill of Rights that outline what rights a person has within the economic sphere. Out of that we got the universal healthcare of most countries that now have it as well as the continuation of social welfare programs that had started to alleviate the same economic crisis that directly led to the rise of the Third Reich.

This was definitely a great video. but I thought you would include mentions of the "Second Bill of Rights" (1944) or the "Saskatchewan Bill of Rights" (1947), both important antecedents for the UN bill of rights.

@JJMcCullough

21 күн бұрын

I can assure you that no one was thinking about the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights

I would love to see a video of you discussing Alberta or the validity of a “Prairie” identity in Canada. Im very curious to hear your thoughts on regional identities in Canada.

Brilliant analysis ❤

Elle or Rosevelt has such a British sounding accent, reminds me of your video on accents.

@EnigmaticLucas

22 күн бұрын

Transatlantic accent. At the time, well-off Americans sent their kids to boarding schools, where they would be taught to speak like that. It wasn’t how anyone naturally spoke; it was an affectation.

@DRL1320

22 күн бұрын

No. This is wrong.

Thanks!

so interesting, ive often thought that we Americans aren't chauvinistic enough about our freedoms and accomplishments, always so much pessimism and defeatism

@JJMcCullough

6 күн бұрын

I agree. But like I said, I think it’s important to celebrate ALL freedoms

Fix the typo in the description when you can JJ, you put “A lot” when you presumably meant “A look”.

Not an original insight, but I think we Americans have seen how contingent most defenses of free expression are, now that hitherto censorious conservatives have been excluded from the mainstream and the hitherto open-minded progressives have SO much cultural and institutional power. And my friends in NYC have this attitude of I don't have guns and don't know anyone who does, so really how important of a "right" is it? And back home where we got off school for first day of deer hunting season, I hear some people like: those damn libz back east who'd rather drink lattes than get their hands dirty, they can't even fathom that gun rights are the foundation of the entire system. So myopic.

@ethanwarren5258

22 күн бұрын

This is SO true. As a left-leaning young person (early 20s) it has been extremely politically disillusioning to see progressives trip over themselves to censor conservatives when given half a chance While, at the same time, right-wing defences of "Free speech" ring hollow knowing that these were the same people telling us that if we had "Nothing to hide" we shouldn't worry about our rights to privacy.

@bobsteve4812

22 күн бұрын

‘Gun rights are the foundation’ is a rather very extreme, and recent, take to have, hence why it has always been controversial. No other country, free or otherwise, would believe such a thing, America being one of them until the 1990s.

@tylerkochman1007

22 күн бұрын

I think that’s a rather anecdotal insight. Not all coastal or big city liberals are anti-gun or indifferent on gun ownership. Some left leaning urban and suburbanites are rather avid gun owners. My counter-anecdote: my most avid gun owning relatives are also some of my most politically liberal relatives (and they live in the Chicago area and the Connecticut suburbs of NYC). One of them is a literal blue-haired-liberal and is somehow also one of the most ANTI gun regulation people that I know.

@melissamarsh2219

22 күн бұрын

You realise that outside of America no one thinks like this?

@bobsteve4812

21 күн бұрын

@@melissamarsh2219 Exactly this, it’s really extreme and seems to suggest all the other free countries aren’t really free because they strictly regulate guns.

The Irish referendum to amend Section 41 (about protections to the marital family) went with 67% "No" so it's only controversial if you're the establishment who started the process.

@hucklebucklin

21 күн бұрын

Where is the man/woman family section? You do the Irish Constitution protects gay marriage as is? 😅 the amendment was comically vague anyway as there was no description of what a "durable relationship" is and the government for some baffling reason didn't want to write the legislation to define it (probably because they rushed both referenda through) so expected people to say "yes" without knowing what they were signing up for.

@NauticalMongoose

21 күн бұрын

@@hucklebucklin Oops, I got the details wrong on the attempt to amend Section 41. Will edit.

A Canadian wearing an American flag shirt hits so different.

Back when liberalism was liberal.

@longiusaescius2537

21 күн бұрын

Before the mask fell?

@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish

21 күн бұрын

@@longiusaescius2537 before the commies skinned them and wore it.

@williaminnes6635

20 күн бұрын

@@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish Bingo.

The right to bear arms can still fall under the right to own property.

@Jay_Johnson

22 күн бұрын

There were plenty that argued the right to own people fell under the right to own property.

@goldspartan4858

22 күн бұрын

@Jay_Johnson Well that's not the same. People are not property. A gun is not a person.

@zjzr08

22 күн бұрын

​@@goldspartan4858I'm kinda concerned with this because it becomes open for debate if animal rights activists say animals aren't property IMO.

@williaminnes6635

20 күн бұрын

@@goldspartan4858 Y'know, closet commie that he was notwithstanding, MLKJ was big on the Second Amendment.

I literally was checking to see if I miss the video. 😂

I believe that you can still order different sizes of poster of both The Bill and The Charter. I ordered large and small posters of each for my kids. They're free. At least the last time I checked. Just say that they are for educational purposes. Of course, that was before COVID, when the government still wanted us to remember that we had protected rights. Maybe they've suspended the program now that rights are considered more as suggestions or nice-to-haves.

Who could've guessed that the Soviet Union would've voted against basic human rights?

@_TriGN

22 күн бұрын

preview.redd.it/til-usa-israel-were-the-only-countries-to-vote-against-v0-iofvr1gkmzha1.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=41d2fcaec82c3e4bc743655d5ffddaf2ea12e364

@Spido68_the_spectator

22 күн бұрын

They were correct that it let the door open to anti - freedom ideas and the return of f@scism. Also, they had other rights that somehow we didn't grasp : right to food, drinkable water and shelter. (Basic human life) A combination of their and our rights could perhaps yield the best results

@thehighground7732

22 күн бұрын

​@@Spido68_the_spectatorExcept the Communist countries had and still technically has more poverty on average than most western countries has had since the beginning of the cold war. The Communist system has nothing to offer and the sooner people realise that the better.

@marinaaaa2735

22 күн бұрын

That doesn't make sense, what about all the labor and feminist rights the ussr had that liberal countries didn't? Or their focus on self determination in an era of imperialism?

@tylerkochman1007

22 күн бұрын

⁠”focus on self determination” 😂😂😂😂😂😂 The Soviet Union had a political process without any choice and ruled most of East Europe through domination and proxy states. They weren’t anti-imperialist, and most certainly were not pro-self-determination

I like Conservativism

The “United Nations” was also a name that the allies used for themselves during the latter stages of the war. I believe Eisenhower’s speech at the commencement of D-Day, for example, referred to the invading allied forces as the ‘United Nations’.

thank you well done - there you go AGAIN making us use our brains!

Another key difference about that right to bargain is that it’s two-sided, and explicitly recognises employer’s rights as well. That’s a bit more capitalist or even in tone than the one-sided right to form a union.

As a Canadian, I feel like our Bill of Rights and Freedoms has been largely pushed to the side in a supposed effort to keep us 'safe'. We're seeing laws passed the erode the privacy and freedom of expression outlined in the document. As always, a historical perspective is very useful in understanding where we are today so I really enjoyed this video.

Hi JJ!

What font is that used at 18:15? Looks vaguely Germanic to me.

Did Diefenbaker’s bill of rights really leave out discrimination based on “language” which was in the UN bill of rights?

@sarysa

22 күн бұрын

Probably because of the logistical problems. I admire the rare languages of the world that manage to hang on despite numerous regime changes. But good luck finding a translator for all contexts. Heck some are so obscure that certain dishonest folks may fake it. (remember a few years ago when a fake ASL translator for some municipality got caught? And ASL is fairly mainstream)

@RegnumHungariae

22 күн бұрын

Idk, but he needed more butter 🧈

I've always found it bizarre how in North America the term liberal now means nearly the exact opposite of its actual definition over in Europe, and I'm saddened that within the last decade, now a days the more politically engaged people become, the more anti-liberal they become (both the far-left and the far-right) despite liberalism being the entire foundation of Western Democracy and the clear source of all our prosperity.

@Jay_Johnson

22 күн бұрын

Some of us ain’t prospering. Liberalism is a hands off political ideology in denial of the natural feedback loops of power imbalance. Whether that is economic or social.

@tylerkochman1007

22 күн бұрын

I disagree that the more politically engaged you get the further in one direction you necessarily get. I think a lot of people who drift energetically to a wild extreme actually are often under-engaged in the most important sense: engaging in challenging thought, consideration, and reading. They latch to extreme outlandish positions in hopes of seeming bold without actually caring to engage in the true meaning in what they advocate

@williaminnes6635

22 күн бұрын

There ain't no "West." A lot of those so-called libertarian parties in countries occupied by the Europeans, they're only against regulation by their own people, not by the unelected unaccountable bags of shit in Brussels.

@Jay_Johnson

22 күн бұрын

@@tylerkochman1007 They latch to extreme outlandish positions Because the current system is failing them and they desire change. Elitism like your statement there is the reason for Trump and Brexit to Bernie and Corbyn.

@tylerkochman1007

22 күн бұрын

@@Jay_Johnson you don’t have to be elite to read or think. That shits free. Don’t have to be born into any level of wealth. Your accusation of elitism is bunk

Never makes sense to me how rights and freedoms went out of style.

You sneaky guy! I know have that sonic the hedgehog sound effect implanted in my brain!

I think JJ's last observation (that we no longer see rights as concepts independent of law) is in large part a consequence of removing that fundamental block from Eisenhower's list. The idea is still present, as in "recognise my rights!" rather than just "give me more rights!" but I think most atheists struggle to accept that rights can exist on their own, irrespective of law. And I think that's why we have begun to think about "our rights" more in terms of what which group can push through the legislature.

The ultimate moral victory of capitalism over communism, in my opinion, is that under capitalism you and a group of like-minded people can form a commune and live together, or pool resources and borrow off of each other, while under communism anyone trying to make a third flavour of toothpaste or sell tomatoes they grew themselves would be an enemy of the state

@soyokou.2810

21 күн бұрын

Neither is really true. For bureaucratic reasons, having a commune or other more horizontally organized group or network of some scale is made artificially difficult by the bureaucratic state. For example, say you want to own a car collectively, whatever that means. Under current law, you can only do so as a corporation or as a government, so say some individual gets to legally own the car because you aren’t planning to exactly secede from the USA. But now not only is that person legally responsible for all insurance fees, nobody can drive the car out of state without written permission from said person, and only that person can retrieve the car if it gets impounded. There are many such similar systems in place to prevent people from leaving the dominant bureaucratic authority. For capital-C Communist countries like North Korea, despite whatever pretense you might expect them to make about market economics, they allow and condone all kinds of black markets to thrive within the country, and many party members participate in them. It’s hard to determine what the actual rules are behind all the curtains, and what gets you labeled enemy of the state has almost nothing to do with your ideology.

@albertmiller2electricbooga897

21 күн бұрын

@@soyokou.2810 so even under communism people default to using capitalism because it fulfils wants and needs the best...

I grew up next to Valley Forge.

Ha, we used to live just a few minutes down the road from the Freedoms Foundation. Beautiful but expensive place to hold a reception.