What Does It Take For Everyone To Be Just?

I just saw a young man speeding off in his car and a young woman, futilely chasing after it, screaming, "It's all I have.  I've got nothing!"  Why are human beings so cruel to each other?  Why do we think we have the right to ignore the clear pain of another person?

Of course, the young man felt like it was his right to leave with everything the homeless woman had.  Perhaps she had done something to him.  Whatever it was, is the theft of her bedding and belongings on this cold fall day worth the "crime" she had committed?  Of course, the local police find it easy to tear up the homeless folks' bedding and tents, leaving them with nothing to sleep with.  The local gangs attack other gangs because of an insult enacted a year ago.  A nation kills innocent civilians because of the supposed crime of their leaders.

This is all based in the human brain.  We all have mirror neurons, which cause us to identify with other people.  But we also have a way to block mirror neurons, to make some kinds of people those we refuse identity with, so we can actually treat them as less than human.  But if we refuse to identify with those of the opposite sex, those we consider "criminals", another group, another nation, then we can easily justify inhuman actions against them.

How, then, can we stop this?  If this is a natural process, what must be done to see others, ALL others as human beings?  How can it actually be morally possible to treat our neighbor as ourselves?  Are we simply not built for it, even as we all recognize how necessary it is?

Is there a social response that would help us all treat each other fairly?  Jails and prisons clearly don't work-- in fact, in some ways, they only increase the separation between humans allowing us such dehumanizing terms as "inmate" or "felon".  Can we put social pressure on each other to be fair to all people?  Can we train all children in school how to resolve conflict in peaceful ways that is fair to all sides?  If so, would it do any good, considering that our human makeup demands unfairness at times?

Is there a medical solution? What about hormone therapy?  Those with high testosterone rates often demand more respect and react more harshly than those who do not have such high rates.  But is demanding such a procedure acting in fairness to their "normal" state?  Can we demand unfairness to some for a more fair society? And, of course, unfairness is not simply a medical condition.  We are all unfair at times, especially when excessively stressed.  We are occasionally unfair to our children, to our employees, to our students; and conversely, we are occasionally unfair to our parents, employers and teachers, by applying to them unjust motives that may or may not be true.

Is the best we can do to make an ideal of fairness, of equality?  To apply objectivity and lack of judgment as a universal standard, not just a standard of courts and journalism.  And then, perhaps we can train and model the art of apologizing when we are wrong, because we all make mistakes.  If we admit our unfairnesses, and do what we can to not repeat the wrongs, can we get closer to a society that sees fairness as a true, practical standard?

Who Is Poor?

This man is poor.  How do we know this?  Well we can see that he is crippled.  We see that his clothes are dirty, at least partly from lying down in the dirt. He has a beggar's dish, so we know he is begging.  How much does begging make?  Well, in India, where he is from, begging doesn't make very much.  There's a lot of competition.  We suspect that he has no choice but to beg.  So he probably doesn't have much money.

But what makes him poor?  We "see" he's poor, but what is the source of his poverty?  Is it that he is crippled? Does being crippled make you poor?  Well, no, there are many people who are disabled who are doing fine.  Is that he is crippled in India?  Again, there are people who are doing quite well being disabled in India as well. Is he poor because he doesn't have much money?  Is it possible to have all one's needs met without much money?  Is it possible to have a decent income and still be poor?

What is real poverty?  Is it simply a matter of economics-- if you are below this income line then you are poor? Can't people not make a single penny, but be a part of a wealthy family and so not be poor?   Or is poverty more about relationships?  If you don't have people to help support you, then if you have a bad time economically, you remain there?  Or is poverty how people see you?  If you are rejected or pitied by society for economic reasons, or because you "look" or "act" poor, then aren't you poor?

Can we make a universal definition of poverty, or is it dependent on society?  If a person lives without electricity in one nation they are poor, can another without electricity not be poor in another context? If a person chooses to live without electricity and has all their needs met are they poor?  What if they have their children taken away from them because they don't have electricity, are they poor then?   Is poverty an objective standard?

Is poverty a measure of need, but one's need is dependent on various issues including personal characteristics and culture?

What Does Justice Look Like?

Justice has not as much to do with individuals as a society.  It is certainly possible that in order to establish justice that some individuals must be separated out to the rest should be kept safe, but justice mostly has to do with how a society at large functions.  But justice cannot be seen as strictly punishing the wicked.  Punishing is a negative and justice is a positive and we cannot create a positively just society by negative action.

But what does a just society actually look like?  Does every person have what they need?  Or do they just have the means to obtain what they need? Is justice a society that considers itself safe?  How much safety is required for there to be justice?  Does a society have to both enforce their fears and their anxieties?  What is the cost of a society without fear?

What is the basic foundation of justice?  Many people consider that law is the foundation of justice.  What law?  Who can create a perfectly just law?  How should such a law be enforced?  And can law and enforcement, by themselves, create a just society?

Others think a just society is created by giving everyone basic rights.  What kind of rights?  Can freedom of speech give justice to everyone?  If someone has the freedom to threaten, then is that part of the foundation of justice? If some rights cannot be allowed, and justice is based on rights, then where is justice found?  What balance of rights can create justice?