What Does "Social Justice" Mean to You?

If there's O. thing I'm really sick of, it's the assertion that the left wants to "redistribute" the wealth. I don't think social justice is the "haves" giving to the "have nots," it's about EVERYONE following the same rules, tax, social, educational, etc.

Social justice is about equal rights and opportunities in all aspects of society. Not equal rights and opportunities for those that can afford them.

Case in point...if you're in trouble and need legal representation, chances are a better lawyer (read: expensive, prestigious) will get you a better result than a free, overworked public defender. The good news? You get representation. The bad news? In most cases, you get what you pay for. O. small example.

And Amen, Sue W! Very nicely put.

It's very obvious that a very small percentage in this country "decide" (i.e. BUY, politically) what is in their best interest.

To me "liberty and justice for all" has nothing to do with any religion. It is the concept of fairness and opportunity for all who live in this country. It is still aspirational, because we as a society have not yet achieved this ideal. This ideal will be achieved when the majority in this country decide that is it valuable to them and worthy of supporting financially.

In this country, the amount of money you have still determines the quality of your education, the quality of your health care, the quality of the food you eat, and the amount of opportunity that you have to live a comfortable life.

There is enough for all here, we are a wealthy country. That wealth is becoming more and more concentrated among smaller and smaller numbers of people. This leaves the perception that there is not enough, which leads to more hoarding and less generosity.

If all conservatives and christians (or followers of any religion) were so busy giving to and caring for the poor and needy, then we wouldn't have poor and needy people in this country by now. But we do. So, our government, by and for the people (all of us, in other words) needs to support those in need.

The majority can never be put in charge of voting for the rights and welfare of the minority - that's why we have a representative government - so the rights and needs of all can be accounted for.

I am someone who has had to remove any Political affiliation. I am now trying to figure out what this means for me being an American.

Here is my take on things as I see them right now.

The Right is very misguided. Hypocritical in nature and over all very hard to please. This is what happens when Politics is no longer Politics....and You are allowed to let personal emotion lead the way you do things... Especially when the emotions are about personal religious views.

They shout that the liberals are against religious freedoms. When in fact they could not be more wrong in the way they are screaming. We value everyone having their own beliefs and feel they should not play apart in how we govern our country.

WHAT they see as stomping on religious freedoms is the fact that we are willing to say there are MANY different religions out there...AND CHRISTIANITY is not the only thing we are living for.

Once they back off and realize there are different versions of every bible and not every one reads it to the literally point of stoning ones wife for adultery....Then we will be able to maybe work on the religious issues and differences.

So with regards to religion they are the only ones suppressing the freedom to choose ones own religion and god.

I am also against organized religion. It is sets a standard for greed.

I have examples for this....My mom and dad have gone to the same church my whole life. They have always given very generously when they can.

Two years ago the church had decided to add a 4 million dollar extension onto its 10 million dollar fortress.

My parents at the time had said they could pledge 10k to help with the new building. Then they fell on some hard times. My dad was not working and they needed the money they had pledged for house payments. For over 8 months the Treasury called and harassed my parents for the money they had pledged. Each time my mom had to break down and explain to him yet again why the money was not coming to them.

what happened was the building ended up costing more then the projected cost. So my parents being in a hard spot made them mad because they could no longer give of themselves for the churches cause.

Religion is not in a building. It is not in a phew. It is not in the hymnals.

It is your every day actions. It is in what you say and what yo do.

It is going to take us completely gutting and rebuilding our Governing system.

Some may say that is impossible. Yet we have done it before...With less means to make it happen.

We are never going to see reasonable change that benefits this country as a whole with the President or running Candidate....Or the congress we have now.

When you have a republican party who has signed a death certificate for the middle class..There is no hope coming from the right for relief....

But if you look into the Democratic party they are also tainted with bad doings...Monsanto ring a bell for anyone....Even though many Dems would say they do not agree with Monsanto's Practices many of them have either worked directly FOR or involving the Monsanto Corporation...Hillary Clinton being one of them.

It is going to take the collective everyday citizens as a whole to get over all the fighting and start working together for change.

I see this as being a very defeating task when we are still fighting over who people can marry. How people control their births(or lack of wanting them)........

Social Justice is when EVERYONE is completely free. Where profits should not beat someone having a decent quality of life.

I think the problem is the media is blurring what Social anything means. They want it to have a negative feeling when you hear the word....Because it could cut into profits.

We need to have the tower flip over...So that we are not aiding the richest people in the world and leaving those who can not find there own way out in the cold.

you hear the right say we need to cut Social welfare...What about Corporate welfare? Why do Oil Companies need the subsides they do....To keep prices down?? BULL...Because they are raking in RECORD PROFITS...That means the amount they bring in after they have paid all of their bills...The only thing that they need the subs for is to pocket more of our money.

It is going to take people reaching inside themselves and realizing that we are all here for a short time. That time should not be spent competing to see he can make it with the most stuff. It should not be spent trying to out do one another.

If my existence here hurts anyone..Then what good has my life been?

We were not put here to profit. We were not put here to generate wealth. These are truths I have come to believe.

There is nothing shameful about a soup line...It just means you rather not eat totally alone...In fact we all could learn a few things from something as humbling.

If Social Justice is what this country needs we are not going to find it from the RIGHT OR the LEFT. They have proven not to really give a damn either way.

We will need to find it within ourselves. We need to be fed up enough to stop the status quo of fighting about the same old stuff. they do this to keep us mad. Divided we fall to the way side much faster.

I would like to see this as the falling of Capitalism. The Two party system and the way we have done things for decades. I am ready to rewrite the way things have been done.

Where do we start? How about bringing criminal charges to those who knowingly cause the mess we are in in the first place(Those Wall Street wonder boys and Girls we never hear by name...Only by Profession). They have done a good job making sure we blame each other and not those who are truly to blame.....Let's start there and we can work our way down........Bush, Cheney and a few of your friends would not be far down from the TOP of this list as well...

No really....Where do we begin? I am ready for the fight.....Put me on the front lines of fixing this stuff:)

I think social justice is a complex concept that encompasses historic issues, issues of rights, oppression, freedom, equitable education, access to information/knowledge, access to a safe and healthy environment, and an overall goal to ensure justice for all members of society. Sometimes there are road blocks to obtaining what I see as basic human rights, such as access to truthful information, a competitive, honoring and welcoming educational environment, and a safe and healthy living environment. When such road blocks, such as systematic oppression, unfair laws, and practices that are in violation of basic human rights occur, I believe we as a society must stand up to work against these violations and ultimately work toward a more just world.

Social Justice is a meaningless phrase for me. It's one of those things that is linked to so nebulous a set of ideas that it can be used to mean anything. And often is. By any individual or side. It's murky. Neither a rallying cry, nor clearly defined set of goals or limits, nor fluid document, nor thing to stand strongly against, nor thing to fight. It's redundant.

Ideas are powerful. People can work with an idea, though the meaning changes with each person. Equality is an idea.

Goals and limits are powerful. People can work with them. Working towards them. Following them, breaking them. Changing them. Rebelling against them. Laws are an example of goals and limits.

Fluid documents outline a structure of ideas, goals, and limits. The change as we do... But keep us held to our own standards. The constitution, and every holy book, is a fluid document.

What we are willing to stand against, or to fight for... Are always, always, always SIMPLE things. We believe 'it' to be wrong, or 'it' to be right. There is comfort in simple things. In things that touch our core so strongly that we reduce it to a moral imperative: right or wrong.

What IS social justice?

How is it any different from what we already have? How is it more than 'rebranding'' the powerful with the vague and obscure? Something too large, too confused, to impel any kind of fidelity? Obfuscation.

I don't see it. I don't feel it. I cannot think of it any way that is not some sort of hodgepodge swirled together mishmash of 'no one really knows'.

So to me it's meaningless, or perhaps worse. Give me something simple, clear, direct. Something that impels action, instead of bogging it down. Any truly great thing can be described in a single sentence, and is why 'brevity is the soul of wit'.

((Try it. You can describe the constitution, the bible, love, victory, hate, equality, liberty, time travel, and every GOOD novel or play ever written, etc. all in a single all encompassing sentence. But social justice? It just repeats. It's redundant.))

from Sue's post...

~~The majority can never be put in charge of voting for the rights and welfare of the minority - that's why we have a representative government - so the rights and needs of all can be accounted for. ~~

This is also why we cannot have the Presidential election decided by the popular vote! It is beyond me that there are so many people that argue that it should be popular vote, not representative! Seriously wonder if they have no real clue as to just what the actual outcomes of such could be ... they might not be too happy then even tho they voted it in! We have the best system there is - if we will properly use it!

Wow, great question... I wish I could define it, but my views are continually changing... It is easy to be idealistic when you believe that everyone makes ideal choices. Some would say that I've become jaded, but I feel like I've become more of a realist. Just because everyone has the right to vote doesn't mean that everyone values that right, learns about the candidates and diligently goes to the polls to cast a vote. Just because everyone has the right to an education doesn't mean that everyone works hard to learn as much as possible each and every day. Don't get me wrong, I still believe that social justice requires that all of our citizens have these rights. I just wish I had more answers for making more meaningful impact, for moving from entitlement to incentives that really make sense, for shifting from discussions about "justice" to expecting real "improvement" in the lives of every American. Yes, the means are the hard part...