From: shaw@whopper.lcs.mit.edu (Andy Shaw)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Group Rights vs. Individual Rights / Group Power vs. Individual Power
Date: 12 Aug 92 13:27:36 GMT
Distribution: soc
Organization: MIT Lab for Computer Science, Cambridge, Mass.

Lui made an observation here a while ago during his "exchange" with Judy
Tseng that made me stop and think.  It's not often that Lui and I agree,
but when he stated that there is no such thing as "group rights", only
"individual rights", I had to admit to myself that he was right.

Lui is forever calling himself a "humanist" and deplores the action of
Asian-Americans as a group.  At first glance, this assertion of the
existence of "individual rights" and absence of "group rights" would seem
to support his stance.  However, after some thought, it became clear to me
that there is a vast difference between "rights" and "power", and that the
goal of united action as a group was for the sake of "power", not "rights".

"Rights" are a baseline, the bottom, what every human being is entitled to,
regardless of his or her race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, or
whatever.  For the most part, I feel that I have the rights that I deserve
in the US, despite the disadvantages I may have as a non-white American
(although not all Americans can say that).  Life, liberty, the pursuit of
happiness, and the rights covered in the Bill of Rights and the laws of the
land cover my rights fairly well.  Those rights are individual rights, as
Lui stated.

What I don't have is "power", or rather, what I want MORE of is power.
"Rights" are a nice thing to have, but they only guarantee a floor which I
cannot fall beneath.  They cannot propel me upward, and they cannot
guarantee that my rights will be upheld.  Only power can do that.

Unlike rights, there is a concept of "group power".  Whereas a group may
not have any more rights than an individual, a group can have
_significantly_ more power than an individual, and some groups can have
_significantly_ more power than other groups.  The individual power that
each member of a group has is highly dependent upon the power that his
group holds.

This does not imply that every member of a more powerful group is more
powerful than every member of a weaker group.  For instance, it is clear
that I, as a member of the Asian-American group, am _more_ powerful than
most members of the white group, despite the fact that the white group in
the US is much more powerful than the Asian-American group.

Do I have the power of an equally talented white American?  Probably not.
But even if I did, let's ask a more pertinent question -- does the average
Asian-American have the same power as the average white American?
Definitely not.  Group power means that the mediocre members of your group
get an advantage over the mediocre members of other groups, and in so
doing, add to the power of the above-average members of your group.

Lui belittles the concept of group power for Asian-Americans, insisting
that everyone should act as "individuals", because he fears balkanization
in the US along the lines of "HAVES" (i.e.  whites) and "HAVE NOTS" (i.e.
non-whites).  Certainly, those fears of balkanization are warranted to an
extent, but if the cost of avoiding such balkanization is the sacrifice of
the group rights of Asian-Americans, I want to see proof of an equal
sacrifice among whites.  And that is not going to happen, because no group
wants to give up any advantages that they have, whether those advantages
are "fair" or "unfair".

-Andy
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american