Ethics, Rights, Identities and Interests

Ethics, Rights, Identities and Interests
Ethical considerations have no meaning if they do not lead to better life for the participants in a social interaction. The road to hell is paved with good intentions (Dante). Due the complexity of modern life, though, it is often difficult to foresee the consequences of a certain action. That calls for the creation of rules of behaviour based on a concept of universal rights. It could be that in a disconnected world people can attempt to create a particular concept of rights applicable only to their group (that is what sects do) but that is impractical if impossible in an interconnected world. Rights are there to protect interests which on their part are how people perceive their need and that perception can be right or wrong. As this process itself is complicated and human beings are inherently lazy and bound to look for an easier way out we look for group identities in addition to our individual one to help us comprehend the world around us and the pursuit of our goals in it. (Additionally choosing a group identity can help us discover our true individual identity or further obscure it and destroy our personality.)
These ideas of ethics, rights, identities, and interests are constantly constructed , remodeled and abandoned in society and the more they correspond to material reality the more successful the societies and individuals employing them are. Also the fact that ideas are socially constructed does not mean that they are not real or arbitrary. The fact that they people use them to guide their actions makes ideas a powerful material force worth studying even as for most people social relations are much more important for the quality of their lives than interaction with nature. And the dependence of success and failure of any human endeavor on the relevance of ideas to reality consisting of nature and other ideas makes arbitrary choice of ideas a dangerous path to follow and therefore it is not so common.
People and communities chose ideas of ethical behavior, rights and identities based on their understanding of their interests. Therefore the study of interests seems like a good starting point for any inquiry into society and politics.

Identity? National, religious, other? How do you feel about it?

I think identity is a thing of the past. I'm more interested in who (not what) a person is. But many people cling to and find illusionary security in some imagined national, religious, racial, class, caste or neighborhood belonging.
We only belong to ourselves. Anything else is from the devil used for exploitation by unethical personalities.
It's only individual identity that matters and that one is particularly hard to define. Maybe that's why many people prefer to adopt a ready made prefabricated one.
Still it can be impossibly difficult to try to understand the world in its complexity and sophistication all by oneself. We need to believe in something, take some knowledge for granted unable to check it ourselves and that's when group knowledge seems reasonably believable and one is prepared to accept the opinion of priests, scientists, politicians or even soothsayers.
Nevertheless I believe sticking to imagined national, religious, or professional identity robs a person from the opportunity to form an independent, objective and balanced opinion that has more chance to be true. Ignoring truth is not only an unwise choice but outright dangerous for the perpetrators and their environment so that's one liberty that we cannot afford. Striving to assert one's individuality is a right and responsibility to oneself and those around.

Who are you? What do you want?

Pretty normal questions even if they sound a bit rude. A wrong answer to the first one can get you killed in some places like the Middle East or the Balkans, and the second one is the most important question in the world. What you want and actually knowing what you really want shapes what you are and gives meaning to your life. The truth is that most probably you'll get what you really want dreams tend to come true (sometimes nightmares come true too).
I think, what you really are, is shaped by how you see yourself, where you want to be and how others see you. The real you at any moment is somewhere in between those three points. Of course you can always imagine other views like where others want you to be and how you are influence by the other's view of you. And again you have to figure out who you are in general terms. I believe in John Lennon’s credo from Imagine.(there is no country and no religion too) but many people seem to cling to some kind of belonging which they find comforting. I have my own loyalties to family and friends, and am proud of my cultural heritage, but can't imagine using that against any other human being except in clear cut defense situation.
Belonging to a religious, political, professional or sports community how diverse we are not how different we are. It's OK to be proud but stupid to be arrogant. I actually think that you can only be really proud if you are not arrogant. Only when you acknowledge the qualities of other you can shine in your own way too. Anything else would have been a race without opponents. Not much honor in winning one of those.
What do you really want? Fame? Power? Money? ... Love? Our deepest desires are what we really are. Divine sparks of inspiration shaping our calling that we must follow to feel at peace with the universe and to succeed and any wavering from which is frustrating and makes us miserable.
I guess what you want makes who you are. And it's up to me to decide who I am. If what I really want is challenging and inspiring, and deep desires usually are, we need the help and cooperation of other people all with their dreams, desires. world views and identities. If we are true to your inner self and your innermost desires it's more likely to be able to impress friends, neighbors and colleagues to help us follow our dream while perhaps helping them follow theirs because dreams always come true if we build foundations under our castles in the air.