In regards to the right to have a berzerk button: This depends at least partly on what you mean by a right.
People do have berzerk buttons. I hear “don’t have the right to have a berzerk button” as “should make it go away right now—shouldn’t have had it in the first place”. On the other hand, “do have the right to have a berzerk button” is problematic in the sense that it can imply that berzerk buttons are a sort of personal property which should never be questioned.
It occurs to me that this is a problem with English which is at least as serious as gendered pronouns. A sense of process isn’t built into the language in some places where it would be really useful.
The problem is there in the word “can”. Does “you can do it” mean you can do it right now, perhaps if you just tried a bit harder? If you tried a lot harder (and you really should)? After ten years of dedicated work? Something in between?
In regards to the right to have a berzerk button: This depends at least partly on what you mean by a right.
People do have berzerk buttons. I hear “don’t have the right to have a berzerk button” as “should make it go away right now—shouldn’t have had it in the first place”. On the other hand, “do have the right to have a berzerk button” is problematic in the sense that it can imply that berzerk buttons are a sort of personal property which should never be questioned.
It occurs to me that this is a problem with English which is at least as serious as gendered pronouns. A sense of process isn’t built into the language in some places where it would be really useful.
The problem is there in the word “can”. Does “you can do it” mean you can do it right now, perhaps if you just tried a bit harder? If you tried a lot harder (and you really should)? After ten years of dedicated work? Something in between?