Up@dawn 2.0 (blogger)

Delight Springs

Friday, December 8, 2023

LH Chapter 5 Injustice Final Report Blogpost

 Jeremy Johnson

Professor Oliver

PHIL 1030 Section 11

8 December 2023

LH Chapter 5 Injustice Final Report Blogpost

    In chapter 5 of Life Is Hard by Kieran Setiya, he discusses the issue of injustice and how we can take steps to solving relevant injustices we face in our world today. The chapter begins with Kieran describing a night when he is scrolling on his phone in the year of 2020. On his phone, he is flooded rapidly with devastating news stories including topics such as police brutality, political gridlock, and natural disasters. These are all examples of real injustices that we faced in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Kieran describes this never-ending series of horrible news as "doomscrolling," and feels helpless to change the problems we face. I can relate to his feelings in a sense that it does seem improbable to make a significant difference by yourself on certain world-wide issues.

    When we choose to take action against unjust principles, these actions may bring consequences in the future. An example of this would be the Black Lives Matter protests that arose in 2020 that resulted in the deaths of many innocent Americans. Kieran proposed a question asked by the famous philosopher, Plato, which was "Why concern oneself with justice when solidarity brings pain?" He answered this question by saying, "We care about justice, or pretend to care, only because we are afraid of being caught." I believe this quote can be interpreted best by asking yourself this question: If I don't stand up or participate in this injustice, will I be frowned upon by others? I think to most, the opinion of what others think and how they will respond goes into consideration far more than the unjust cause someone is choosing to fight for. This article dives in deeper on how social influence and the dynamics of our society play a role in how we construct opinions and hold values on controversial topics.

    When it comes time to take action to injustices, we must find a starting point. Kieran believes in order to understand unjust issues we face; we must learn and find ways to bring about change to them. Since our world is not a replica of Plato's Utopia, we must accept the obstacles in our society for what they are instead of wishing things could be different. Another aspect of bringing change is remembering that change comes in a series of steps. We may not see that change in a year, ten years, or even our lifetime, but contributing little efforts at a time will eventually add up and make the world a better place for future generations. Setiya said himself, "There is value in a single step toward justice, and one step leads to another."

    I thought this image was a good representation for what steps to solving injustices may look like. When considering the long list of unjust topics in the world today, change is not something that can take place over night. Take climate change for example, that is an issue we are taking action towards now in the present but is a process that will take generations to resolve. This picture shows that process as it depicts the numerous amounts of steps you must take to reach success. I also feel that getting over the initial step of debating to take action and simply just choosing to take action is the hardest part in the process of making a change. This image portrays that claim as "Step 1" is the largest step in the photo.

    So, what can we take away from chapter 5 of Life Is Hard? Well for starters, we can all agree that injustices are an unfortunate part of our world today. No matter how relevant one issue may be in a given day, injustices are much bigger problems and are matters that take time, effort, and collaboration to bring necessary change to society. The best way to tackle these problems is to look at the bigger picture and realize the series of strides you take to bring change will only add up as time passes. We must also realize that failure is an aspect that should be accepted when it comes to solving unjust problems. It is simply not realistic to never fail in any aspect of life in general, so when it comes to coming up short in terms of bringing change, it is something that needs to be understood. I will leave you with a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. in the image below, that truly illustrates the whole idea of how coming together and taking steps towards injustices can make all the difference.

 



    

     

        

1 comment:

  1. "He answered this question by saying, "We care about justice, or pretend to care, only because we are afraid of being caught."-- To be clear, the "he" in question is neither Plato nor Setiya. It's Plato's character Glaucon, who doesn't really care about justice at all. Those who really do care about justice are less concerned about "the opinion of what others think"...

    Good point made by that cartoon, the first step in the right direction often is the steepest. We just have to keep moving in the right direction, once we've started to move.

    MLK also said the arc of history is long, but bends towards justice. Well, it does if we bend it.

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