“Velvet gloves for some, mailed fist for others.”
Yet the “some” and “others” here are not whom i expected or would agree. Once we concede an unjust, discriminatory society, it’s easy for any of us, thru the lens of our own hardships + resentments, to see ours as the raw deal 1/
Yet the “some” and “others” here are not whom i expected or would agree. Once we concede an unjust, discriminatory society, it’s easy for any of us, thru the lens of our own hardships + resentments, to see ours as the raw deal 1/
It's worth recalling that the "makers" vs "takers" meme evolved during a period when racial injustice was so far off the political agenda that the President had to exercise extreme diplomacy for even hinting at taking it seriously (e.g. beer summit, Trayvon Martin). 2/
There will never be a society that's actually just across every conceivable dimension or social fissure. But social peace depends on getting close enough that "equal justice under the law" is a fiction nearly all of us are willing to pretend to, to let guide our behavior. 3/
Getting to that point requires a political consensus that both justice and social peace are desirable. 4/
I fear very much that the way our politics are structured, increasing both the perception and the reality of injustices that are salient to the two parties' bases is now a dominant strategy for political entrepreneurs. 5/
Our two political coalitions are like fossil fuel companies, working for their own (and to a lesser degree their own base's) benefit while as a side effect their profitable enterprise burns down the world. 6/
There are desperately real injustices that demand remedy. But equal justice, albeit never perfect, has got to be the goal. 7/
I fear we are getting to a place where even phrase equal justice conjures tacit scare quotes, where material victories for our coalition (on whichever side we stand) are taken as inherently virtuous and just given the injustices that are most salient to us. 8/
That's a prescription for continual conflict. To achieve a just social peace, we absolutely need remedy of real injustice. But we also need to emphasize a vision of justice grounded in universals. 9/
The struggle for justice need not be a zero-sum game, a civil war. Progress towards a just society, where people are secure in their rights and their necessities, should be a victory for all of us. /fin
