In this unit we looked at how liberalism has changed and how, although it is meant to bring freedom to the people, do we need to put restrictions on some freedom? Postmodernism has challenged the way we assume, the ideas in place, and much more. Since we have opened our borders to immigrants, some of their rights have been limited due to terrorist attacks. Some people have been unrightfully watch listed due to extremist attacks. When diseases reach the whole global community, borders could be shut down.
In the early 1990's, the French government was beginning to restrict the display of religious symbols in public to preserve the secular characteristics of public places. In 2004 the Minister of Education applied this to certain symbols like the hijab. Canada and the United States both value Christianity over many religions. Those who are not Christian are seen as less than, and are treated like terrorists by some.
Since 9/11, many Western borders became more secure and random checks were put in place. These checks are mostly limited to people of colour or who appear to be Muslim. One man, Maher Arar, was stopped in a New York airport on his way back to Canada under suspicions of being linked to Al Qaeda. He was then deported to Syria and tortured. Although some religious people may be extremists, most are not. The actions of one cannot be blamed on the whole of a group.
During a pandemic in this age, diseases can spread very quickly. Many countries would opt to close down borders and trade to keep out the illness, but at the same time that would risk trade and their economy. There was a theoretical study done and it showed that even if countries shut down all airlines, that would only slow down the pandemic by a few weeks. Our global community is very connected, which can lead to sharing diseases. One way to stop this is to vaccinate people to build immunity; some countries have found a way to motivate citizens to vaccinate their families by paying them.
Although we have many laws protecting our rights as citizens, sometimes a situation happens that makes us question these rights. Knowing where to draw the line is a difficult decision. With these kinds of decisions you have to take in everyones perspective. Making a decision on race or religion is discriminatory, and banning things all together are infringing on rights. In the end not everyone is going to be ecstatic, and finding the happy medium is difficult battle. We cannot have everything, we need to compromise a little for the collective safety.