MODERN JUSTICE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ARE NOT THE SAME THING
Strange to consider now, is the fact that most Christians only hear that word “justice” and they immediately associate “social justice” with the practice of just Christianity, especially since certain practices of the “social gospel” prevailed in the past racial issues concerning some social justice issues.
However; we must remember that “social justice” and “justice” are not the same thing.
In definition, they are actually miles apart.
Today; social justice is more of a type of cultural movement which is based on a certain defined system that has been set up by social scientists.
Justice, however, is a just way of treating your fellowman which is based on truth and fairness.
God is the author of justice.
Human beings have created the definition of social justice.
In modern cultures, the current laws of the land define the methods of justice and they are carried out by the rules of the state.
We should not confuse these two very different definitions, or even lump them together.
In true justice all men are equal; but with social justice movements and under current social justice standards only the groups identified as victimized will be allowed the means to upward mobility in a society using the social justice system.
Those Christian people who are hearing only the justice side of “social justice” haven’t quite discerned the truth behind the movement of social justice patterns in modern society.
You can fight for a just cause; or you can fight for social justice.
The battles will be different in every way.
DISCERNING THE DOUBLE-SPEAK
At this point in our history, the words “social justice” have evolved into a whole different concept. This new concept is not at all related to charity for all, or compassion for all; though it may actually help some, or even harm some.
So, let’s take the time to study and discern just how this evolution of social justice has come about and try to discern how it has become defined in different terms than it originally started out to mean.
On the other side of all of this is the fact that many people DO understand the patterns of the current movements for social justice, and they simply choose to use these patterns as a tool or a method to bring about their own political desires instead of openly fighting for what they consider to be fair, true and moral causes.
Most of these people believe that the end results of their actions justify the means they use to achieve this end; however; there are those who are also simply greedy, and will stop with nothing to achieve their own way which always relates back to their own gain.
With all of this double-talk going on because of misinterpretations of certain definitions within the current system of social justice, politicians can easily manage to speak out of both sides of their mouth. They can say one thing and mean another and get away with it by using the ignorance of the common people as their defense when they are called down.
Words and definitions can be twisted to glean votes from those who do not completely understand.
Social justice movements that appear to be movements for ethics or morality are often only fronts for other types of political actions. The REAL goal isn’t always the perceived goal of the public.
The standards of social justice make deception and smoke-screens common and harmful to the whole. The best example I can give you of this is the way Planned Parenthood calls their abortion machines a “health benefit” for women. Ask the female babies who they murder in abortions, those innocent ones who cannot speak out for themselves about social justice.
Others (not politicians) who might actually be fighting for some type of true, fair and moral cause have used the system as a means to a desired end which they could not bring about by any other way. Sometimes this has worked for the good of society (in the case of desegregation fought for by Martin Luther King, Jr.) and sometimes it has worked for the bad of society (in the case of the ethnic cleansing used by Hitler.)
The bad outcomes for society have almost always out-numbered the good.
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
The social justice sought in this war was about domination. Would France or Britain dominate the Ohio River Valley? Was it even fair for either one of them to do so?
Most of the history we will continue to discuss today has to do with social justice history only for America. We will go further into a world view in future articles.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
America was actually forged by people seeking social justice. The government of King George III was oppressing so many that they risked their lives to come to a place that had not yet been colonized and these brave newcomers began to form a whole new way to live.
Once they settled in the American colonies though; Britain still sought to tax everyone heavily and unfairly. The former Brits and Irish settlers turned farmers protested with their own form of social justice; they had a little tea party right in the middle of Boston Harbor. Eventually these protests led to the formation of the Continental Congress and the forming of the troops led by George Washington in the American Revolution.
I would call this a more positive result of social justice in action. However; I will also bring up the fact that the colonist were not acting under our modern-day system of social justice. They desired the system that is now called the American Constitution.
Over and over again the Constitution has proven to be the most perfect avenue to bring true social justice. Not many are patient enough to use its slow turning wheels; but those who do eliminate future problems that could arise generations later from the actions of their own culture’s revolutions.
THE ISSUE OF SLAVERY AND CIVIL WAR
The use of slaves helped to prolong the Industrial Revolution. The slaves were central to the cause. They were the muscle that provided the cotton that was sold to the textile mills that the new machines turned into cloth.
Was this fair?
Absolutely not; now comes forth a new reason to seek social justice; but first the slaves had to even be declared to be real people. How ironic is that? They had no rights; even if they were able to be free; they could not have existed in the culture without trouble.
If someone stepped up to help the slaves; they had to deal with another form of part of the crueler side of social justice; the Ku Klux Klan who terrorized the communities as the end of slavery began to happen.
Another issue occurred during The Civil War that opened discussion to the fairness of social justice. This issue involved the right for some men to substitute their service in the military by paying someone to serve in their place. Was this right or wrong? It was the social justice question that was debated not just during the civil war; but the debate carried on through other wars because of the way that the draft system spun off of this concept.
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
In the beginning of the industrial revolution, the church was trying to help those who had been oppressed by so many sudden and new cultural developments.
Because of the inventions of machines and the increase of industry, people were beginning to move into the cities and they took jobs at companies that often forced them to work long hours at laborious tasks in order to have gainful employment.
Those who had once farmed the land bought into the latest dream; that they could gain wealth by being industrious instead of farming. The new factories needed eager workers. This move from the country to the city did work out well for some; but for the vast majority it failed in helping them to gain a more true quality of life and security.
THE CRUELTY OF POVERTY
Those workers who had previously farmed the land but now worked in cities for manufacturing facilities often became stuck in a state of poverty and helplessness that they could not escape. Churches offered their help to individuals, but the problems became more obvious as time moved on, and the problems became larger than many religious establishments had the means to handle.
There was no way to sustain a livelihood or survive in the cramped quarters of the suddenly overpopulated cities unless the employees working there lived and conformed to the systems that were already in place. None of those systems worked for this new life of industrial development.
THE COMPLICATED WORLD OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
No rules for labor had yet been established, and most workers were faced with terribly difficult decisions daily. They had to decide whether to eat or pay their rent. Some had no money for medicine or help for unexpected emergencies. They worked in cramped and dangerous situations with many injuries. Situations and circumstances quickly declined.
Yes, they were paid wages; but they also encountered more expenses than they ever dreamed possible. The employers of most of these cities often took advantage of the admirable work ethics of these former farmers. Most of the former farmers were not educated enough to move into management positions and better themselves. Once they made the change; they were stuck there with no way out.
HELP IN THE FORM OF CHARITY
Previously, farmers had banned together during the hard times. Neighbors were always willing to help their neighbors. Now these workers were in a city full of strangers with no neighbors to count upon. With the help of the charity of churches and religious organizations, many survived until they could do better.
This charity came from many churches, but the larger organizations were mostly Catholic. It was a good and righteous thing that these religious groups were doing – helping their brothers and sisters in need until they could manage to sort out their own living conditions and do better.
I have to stop and wonder what if things had stayed at this stage; what would have developed differently?
Hindsight is 20/20; and things changed rapidly.
LABOR UNIONS FORM
Eventually, this particular problem led to the establishment of organized labor unions.
The “Christian” help, though it continued on a smaller scale, was not as powerful as before and it gave way to more organized groups who were paid (by the factory workers) to take over the welfare problems where the churches had originally been helping.
The labor unions were good too; in the beginning. They helped to establish better laws and more reasonable ways for companies with many employees to live fairly when employees and employers did not agree about practices.
THE EVILS OF CORRUPTION IN THE MIDST OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
Then, some of the labor unions became corrupt and much too powerful.
Some of them grew greedy and began doing unlawful and unfair things that were covered up and used toward their own personal gain. They began to demand control over the ways of management in many of the larger companies who were being as fair as possible, and they executed rules over them that were unfair to the benefits of the company in the long run. If these companies did not conform; they were forced out of business.
These more corrupt labor unions hid behind the fact that they were in place to better the workers who were paying them. They kept their support going based on the fact that they were “helping the common man.”
This wasn’t always the case; and more often than not the workers eventually lost mobility because their employers eventually went under and out of business because of forced economics brought on by the unions that they could not maintain or afford over the long-haul.
Profit levels went down and worker’s pay and benefits went down. Less companies surviving meant less employment for the general population. Family farms had gone by the way of progress and poverty prevailed in the streets.
FROM ONE EXTREME TO THE NEXT – CREATING CHAOS
We went from early industrialists being evil and demanding to the opposite end of the spectrum where large organized groups, thinking they were helping the cause, brought companies to the point of no profit and forced them to close their doors for business.
Neither side (employers, nor employees) wanted to listen to each other; hence, both sides were economically hurt in the long run.
The only people who profited by this time were the attorneys of the labor unions.
A PATTERN OF POOR RESULTS
Often social justice movements work out this way. History shows these patterns appearing over and over like the waves of a vast ocean.
They start out good and they want to bring about positive change. Somewhere along the way they get lost in the promotion of their victim’s rights and they become one-sided and unfair to those whom they are dealing with, and good change becomes impossible for both parties.
SOCIAL JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS CREATE THEIR OWN PROBLEMS
There seems to be no stopping sense once the original goal is momentarily achieved; the old social justice machine still needs to keep going because it has by now become a huge organization employing people to help it teach the world to be fair and equitable by social justice standards and definitions.
Sometimes things become more about the survival of those organizations promoting the social justice movements than the survival and betterment of those who are their perceived victims.
By the time each different movement reached its immediate goal; the organization that had originally helped to bring about changes was no longer needed.
If no new social justice causes came along; they became unnecessary. Thus, those organizations that had been fighting society’s norms for social justice reasons then became an enormous political machine declaring the worth of the organization and raising funds from the unsuspecting public, and they continued enforcing laws in the land whether or not they were truly needed in the succeeding times and cultures or not.
MORE HISTORY TO CONSIDER
Before we dive deeply into whether or not these social movement groups are needed or useful today; we need to finish our study on the history of social justice. There is so much more and we will take up the rest of this discussion on the American history of social justice, then the issues of the world at large in future articles in this series.
There are also illustrations of individual cases of social justice that have changed the world. At some point we will take up that discussion.
Please stay with us.
These issues are important to the formation of the thinking of the future voters and rulers of our country and our world.
We must KNOW what we are speaking about when educating our youth. Depending on the educational systems currently in place with many that have turned biased, would be a bad mistake. Every citizen must learn to think these issues through and to take their children and grand children to do the same.
Future articles will also go into more detail on how the world is beginning to educate our children for us as they dwell in our silence and lack of response to their questions and their processes of seeking answers.
I sincerely hope you continue to patiently follow along with us on this long, long journey of finding the answers to social justice in today’s society.
In our next article, let’s continue to plow through history and think about whether or not we should ever mention the term “social justice” again.