Annotation 1:Which is priority? Individuals' rights or society's?

   According to the author's opinion in the composition, individuals' rights should be protected. However, if the individuals violate the interests of society, the latter one should be concerned first. Every individual definitely has his or her rights and freedom. Nevertheless, there is a prerequisite that a person must not do harm to the well-being and safety of other people, or he or she will be considered giving up the rights that a normal person originally have. People shouldn't always take care of individuals' rights and ignore the whole.

   In present world, everyone lives in a big society. It is impossible to live without any connection among other people. In other words, everything a person does may bring about some influence to the people around him or her. Something is nothing. However, some may causes serious problems among people. When the conflict between individual and society relates to fundamental rights or public interests, things will be more complicated. In the composition I mention, a boy committed a crime and his rights might be deprived. It seemed like the punishment or cost after his crime. But, if a person, or people, who didn't commit any crime, suffering the threat to basic rights from society, what's going on? In the case of Wen-Lin Yuan(文林苑), Wang family lived in their old house. However, their house was planned as urban renewal area. Wang family refused that. They hoped their house could be removed from the renewal area. However, the construction company didn't agree with it. In addition, there were thirty six householders who were willing to cooperate with renewal plan and moved out. With the deadlock between Wang family and construction company, the whole plan fell into difficulty. Those thirty six householders waited for several years and had no houses. Later, Wang family's house was pulled down, and the urban renewal kept going. In fact, there was no one got benefited in this case. Every individual has right of habitation. Nevertheless, Wang family's and other householders' right were all violated.

   The Wen-Lin Yuan(文林苑) case proclaims that the dispute between society and individuals. Everyone just wanted to defend their rights and interests. Who was wrong? Who was right? Or the laws and policies had problems right from the word go? In normal condition, there is no free benefit. For the society's well-being and safety, individuals have to pay or sacrifice sometimes. This is inevitable. It is not only building new houses for inhabitants but also furthering public safety (fire prevention and renovation of public facilities) In my opinion, take the thirty six householders in Wen-Lin Yuan case for example, they gave up their habitation rights and remove out. However, they knew they would get new houses. There are some intersection between society's and individuals' interests. After all, under the common situation, individuals can't just live for his or herself and have to contribute for the society if necessary.

Source: Kozlov, J. (1997). Society's rights should often take priority over individuals'. Retrieved from http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/1997/06/19/societys-rights-should-often-take-priority-over-individuals

Issue Paper:Necessary Sacrifice? The conflict between the public and the private

In the present world, most people live in group, such as family, society, and nation. People know that they can get more power when getting together. They live and help each other. With gathering, people can do more things that they can’t do when they are alone. As time goes on, groups become bigger and more complicated. To manage it well, rules and norms are established to maintain the order and public interest. A person has to obey the common rules in group. However, rules mean limitation to private part. A person can’t always do anything he or she wants to do. People have to sacrifice their own interests or rights for public interest or order. In other words, public interest is built from individual sacrifice. In fact, there is a truth that some sacrifice is necessary. But sometimes, basic private right or interest are violated, and both sides defend their interest, There may be a serious conflict 
        Several years ago, Taipei City  launched urban renewal. During the activity, many people’s houses must be dismantled. The government promised to give the people who agree to dismantle new houses. However, a Wang family disagreed. They protested against the city government and the constructor continuously. On the other hand, some householders agreed with the urban renewal. They moved away from their old houses and waited for the new houses. Nevertheless, because of the disapproval of Wang family, the plan stagnated. Those householders didn’t know when they could go home. Finally, Wang family’s house was dismantled in 2012.

 The incident revealed a noticeable problem between public and private interest. Both sides simply wanted to defend their interests. However, if one of them doesn't make a concession, the other one can’t be achieved. As the rising of individual consciousness, the public power can’t violate personal freedom and right arbitrarily. From another angel, the society is composed of many individuals. The public interests may be considered many individuals' interests. People know to sacrifice their private interest for bigger interest. For instance, the householders who agreed gave up their original houses and removed out. However, they knew they could get new houses. It’s a hard issue to gain the most interest to public with least loss of private interest. Sometimes sacrifice is unavoidable. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. The problem is how serious it is. I think in present world a person can't just keep him or herself clean and pure. As living in the society, he or she has some responsibility to it. A person has freedom and rights. However, they shouldn't influence or even violate others'. This is an important principle in society that every individual should know. Regardless of agreement or opposition.

Source:　
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_interest

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_renewal
http://www.democracyweb.org/majority/principles.php  http://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E6%96%87%E6%9E%97%E8%8B%91%E9%96%8B%E5%B7%A5-%E7%8E%8B%E5%AE%B6%E5%90%8C%E6%84%8F%E6%88%B6%E5%85%A9%E6%A8%A3%E6%83%85-085721887.html