justice

There is a universal longing for justice.

I feel it every day. Though, unlike most, I remain skeptical of the institutions and ideas which promise it. Many religions promise justice. There’s the heaven and hell dichotomy; in which one is forever punished or rewarded for their earthly actions. There’s also reincarnation; wherein the being that you take on in the next life is commensurate with your actions in your life now. Failing faith in a life after this one; there’s the idea of karma. Even outside of hindu circles, It’s exemplified with popular wisdom that “what goes around comes around”(cypress hill even wrote a song about it).

Not everyone can have enough faith in these things to find comfort. That’s why people established justice systems. In case you’ve been lucky enough to not have to wrestle with them, justice systems are a combination of investigations, trials, and judgements; all controlled by humans, that carry on work in an attempt to punish the guilty. I hope you agree that humans are more effective at doling out justice than religion; which doesn’t do anything. However, religion’s ineffectiveness is what it has over human systems. There is no mistaken guilt, and no innocent people are published by nothing.

Which begs the question. Is justice possible? As much as I’d like to say “yes”(I actually typed “sometimes” first), the answer is no. Religious attempts to bring justice are baseless wishful thinking. Any religious idea of justice can be safely augmented with “wouldn’t it be nice if...” beforehand. Human attempts at justice fail. Eye-for-any-eye, or eye-for-a-damn-head approaches only perpetuate a cycle of revenge and bloodlust that innocent people get tangled in. Restitution is limited to material, and can never correct traumatic memories and ensuing psychological pain. Imprisonment only puts wrong-doers together so they do wrong to each other, and typically radicalizes them if they are ever to be released. All of these attempts fail on a more basic level: They can’t undo what was done.

Just as justice is impossible for a victim, redemption is impossible for a perpetrator. The perpetrator has always violated the rights of another, no matter how sorry they are, how much the pay, how much time they serve, or even if they burn in a lake of fire. As long as people are doing wrong to each other, which will happen indefinitely, there can never be justice.

The only thing you can use to fight the wicked is to not be one of them, not support them, and defend yourself and those around you from them.