{"id":3823,"date":"2014-04-24T14:34:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-24T19:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/?p=3823"},"modified":"2014-04-24T14:34:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-24T19:34:00","slug":"social-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/heavy-stuff\/social-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Justice."},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was prompted by a tweet by Candace Brown. It read, “I TIRE of stereotypical stories of us just sittin’ round collecting welfare checks. That is not a ‘black’ problem..its a POVERTY problem<\/em><\/strong>”<\/p>\n

I have long wondered how the world has become so disconnected with the awful reality in which we find ourselves. While my current experience is within the USA, I believe the problem is worldwide. What problem?<\/em><\/strong> The widening gap between the wealthy and the poor.<\/p>\n

Everywhere I look, I find that the poor are held to blame by pervasive, society-wide anti-social rhetoric. What do I mean? Think about the things we\u2019re told with such constant, implicit vehemence they begin to gain credence. We\u2019re not told these things by our friends, who should be the people we trust. We aren\u2019t even told them by the mass-media, who should be the people we trust the least. {Why? Because the mass-media is not \u201cpeople\u201d, the mass-media is amoral corporations who have no qualms about lying outright.}\u00a0 No one in their right mind would ever come out and say something so blatantly stupid as, \u201cThe poor are to blame for crime.<\/em><\/strong>\u201d\u00a0 No, we aren\u2019t actually told such things outright. However, they are implied<\/strong> with truly frightening frequency.<\/p>\n

Think how many times you\u2019ve seen coverage of the allegedly widespread criminal activity taking place all around us. Now look at the video with a close, skeptical eye. Notice how often low income housing appears. Notice how often people of color predominate. What is the unspoken message? That \u201cthose people\u201d are the problem.<\/p>\n

Look at the statistics of people incarcerated.\u00a0 You can\u2019t help but note how minorities make up the majority of convicted criminals. What is the unspoken message? That \u201cthose people\u201d are the problem.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t even begin to count the number of times I\u2019ve seen coverage of people selling their food-stamps for pennies on the dollar in order to gain access to alcohol or drugs. These stories are invariably followed by a public outcry. What is the unspoken message? That \u201cthose people\u201d should not be getting public assistance.<\/p>\n

And the list goes on… Actually, with me the list does not go on. I don\u2019t buy any of the nonsense the mass-media tries to force feed me. What I see in each of these scenarios is this:-<\/p>\n

There is nowhere near as much crime as the media portrays.<\/strong> Period. In any given group of people there are going to be a small percentage of rotten apples. This is undeniable. Let me reiterate. ANY<\/strong> given group of people, white, yellow, brown, or black. Where is the coverage of the white-collar criminal who steals the life savings from hundreds or thousands of people? Show us the footage of fancy houses, in fancy suburbs, whose fancy driveways are filled with fancy cars. Oh wait, the mass-media won\u2019t do that because of fancy lawyers who will sue them for fancy damages. The bottom line is that we don\u2019t hear about crimes from people with the wealth to buy freedom from prosecution. Simply because we don\u2019t hear about them doesn\u2019t mean they aren\u2019t there.<\/p>\n

Incarcerated minorities.<\/strong> Yes, a truly disproportionate number of convicted criminals are minorities. Why? Because a vastly larger percentage of minorities are criminals than the white majority? No, I\u2019m willing to bet that exactly the same percentage of people are criminally inclined in any racial or ethnic group. So then why? Because they are the ones who cannot afford legal representation. Because they are easy marks for a system desperate to find someone to blame, convict, and hold up to a public eye hungry for “justice”. Because being hard on petty crime is much easier than being effective against the really serious criminals. However this statistical anomaly also raises another, extremely troubling question. Why does this bastion of freedom deprive more of its people of their freedom than virtually any other country? {Indeed, the USA jails a greater percentage of its citizens than all but two countries in the entire world.\u00a0 Including dictatorships and various other extremely oppressive forms of government.}<\/p>\n

Selling food-stamps for pennies on the dollar.<\/strong> Outrageous! Actually, almost unbelievable. Make that completely unbelievable. Does it happen? I don\u2019t doubt it for a moment. What I do doubt is that it is the poverty stricken who do this. I suspect the criminals, from that small, uniform percentage across all racial and ethnic groups, are the ones taking advantage of a broken system.<\/p>\n

Let us talk about Robin Hood.<\/h2>\n

Sadly, the much lauded tale of Robin Hood is a two edged sword.\u00a0 A two-edged sword of which both edges cut the poor in defense of the rich.<\/p>\n

The mythical sword’s first edge raises a false hope of social justice in uncounted people, for everyone likes to think they have a chance of improving their lot.\u00a0 And if that improvement comes at penalty to the obscenely wealthy then so much the better.\u00a0 The German word,\u00a0“Schadenfreude<\/a>“, describes this rather well.<\/p>\n

The mythical sword’s second edge grants crooks a siren song to sing to the unwary, a song that I have oft heard repeated. It goes something like this, \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t take from the rich, in order to give to the poor.<\/em>\u201d Another version follows this refrain, \u201cThough you can take from the rich and give to the poor, doing so doesn\u2019t lift the poor from poverty, it only removes wealth from the rich.<\/em>\u201d Have you ever heard some variation on this song? No doubt you have, however let me ask you this… How many times have you heard of a rich person being stripped of their wealth in order that the poor might benefit? I know precisely and exactly how many times I have. Zero. It just does not happen. Ever. Not even in wartime.\u00a0 Not even during the most violent of revolutions.<\/p>\n

I tire of hearing that the poor will always be with us.\u00a0 Perhaps in an unenlightened world that might have been true, but no excuse for it remains.\u00a0 If we are ever to eliminate poverty, then we must stop implicitly blaming the poverty stricken for being trapped in circumstances from which there is no chance of escape.<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t going to happen until the richest stop stealing from the poorest.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Social justice isn't about taking from the rich
to "give" to the poor,
it's about stopping the rich from pillaging the poor.<\/p>\n

— C.G.Ayling (@CGAyling) April 24, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n