Justice is a concept that has been tossed around for a long, long time…
before Plato even…we still haven’t found out what is just or unjust…
Let is imagine, for out own safety, we pass a law taking away the civil rights
of anyone who is under 5 feet tall…they have no rights as we have defined them,
they cannot drive, they cannot vote, they cannot own property and they
can be legally discriminated against…and for those people, who are over
5ft and taller, they have every civil right possible…now is this law, just or unjust?
it is a law, legally passed by congress and signed by the president…how can
a law legally passed and signed, be unjust?
now we have legally passed limiting the rights of those under 5ft tall and
we aren’t sure if it is just or unjust? is being under 5ft tall a choice?
we have limited their civil rights because of an accidental property,
being born under 5ft tall is nothing planed, it is an accident of genetics,
and those under 5ft tall didn’t have any choice over how tall they are,
it is an accidental property over which these people or anybody in fact,
has no choice over and that makes it an accidental property, if you have
no choice over these properties…
we decide to limit the civil rights of blue eye people…they are shifty and
untrustworthy, and yet, they are blue eye because of an accidental property…
they have no choice over the fact they have blue eyes…is this just or unjust?
blue eyes, an accidental property… it somehow doesn’t seem fair,
and fairness seems to be a property of justice…if everyone in a group is
being treated fairly, it can be said that everyone in the room is being treated
justly, you can use the word just and fair as equal terms…justice and fair
can be used interchangeable…
we have legally passed a law, then we must obey this law to be an “good American”,
for every single country expects, demands that it citizens follow and obey the law,
that is being a good citizen of all countries, obeying the law…and our laws are
made in our name, with our consent, the consent of the governed…we elect
representative us and they vote in our name…and we have consented to this system…
is it right, fair or just to pass laws limiting the civil rights of those
who have accidental properties? to limit those who have blue eyes or
are under 5ft tall?
now what about those who have accidental properties like being
handicap? should we limit their civil rights because they have
accidental properties like being handicap? Should I have less civil
rights because I have an accidental property from birth? I was born
with a severe hearing loss, an accidental property, and because of
something I have no choice over, be punished for it? is that right or
fair or just? we do have to protect ourselves as a society and by not allowing
the handicap the civil right to procreate, we do protect our future by
preventing the handicap from spreading their handicap into future populations
and thus protecting ourselves…however is this just or fair?
it this a moral action? are we practicing morality when we do such a thing?
morality requires us to act morally, is passing laws based on accidental properties,
a moral action? a just action? to practice justice seems to be a moral activity…
we pass laws taking away the civil rights of purple people…
is this action, moral or immoral? Just or unjust?
is being purple an accidental trait and accidental property?
now is laws that are passed in our name, with our consent,
do these laws fall under the idea of being moral or immoral,
just or unjust? now being moral or immoral doesn’t cover parts of
our lives… to be moral, truly moral, our morality must cover all aspects
of our lives…we cannot be moral in some aspects of our lives and immoral
in other aspects… I am sure Jeffery Dehmer followed the laws of the road
and stopped at stop signs and he obeyed the law and it was just of him to do so,
it was moral of him to do so, but he murdered children and that action is clearly
immoral, unjust…so we cannot be moral in some aspects of our lives and immoral
in other aspects… morality is an all or nothing proposition, either we are moral
or we are immoral, we can’t be kinda moral and kinda not…
Morality requires us to live moral lives… we cannot disobey the law and be considered
moral…but is passing a law restricting the civil rights of those people based
on accidental properties, a moral action? a just action?
to be a moral people, we must have a moral society…we can say the same thing with this,
to be a just people, we must have just society… justice is a necessary aspect of having a
just society… is passing laws against accidental properties, a just action?
if we treat everyone the same in a room, then we are being just for
that is justice, to treat everyone the same regardless of their accidental properties…
if the room were filled with students and we treat everyone the same, we have a
problem? what about those with handicaps? I can’t hear, what if I can’t hear the teacher
the same as everyone else… how am I equal in my response to the teacher if I can’t hear
the teacher… justice demands that we equalize my chance of hearing the teacher,
which is the same as everyone else chance… and that is another aspect of justice,
of morality, we give everyone the equal chance to participate and by
better accommodating my hearing loss, I am given an equal chance
to the others who can hear… thus justice can also be that to create equal,
we aid those who are, say handicap, to become equal in their ability to hear, for example,
to accommodate those, to make them equal, is not creating injustice to those who can
hear and aren’t accommodated… they are already equal, we are just engage in making
others equal…that is justice and that is moral…for morality is about creating
equality in people, groups, societies… making people unequal, legally or otherwise
is not moral, is not just… morality is about making equal and justice is about making
equal…thus morality and justice are the same thing… if you are moral, you are just…
being equal in all aspects of life, whether obeying the law or by creating equality
in action, making handicap people equal by giving them enough access to make
them equal to others who can hear or walk or speak or see…
so what about passing laws based on people having accidental properties?
is passing a law taking away the civil rights of blue eye people, moral? just?
justice is an act of morality…creating equal…and both justice and morality
is about creating equal…equality in how we act toward others and equality
in how others treat us, both in private and in public… equality must exist
in both our private lives and in our public lives…
if we are unjust in the laws we pass, for example, taking away the civil rights
of people because of accidental properties like having blue eyes or being under
5ft tall, we are not in a just society, a moral society for we are not creating equal
by taking away the civil rights of those who have accidental properties we dislike…
we are being immoral on a larger scale, we are being unjust on a larger scale because
those laws are being passed in our name, with our consent, the consent of the governed…
morality, justice exist both in private and in our public lives and that public life
is the laws we pass and the laws we obey… is justice is not dispensed equally,
it is not justice, but injustice and that is not acting morally which is
morals are about acting equally…so if the society is not practicing justice,
we are equally to blame as we are part of society, we are part of the consent…
we are equally acting unjust and equally acting immoral if our society is acting
unjust or immoral…thus if the Supreme court of the United States is acting unjust,
unequal, it is acting immoral, it is acting unjust and we are equally culpable as
the court is acting in our name, with our consent…and if the police is acting unjust
and immoral, we are too blame as they are acting in our name, with our consent…
we are unjust and immoral if the court is unjust and immoral and if the police is unjust
and immoral, we too are unjust and immoral…we cannot be otherwise because the injustice
and immorality was done in our name, with our consent…
so if the state passes laws done in our name and with our consent, we are equally
held responsible for unjust laws and immoral laws…
so the laws are moral actions, just actions… because they must treat people equally
to have justice, to be moral… and laws that are not equal, that treat people different
are immoral, unjust…
we either act justly and morally or we don’t… there is no middle ground…
and it is no different with laws passed in our name, with our consent…
justice has a communal, society aspect to it… as does morality…
as we are one and the same, we are part of society and it acts in our name…
if society acts unjust or immoral, we are also guilty…
so what if we pass laws upon other accidental properties
accidental properties in which the people have no control over…
we pass laws limiting the civil rights of people who are purple,
we are acting unjustly and immorally, and if we pass laws limiting
the rights of blacks… we and society is acting immoral and unjustly…
we cannot give our consent to laws passed in our names that are
unjust and immoral and still claim to be just and moral people…
thus the recent laws banning people from certain countries that are
based on accidental properties, you can’t control or have any choice
over the country you were born in… that is an accidental property…
and yet we have passed laws based on those accidental properties
and called it right… it is not… those laws are immoral and unjust…
and they were done in our name, with our consent and thus we too
committed immoral and unjust actions… we cannot call ourselves a moral
people, a just people if laws are passed in our name that punished
those with accidental properties…either we are a moral people
or we are not… either we are a just people or we are not…
morality has an societal aspect and an individual aspect.
and to be moral, to be just we must engage in both sides,
society and Individually, to be consider moral, to be consider just…
if our government has engaged in immoral, unjust actions or laws,
we are equally immoral and unjust…
Kropotkin