Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Why I Hate Social Justice

If any well-intentioned individual wants to help the world the first thing they must do is abandon any support for social justice. The reason? Social justice is a backward looking movement that focuses more on complaining about civilization than substantively solving its problems. Additionally, over the last ten years savvy capitalists have hijacked the movement to sell grungy hoodies and bad music to dissilusioned youths. Essentially, social justice has become an angry fad.

What is needed instead are pragmatic mechanisms that increase opportunity and development for all levels of society. Instead of notoriously ineffective gun buy back programs, why not use available funds for sports leagues? At a minimum, such organizations would give kids living in the shadow of gun violence a momentary respite from the chaos. Instead of lowering graduate school standards to allow for underprivileged applicants, why not dramatically increase salaries for inner-city teachers? Those schools would soon have the best and the brightest to replace their current Teach for America rookies. Instead of increasing city taxes to fund welfare programs, why not lower taxes and public programs to the point where private enterprise can't resist the area? Why not let freedom do what it does best, foster wealth and innovation?

The question will then be posed as to whether or not wealth indeed advances the cause of society and/or social justice. When considering this question, the fundamental purpose of social justice must be clearly articulated. Is it seeking equality or progress? If equality is the goal then yes, wealth handicaps social justice. If however, progress defined as literacy, health standards, and per capita GDP is the goal then increasing wealth is the only option. In the past 15 years China and India have become two of the most economically polarized nations in the world. The gap between their rich and poor is increasing at alarming rates, obviousely not good for equality. At the same time, the economic progress of China and India has lifted more than 500 million people out of poverty. This means more Chinese people are getting quality healthcare, more Indian women are entering the workforce, and more Asian children are going to bed with full stomachs. So while inequality is growing in every way, so too is quality of life. The only question that remains is what is the goal of social justice?

Some may use disdain for social justice as an excuse to ignore social problems. This would be a grave abuse of the argument. Social justice should be abandoned not out of ignorance or insensitivity, but because the movement is ineffective. Instead of lamenting capitalism, the activist should fully capitalize upon all that liberal society has to offer. What if the immigration rights protestor entered law school? What if the compassionate student applied to medical school? What if the entreupeneur went to business school? From these positions of influence one could then lead by example. The lawyer could donate pro-bono hours to immigrants living next door. The doctor could sacrifice a few thousand dollars to work in the inner-city. The businessman could invest his profits in the downtrodden neighborhood. In short, they can make a lasting impression on injustice. That is if they're not too busy with their gun buy back programs.

7 comments:

ben said...

good job pete.
say more.

Johnmark said...

Pete,

This is great! I really appreciate your post and your writing is extremely articulate.

It's funny because I have just been thinking about similar (though less well formed) thoughts in light of the upcoming election.

I.e. what do I really believe about taxes? etc. which flows right into the same questions.

You da man!

Johnmark

Unknown said...

Excellent thoughts...difficult reality! Keep thinking and writing that's where it all starts. megster

Jennifer Joss said...

I think you should quit med school and go into politics! Yeah, right! Why would anyone want to do that?!?! (No offense intended to anyone that may lean toward that arena - just crazy, I think!) Jen

Dosjon said...

You lost me at "grungy hoodies." That's all I wear these days.

JK

Good article. Consider me subscribed.

Aunt Kate said...

Is a graduate degree required to improve the position of the downtrodden? Are you destined to a life on ineffective ramblings if you don't dedicate 4 years to yet another dimploma? What if the law student dontaed their tuition dollars to send a Hatian child to 12 years of school?

Ryan said...

Good thoughts, Pete. And while you may flesh things out well I think you may have misrepresented both the ideals and ideas of social justice. I'm not sure we as Americans are aware of the disparity that exists economically in our own country, let alone in developing nations.
You also make the assumption that as the tide rises, so do all boats. I'm not certain this is the case. I think that in many cases the tide has risen so much for others that the disparity has drown out those whom were originally intended to be helped by the movement.
Now, I understand this could sound like socialism. And while I don't think it is necessarily the responsibility of America to do this (primarily because America is by no means a Christian nation, and as believers that is the last thing we would want anyway), I do think that there should be more responsibility within individual believers as well as the (C)hurch on the whole. I agree with Kate, 4 years of grad school can do a lot more in developing countries. With that said, I do feel the Lord can work in all disciplines and one called to be in law or medicine should do so; with the intent to serve others as Christ did.