Is lynching an insult to human dignity? Give reasons.
Answers
Many people are vaguely disquieted by developments (real or imagined) that could alter minds and bodies in novel ways. Romantics and Greens tend to idealize the natural and demonize technology. Traditionalists and conservatives by temperament distrust radical change. Egalitarians worry about an arms race in enhancement techniques. And anyone is likely to have a "yuck" response when contemplating unprecedented manipulations of our biology. The President's Council has become a forum for the airing of this disquiet, and the concept of "dignity" a rubric for expounding on it. This collection of essays is the culmination of a long effort by the Council to place dignity at the center of bioethics. The general feeling is that, even if a new technology would improve life and health and decrease suffering and waste, it might have to be rejected, or even outlawed, if it affronted human dignity.
Lynching is a deliberate killing by a group without any legal jurisdiction. It is more often used to describe informal public killings by a mob in order to punish anyone who meddles with their principles and rules. Lynching is obviously an insult to human dignity because a person is killed without even a trial. He/She is not even given a chance to explain themselves. There cannot be a right higher than the right to live with dignity and to be treated with humanity. No citizen can assault the human dignity of another.