Michael F Schundler
2 min readOct 22, 2023

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Social Justice should be very simple... to be socially just it must meet some basic rules...

First and foremost, humans and their property deserve protection against violence and theft. The concept of fairness never involves harming others or diminishing them for one's own benefit. Hurting people and damaging their property intentionally is inherently unjust.

Secondly, social justice means the legal system treats everyone the same. No preference for income status, skin color, political party, etc. It can't be just, if its discriminatory. Nor is justice about "getting even", but rather protecting people against those that can't respect others.

Thirdly, social justice cannot focus on or force equity. Equity is inherently unjust and forcing it is inherently corrupt. Equity fails to recognize effort and so it punishes those that strive to achieve and rewards those that do not, even if produces a more equal distribution of goods and services. No society of any size has ever thrived under such a system.

Fourth, social justice recognizes that our society is inherently unfair, a black child born to wealthy college educated family is going to have an inherent advantage over a white child born to a single mother in Appalachia. A just society cannot change that... but it can take steps to insure that poor child has access to a good education and the ability to realize his or her full potential. The same is true of minority children born into similar difficult family circumstances.

Fifth, a just society can monitor the outcomes of different groups of people to identify and address discrimination. The poor Asian child, who was told that if he or she earned a scholarship by studying hard, would not be denied that opportunity because to many other Asian students got scholarships and the school has a quota. The same is true of the African American being denied a promotion because the company intends to fill the position with a less qualified Hispanic to meet its diversity targets. Disproportionate outcomes in society based on merit are not a problem, disproportionate outcomes based on skin color are.

In other words, social justice is ensuring the unalienable human rights granted to each individual by the Creator are respected and when they are not, the punishment for those that violate the human rights of others is equal and appropriate. Social justice cannot guarantee happiness, but it can pave the way for each person to pursue it.

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