Is social justice useful or harmful to a society that employs it?
Should we be using social justice to solve the social problems facing our nation today?
MOVING PAST THE DEFINITION OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
Over the past few days we have discussed numerous facts concerning the use of social justice.
First; we discovered that the term we call “social justice” today is defined as: the just distribution of wealth, opportunity and privileges within a society.
We also noted that today’s cultural thinking about social justice relates to GROUPS as opposed to INDIVIDUALS.
So how does this group thinking play out in real life social justice?
MOVING FROM INDIVIDUALS TO A COLLECTIVE BODY OF PEOPLE
When modern-day social justice measures are employed society moves from functioning as individuals based on specific personal opinions and lifestyles to the place of society thinking as one particular group decides is best. The morals of this formerly victimized group now decides what is best for all of society.
If you are a member of the minority groups being addressed by social justice advocates; your issues will be addressed and corrected by taking away from those who are not a member of your group.
In the world of social justice; only your group’s ways will count. You were the victim; therefore you are the only focus for obtaining future justice.
Nothing else matters.
VICTIMIZATION
To become a group member that qualifies for social justice advocacy; you must be a group defined by some type of victimization, and your victimization needs to be known and identified publicly and socially.
This beginning process of social justice happens gradually in a society by various experts looking at known cases and accessing your particular group’s needs and coming up with several new outcomes that would keep your group from ever being victimized again.
PLAYING THE BLAME GAME
Blame must be assigned to the groups that are causing your victimization.
They must be stopped with no exceptions.
Individuals within those people groups do not matter; this issue of social justice is only about specific groups receiving justice.
Today’s social justice systems are not about ALL PEOPLE living justly together in peace.
POWER GIVEN TO THE PERCEIVED VICTIMS
In the machine of social justice; power must be given to the victimized group over the group that is causing the victimization; which is defined as ANYONE WHO DOESN’T BELONG TO THE VICTIMIZED GROUP.
In other words the whole world operates on their own form of social justice that goes like this: “If you aren’t like me and you don’t think like me or live like me; you don’t count.”
Believe it or not; it seems that modern-day social justice works by raising the bar for one particular group and taking all power away from any other groups, thus lowering their standard of living.
When I first looked into the details of this system I was totally shocked by the way it operates. The whole system is biased and unjust; and it thrives on those very concepts.
WHERE IS TRUE EQUALITY?
Is this true equality?
No!
But; this is modern-day social justice thinking.
The social justice idea or concept is more than solving the problems of the victimized group; it is actually taking all power away from anyone except for the group that feels they are victimized; and giving all of their power to the victims, leaving the other side totally powerless to defend themselves ever again.
Sometimes these “groups” of victims join in with one another to form larger “more-inclusive” groups of victimization.
Please don’t assume that “more-inclusive” has anything to do with group equality.
A COMMON EXAMPLE OF TODAY’S SOCIETY
An example would be the gay community joining in with LBGTQ+ groups, who consider anyone who is heterosexual and/or straight to be the group doing the victimization; though many individuals within this opposite group do not participate in hate or victimization of such people, or deny them their civil rights; it is the group of heterosexual people who make up the whole rest of the community who are blamed.
The innocent individuals of the group are ignored and considered guilty by association with the group that defines their lifestyle.
Therefore; at the end of the process of social justice for this particular example; anyone who is a straight heterosexual becomes known as a victimizer; whether or not they have ever committed any hate or crimes against the people who consider themselves victims.
The “victimizer’s” voice will no longer be heard.
Period.
End of sentence.
The “victimizing group” is automatically guilty of injustice by association with anyone outside of the victimized group.
DOES SOCIAL JUSTICE BRING TRUE JUSTICE?
Is this justice?
No it isn’t!
If you are a Christian straight heterosexual person, you fall into a much larger group of people who are being profiled and labeled as “victimizers.”
You suffer the double-wammy of the social justice world.
That means; you are less than dirt.
This is a huge problem today; especially for the Christian communities.
Christians are not at all about hate, a Christian is commanded by God to show love to everyone; even their enemies.
Social justice groups want to shame Christians into agreeing with their causes.
FALSE SHAME
Is false shame a good reason for anything; much less a basis for bringing about true justice in a society?
Also; a Christian is commanded by God to conform to the morality presented inside the Holy Scriptures; and most Christians interpret those scriptures to say that homosexuality is wrong; therefore they do not participate or teach their children to participate in a gay lifestyle.
But in a social justice world they no longer have this choice.
By standing for their own belief system in the society that promotes social justice; these people who do not hate or make victims are automatically proclaimed “haters” and “victimizers.”
PRACTICING THE TRUTH WITH LOVE
Most Christians actually love the homosexual people, they simply do not condone homosexuality as a lifestyle.
They do not hate the LBGTQ+ people, or want to victimize them at all; they simply believe that their lifestyle is sinful and Christians refuse to participate in such a lifestyle themselves.
IS IT WRONG TO SAY THAT ANYTHING IS WRONG?
Let’s let this logic sink in a bit and let’s also make a few other comparisons.
Most people would accept the fact that murder is wrong.
Anyone who is being victimized by a murderer needs help; the victimization of murders should definitely be stopped for the sake of all in a society.
Most of us can agree on this subject.
Why?
Because murder is immoral and destroys life.
Yet; using the same above logic it is possible in the cause of social justice for murderers to go free and to receive all of the power that used to be available to the people they have chosen to murder.
How so?
In the social justice movement, should they decide to do so; Murderers would simply need to form a people group and claim that they are being victimized.
They could say that they were being hated and prevented from moving up in society because of their desire to commit murder.
Is this even legal?
SOME PEOPLE GROUPS ARE ABOVE THE LAW
That doesn’t matter; social justice systems seem to think they are above the laws and do not have to go through all of the legal requirements that others have to take to make laws.
Several cases of murderers being labeled as victims of society in the guise that they could not promote their desired lifestyle could come forth to the public and charges could be made that society in general was not supportive or accepting to murderers.
They would then be labeled a legal minority group and under the guise of social justice any other groups of people (no matter their intentions for society) would then be unable to defend themselves against them.
Slowly over time murder would become the norm for the world in which we live. Social justice would be served and true justice would be living in the garbage heap.
This is how social justice works in the end.
THE MINORITY IS SERVED AS THE MAJORITY
Though the social justice achieved by the movement begun by Dr. King has brought about needed and good changes into our society; now the very same social justice is being used to bring about things that the majority of the population consider wrong for our civilization as a whole.
What has actually happened to this group that once defended Dr. King? They have become very wealthy and powerful because of one situation that turned out to be just and right. Now they think they can rule the universe. They prey on injustice, and then they promote it using Dr. King’s good name in the process. They aren’t the only such group; there are many in today’s society. They wait until the moment is right and they pounce on the civilized, yet unaware and uneducated people like hungry lions; knowing that their time is ripe for whatever they wish.
Actually, the above imaginary case of social justice isn’t as far-fetched as you might think; when you consider the battle being waged against abortion and how it is being addressed by certain people groups today.
SOCIAL JUSTICE IS NOT JUST
My point is that social justice isn’t just.
No matter the morality of the people groups that are using it; social justice is not just.
There is always one group that will never be heard or considered in the social justice equation.
True justice weighs both sides and makes a decision based on equality to BOTH sides.
GOD’S FORM OF JUSTICE
God’s form of justice and social justice do not even come close to one another.
A biblical definition of God’s form of justice is found in Micah 6:8; “He has shown you, O mortal what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
If we all followed the above it would be possible for any individual to act justly; and no form of social justice would ever be needed.
NO INDIVIDUAL LOGIC WILL BE USED
In the modern-day defines of social justice though, individuals never make a difference in the outcome of critical decisions; and sensible logic for each individual case is basically thrown out the window.
The only way that social justice truly works is within a society that is interested in achieving a state of total immorality and complete injustice; a society where only certain kinds of people are allowed to live and exist.
Perhaps a society akin to Hitler’s government when he persecuted the Jews and/or other ethnic people groups in order to build what he alone considered a more-superior raced population, perhaps this would be comparable to the end results of social justice.
Then; social justice would easily work, in almost every case.
ON SOME OCCASIONS IT SEEMS TO WORK OUT
That isn’t to say that many who have fought noble battles for the good of humanity by using social justice platforms haven’t made the world a better place in the end.
Occasionally this works as a means to an end.
Again, I will use the plight of Martin Luther King, Jr. who actually won the battles of injustice caused by segregation and unequal employment and educational opportunities.
Even this long hard battle for a worthy and just cause, had its moments where social justice created more havoc than harmony.
I wish to continue to study the details of Dr. Martin Luther King’s noble dream.
WHAT ABOUT DR. KING’S DREAM?
Could he have achieved as much progress in the long run without involving social justice?
What affects did his use of this social justice system have on all of the rest of our national decisions?
No one can really say what the outcome would have been; but I have to wonder what would have happened and how sustainable it might have been if social justice had actually been replaced by true justice instead of a popular and easily available political machine.
Would the battle have been longer or shorter, easier or harder, or more sustainable in the end?
You can’t cry over things that happened in the past; especially when what DID happen actually turned out to be partially successful.
THERE IS STILL ANOTHER PART OF THE DREAM
Are you surprised when I say “partially” successful?
I will address the “partial” word in another upcoming article on this subject. There was part of Dr. King’s dream that we are still hoping to see. If it happens we have a lot more to overcome.
We, as a nation, and a united people; must move on and be thankful for a good outcome, no matter what; but I wish for all to understand that such dreams as Dr. King proclaimed can and do come true with alternatives other than social justice politics.
The only way I know to begin to do that properly is to begin remembering and pondering all that went on back in those days that it all first started. Let’s take a few moments to look back.
LOOKING BACK AND PONDERING ALTERNATIVES
As I write today; our nation just celebrated Martin Luther King Day.
We remembered all of the good things that Dr. King did for our nation; and we celebrated how his dream is coming true, slowly but surely, inside our country.
I remember his speech so well that I can actually quote it back to you word-for-word.
During that time I was only a child, a little girl about eight years old and my skin color just happened to be white.
Would I feel different about these issues today had I been born black? I’ll never know the answer to that question.
We lived in the South which seemed to be the worst place of all for a black minister like Dr. King to have had such an amazing dream.
RECOGNIZING THE PROGRESS
I can remember how things were then; and I know how things are today.
The words of Dr. King still ring in my ears, and I think about them often as I move and live inside my own current community.
His mission certainly lives on in our hearts.
What I saw and experienced then, and what I see and experience now is totally different.
In so many ways things are much better; but in a few ways this good accomplishment of the movement led by Dr. King gets skewed by society and used for other people’s agendas.
Certain groups that do not have the same motives and dreams as Dr. King; ride on his coat-tails and deceive people into believing that his causes were the same as theirs.
We will elaborate on this more later.
Right now; I want to think about the famous words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; those words that he spoke at the March on Washington so many long years ago:
REMEMBERING THE WORDS
“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree is a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been burned in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.”
Dr. King was speaking of President Abraham Lincoln’s shadow.
He was the president who signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
This proclamation signed back in 1862 wasn’t quite as effective as Dr. King made it sound in his speech though. There were great limitations to how it actually worked, only preventing new territories in the western states from acquiring new slaves. It did not actually destroy the practice of existing slavery at all; but the HOPE of the beginnings of ending slavery did spring from this document; so I suppose that value carried into the decades that followed.
FOLLOWING A HOPE AND A DREAM
Most people don’t realize that President Lincoln didn’t want the civil war to be centered around the subject of slavery; though he did strongly oppose the concept.
The war was actually started by the disagreements of economic issues between the north and the south.
Our present day history books seem to have erased all of those facts. They were important issues too.
President Lincoln was determined that the war was only an effort to save the Union, which had other problems too (not just the slavery issues.)
In 1862 Lincoln said “If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing ALL slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.”
So the shadow that is referred to in Dr. King’s speech as a “great beacon light of hope” was just that; hope and not much more.
TWO MEN BENT ON CHANGE
Both Lincoln and King seemed to be men who were determined to address their main causes and bring about change no matter what had to be done to achieve it.
I bring this up so that people will notice how another hero of our country; Abraham Lincoln, was so determined to do anything possible to preserve and protect the founding ideas and documents that our country was based upon.
Lincoln understood these laws and documents were keys to not only the freedom of the slaves; but also to the freedom of all mankind.
The Constitution and The Declaration of Independence mattered to him more than any other issues at hand.
Why?
Because they proclaimed that all men be treated fair and equitable by the laws of the land.
They allowed EVERYONE freedom and justice.
All Dr. King was seeking was the very same thing for his own race.
It was a right hope; and Dr. King was determined to give strength to this hope and to bring out the godly and religious side of Abraham Lincoln’s personality that wasn’t often emphasized; the one in which President Lincoln reminded the people he worshiped with of whom he spoke to that “all men are created equal under God.”
TWO DIFFERENT THINKING MEN HEADED DOWN THE SAME PATH
If Dr. King, living way back there in the 1960’s, could pull up this image of Lincoln again and promote it; perhaps he could continue on down that same path where Abraham Lincoln’s hands had been tied by fear of making a bad situation between a divided country worse instead of better; and maybe now Dr. King could even bring both men’s spiritually righteous dreams that “all men are created equal” into fruition, though neither of them would live to see the fruit they had planted come into full bloom.
Both of these American heroes had just causes. Their thinking was a lot different on the whole; but their hearts had the same goal.
Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to see the black population living, working and functioning among the other productive members of society.
Abraham Lincoln wanted the same thing; thus he issued the Emancipation Proclamation; but he had to do this very carefully because, unlike Dr. King; Abraham Lincoln seemed to understand the dangers of social justice.
WHAT LINCOLN KNEW THAT HE DIDN’T SAY OUT LOUD
The injustice that tipped the scales of justice when the politics of social justice were used often not only stopped the progress of the society involved; but sometimes it totally lost the battle for BOTH parties.
What good is social justice if you no longer have a functioning country that believes in liberty and freedom?
Why do I bring up these already known facts?
Because the scales of justice are not equally balanced in the machine that modern society is calling social justice.
Often, early progress is recognized for one particular group of society; then it often evolves into a system that was never intended; a system that is unjust, a system that shows favor to only one group of people and their particular ideals, a system that will only divide the country and leave the people wondering whether or not their form of government is the correct form of government.
This is part of what started the Civil War; and this is what Abraham Lincoln was so drastically opposed to happening. It was his worst fear for his countrymen.
This does happen to governments and he had studied governments enough to know. Then on the heals of confusion; bad governing bodies swoop down from other places and totally change everything that has been accomplished in the name of freedom and justice, leaving all of society wondering; what really happened?
WHY ARE PEOPLE SO SURPRISED?
Why did they not see this coming?
Systematic social justice is a political machine that promotes socialistic thinking through the discontent of people groups in a society.
It’s snares are a trap that cause people to accept practices and policies that they never would have condoned originally; policies that in the end provide for their own unhappiness and decline.
Social justice operates on negativity toward all but one group; and no group can function in a positive way in the end.
So is social justice harmful or useful to a society that employs it long-term?
Just ponder the above information for a moment; but do not ever think that this is a totally complete answer.
IS THERE A TOTALLY COMPLETE ANSWER?
There is a lot more to be said about this; and we will continue to discuss it as we journey through the answers to the next eight questions that were originally posed when we first started these articles and this discussion.
I hope none of the comments here have been offensive to anyone; but if so; please know that I would love you as a person despite our differences of opinions or lifestyles. I would never hate you or try to persuade you to accept my opinions. It is my opinion that all are entitled to their own opinions; and that they have the freedom to express it in public without fear. I totally respect your right to be different and to think opposite from me; as I know you will totally respect my rights also.
This is a hard subject and I am not trying to single out any one group of society; but merely to bring all of society into agreement by opening discussions to be held in love and compassion for one another as people of the human race.
THE NEXT QUESTION
Our next question will be; How has history defined this concept of social justice?
More answers to different perspectives of today’s question will continue as we seek to answer all of the next questions.
As we continue through this treacherous discussion together; I will remind you of why we are on this journey. We are not just throwing out vain words here. There is a motive to our madness.
We all want to know the best possible future pathway for helping the next generation to see and understand the way.
How will they fare with the practices of social justice that are now coming about?
What will their dreams be made of?
What kind of world will exist for them over the next twenty to thirty years?
What can we do to help them make it better?
FINDING NEW AND WORKABLE SOLUTIONS TOGETHER
Remaining silent is never the answer.
But; talking and not doing is not the answer either.
We must address the questions as they come up and open them for discussion; whether the next generation will listen or not is probably up to the way we are currently living out our lives before them.
God have mercy!