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I've been thinking about this so often since the healthcare debacle that I can't believe I haven't written anything yet, but here goes:
I do not want to make the world fair.
It's impossible, first off. The starting inequalities are too vast and varied for a perfectly 'fair' society to ever be a just one. So I really don't care about whether things are fair or not -- I want things to be better for the most people possible, whether they 'deserve' it or not. I'd happily fund someone abusing the healthcare system if it also meant me and my neighbors were assured of care, or help out the homeless even though some of them might waste my help. I think it's a pivotal difference in the way of looking at societal problems, but I haven't run into many liberals willing to admit that they're actually not that concerned with the idea of fairness on an ideological level.
I do see lots of liberals trying to educate people about the idea of Privilege. That's really important. It's also immensely difficult to communicate, even to those who are seriously trying to understand it. And at it's root, it's all explaining the basic fact we all should have figured out as kids:
Life isn't fair.
I used to think that "life isn't fair" didn't excuse us from trying to make it so. Now I think that "life isn't fair" doesn't excuse us from trying to make it less fucked up.
I do not want to make the world fair.
It's impossible, first off. The starting inequalities are too vast and varied for a perfectly 'fair' society to ever be a just one. So I really don't care about whether things are fair or not -- I want things to be better for the most people possible, whether they 'deserve' it or not. I'd happily fund someone abusing the healthcare system if it also meant me and my neighbors were assured of care, or help out the homeless even though some of them might waste my help. I think it's a pivotal difference in the way of looking at societal problems, but I haven't run into many liberals willing to admit that they're actually not that concerned with the idea of fairness on an ideological level.
I do see lots of liberals trying to educate people about the idea of Privilege. That's really important. It's also immensely difficult to communicate, even to those who are seriously trying to understand it. And at it's root, it's all explaining the basic fact we all should have figured out as kids:
Life isn't fair.
I used to think that "life isn't fair" didn't excuse us from trying to make it so. Now I think that "life isn't fair" doesn't excuse us from trying to make it less fucked up.
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Date: 2011-02-27 02:10 am (UTC)From:I can't remember where I heard it, but my favorite explanation of what I want for the world is as follows: Work to make a world you'd be happy to be born into even if you didn't know ahead of time who you were going to be. It's an ideal, but one I like to work toward.
And I always want to try to explain that when I want to work for the greater good, THAT INCLUDES YOU AND ME, not just some nebulous concept of The People or something. I want to benefit as much as I want others to. But that's as hard to get across as Privilege.
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Date: 2011-02-28 08:38 pm (UTC)From:I like that 'thought experiment' way of testing ideas. If you had no notion at what level you'd be born...
It's true, it IS hard to convince people that there's such a thing as a non-selfless greater good! When I think of various things I've supported, the only negative to myself has been, maybe, a slight increase in property taxes. When you look at the benefits of, say, a more educated populace; more people off the street and therefore less desperate and dangerous; more people medically cared for including myself, neighbors and family... I needn't go on, you know this stuff. :) I def. want a better world for everyone including myself. :)