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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJustice is a joke of an ideal. We shouldn't teach children to believe in it.
It's a bigger fairy tale than Santa Claus, and more damaging with the truth is learned.
Yeah, I'm having a bad day, but mostly because others are having WORSE days.
Flint gets poisoned. No justice.
No justice for Native Americans, African Americans....well, we all know the drill.
It seems like no matter how hard we fight, justice only slips further away.
I'm devoid of hope today.
onecaliberal
(32,485 posts)deathrind
(1,786 posts)Take a deep breath and if you live by a body of water Ocean/River/Stream go find a comfortable place to sit and let the soothing sounds of the waves breaking or water running by relax you and take your mind off the things you cannot control that or a nice piece of music works as well.
Coventina
(26,869 posts)I'd love to go sit by some moving water - I do find it soothing.
Sadly, I live in the Phoenix area, where there is no water, and the face of "Justice" is Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Fortunately, I can listen to synthesized water sounds on my computer.........
deathrind
(1,786 posts)Town lake is nice, if you can get there. I am in the same area. I completely understand your frustration with the so called "Americas Toughest Sheriff". The fact that he has remained in office so long is amazing, especially given the reporting done on him and his administration by New Times. He keeps sending his "chain gangs" to clean up the side of the road around Sun Lakes / Sun City, plus the lack of any real alternative candidate keeps him in office. But find some peace in the fact that eventually he will be gone in the not too distant future.
Hope your day has got better, have a good weekend.
First Speaker
(4,858 posts)...I used to believe this. Sometimes, I still do. But watching this country these days, I despair too--on my bad days. Then I get up off the floor and go try to fight the good fight again. But I'm 62, dammit...and I didn't think we'd slip this far back, with so (relatively) little opposition...
Warpy
(110,909 posts)even though the rich and powerful prevent it whenever they can.
You know, like peace and tolerance and respect, all the other things the rich and powerful despise.
SamKnause
(13,043 posts)Another big lie we were taught, was if you work hard you would have a decent life.
The working class has been sucked bone dry by monopolies, fees to numerous
to mention, ticketing by police , rentals for cable and satellite boxes, paying fines for police
when they are charged with wrong doing, phones in prisons that cost $25.00 for 10
minutes, insurance premiums, co-pays, interest rates on credit cards, pay day
lenders, furniture rent-a-centers, bank account fees, taxes on phone, cable, and
satellite bills, permits, the list goes on and on.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Iggo
(47,487 posts)Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)Some days it's worse than others. There are times when I think justice is the exception to the rule, and is occasionally achieved. The reason you know it is the exception and not the rule is because those small victories are celebrated in disproportion to what is actually accomplished. So often we'll hear about the "moral victory" being the winning point, when that's just a salve to our egos.
Then the more frequent days when I think justice is a concept invented by those in power to keep the rest of us busy aiming for this ever elusive ideal, that sounds desirable and appeals to our better conscience, but is largely unattainable and entirely dependent on the petty whims and arbitrary moods and prejudices of those in power.
Justice is dependent on law and subject to the biases of those who make law. Even with the best of intention laws, the lack of enforcement results in the lack of justice.
You can't take people out of the picture but justice should always take the vagaries of human nature into account - and start from a place where the impediments to justice (such as racism, sexism, power/money) are understood to be the antithesis of justice.
The thing is, some people will say we already have that or that that's what we are striving for - but I come from the position that this should not only be already well understood, but should have been long in practice.
I bought into the ideal of justice, and most days it feels like I got nothing more than bill of goods.
ancianita
(35,812 posts)more tragic than children and young people who jump straight from knowing nothing to believing nothing. The adults must set the example of hope.
Future generations need to see realities that give them hope and get them to want to be part of movements bigger than themselves.
Imagine what Michigan people who had no idea what their leaders were doing feel now. Imagine what other Michigan children are thinking about the adult world.
There is no alternative but to fight when all hope seems lost. Anger is a gift. Anger drives change. Hopelessness will kill your heart. Take heart.
And there is enough money and manpower to fix this so it won't ever happen again here, or in other parts of the country facing the same water system deteriorations.
http://www.amazon.com/Justice-Reader-Michael-J-Sandel/dp/0195335120/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1454116239&sr=1-5&keywords=Justice