1) Scruton, in 'Fools, Frauds & Firebrands', discuses social justice (SJ) in the 1st chap, 'What is Left?' He says it is the professed goal of leftists, which is no longer equality before the law or equal rights of citizenship, but rather:
2) . . . the comprehensive rearrangement of society, so that privileges, hierarchies, & even the unequal dist. of goods are either overcome." (4) It is an egalitarian mentality that decries all inequality in property, leisure, legal privilege, social rank, ed. oppor. etc. as bad.
3) He says: "In this way 'social justice' becomes a barely concealed demand for the 'clean sweep' of history that revolutionaries have always attempted." SJ is the goal & liberation is the means. Revolution thus becomes both necessary & justifiable.
4) Of course, it is not obvious how liberation & SJ can be compatible, just as it was never obvious how the goals of the French Revolution - equality & liberty - can be reconciled. He says: "If liberation involves the liberation of individual potential . . .
5) . . . how do we stop the ambitious, the energetic, the intelligent, the good-looking & the strong from getting ahead, & what should we allow ourselves by way of constraining them?" This is an unanswerable question.
6) Partisans of SJ cannot answer it so they evade it by declaring war on traditional hierarchies, which obscures the impossibility of its declared goals. SJ functions as a justification for its partisans to seize power over others. Power is the goal b/c w/o it the rev. fizzles.
7) The church should be wise enough to recognize how the lang. of SJ functions in leftist rhetoric & not fall for the deception. Jordan Peterson is correct when he suggests that equality of oppor. is good, but equality of outcome is one of the most destructive ideas in the world.
8) As Peterson reminds us & Scruton knows, hierarchies are not all bad. Hierarchies of competence are essential for functioning societies. Of course they can be corrupted, but so can any other good & useful thing.. That does not mean breaking them all down will improve anything.
9) SJ is never clearly defined & that is on purpose. It is a slogan used to evoke emotion & manipulate people by bypassing their reason. It is a form of Orwellian Newspeak & therefore a phrase that Xians ought to avoid. We have better words to say everything we need to say.
