Essay by Airam Aguasvivas D.
Human rights and technological advances are two of the most significant improvements in favor of the present and future of the 21st Century world. With this kind of progress, people have benefits today that were once unthinkable, such as, the equal treatment and respect to every individual, regardless of their background, maintenance of their privacy during scientific investigations, and finally, the ease of people’s lives with the development in technology. Although these rights and benefits are well-intentioned, not everyone in the twenty-first Century enjoys them, since there are examples when strong individuals caused greater harm to society, and instead of providing better possibilities, oppressed the weaker groups. In view of all these scenarios, humankind is facing a disturbing, dystopian future in 2022, which will likely continue in the future as well.
Although human rights and opportunities in today’s world are intended for everyone, it is also unfortunate to see examples of oppression and violence. Most of the times, oppression comes from a few powerful individuals, who have the freedom to act in the interests of their own elite groups. Sadly, 21st Century world, has many such examples. For instance, there is violation of Human Rights in different forms, such as government oppression, the wrong use of technology, and lack of interest to combat climate change that forces thousands of people to suffer the consequences of uncontrolled consumption, and no attempt at preserving the joint resources of this planet.
As far as government oppression is concerned, Iran is experiencing strong protests for individuals’ freedoms. Iranians are also fighting against political oppression to abolish violence against women and defend everyone’s rights. However, Iran’s protests get more complicate as days pass, and the government keeps suppressing freedom of expression by silencing activists, arresting them, and even sentencing them to death. North Korea is another example of government control and oppression. This nation’s oppression is not only towards the citizens of that country, but their military demonstrations also make the world tremble for a possible start of a military conflict. Russia, Venezuela, and Cuba are other examples of nations where the government’s interests are superior and more important than their citizens. In these countries, besides human rights violations, citizens are confused by these countries’ manipulation of the truth that only benefits their governments. Their citizens’ knowledge of the world, outside their countries is limited, supervised and altered to depict their government and their actions as justified and righteous.
Russia and North Korea have another common characteristic, which is the inaccurate use of technology to give their government more power for military issues, including war. This use of technology is influenced by the abuse of power that also results in consequences for the well-being of the planet Earth. The harm caused by military confrontations such as the Russian-Ukrainian war affects both the people and the environment due to the destruction and fear of nuclear exposure. Technology advances are supposed to assist people to evolve and do better for the world, not to cause destruction.
Technology allows faster and easier communication for the completion of tasks. However, people’s actions create conflict as technology is often not used in an ideal way, for instance, alternatives for manufacturing eco-friendly and biodegradable products are not accessible to everyone. There is still a preference for plastics and other products that contribute to the climate emergency.
Throughout human history, societies have found ways of improvements for the betterment of members. However, most of these were influenced by negative actions caused by individuals, such as conflicts and wars. Today, it is evident that these improvements are threatened again by either powerful people to maintain their positions of power or by the general public’s preferences that includes their dependence on technology to complete simple tasks, such as texting a family member that is only 6-feet away.
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