The concept of social justice has been around for quite a while now but it seems to have really gained momentum in our society recently. It has come to my attention so often lately that it has me thinking about what exactly is the objective of someone who touts this initiative. If you generally define the expression beginning with the word “social,” it refers to basic human co-existence or interaction among people. The word “justice” is commonly accepted to mean what is right, appropriate or deserved. This becomes realized when an unjust act is remedied and the victim is made whole again. It seems from a justice perspective that a person must be harmed by a specific person or entity, a careless action has been taken that directly impacts another and creates damages. This does not really fit the usage or the reality of the social justice message very well because there are avenues equally available to redress any such grievances that one commits on another. That leads me to consider the often cited ideal of equal opportunity as being the true objective of social justice in our nation, and the champions of this cause would probably agree that this is the central purpose of the agenda. However, this really does not hold up well either because there are too many examples of rags to riches stories from all walks of life from within our borders as well as immigrants from around the world that now make America their home. The availability of opportunity has been the primary distinguishing factor that has driven so many to our shores since our nation’s founding. There is no place on earth where one can realize their aspirations to a higher degree than right here in America and even the rest of the world would unlikely contest that thought. Numerous successes by immigrants who are naturally disadvantaged by language, customs and culture run contrary to any claims that opportunity is not available. Therefore, in the absence of specific wrongs being committed that require actual justice, and observing that opportunity apparently exists for those willing to actually pursue it, one is lead to conclude that neither is the real objective of social justice. The initiative likely has aspirations of a greater prize while still conveying the aforementioned motives as its aim.

The more plausible objective of the social justice movement is the unspoken goal of achieving income redistribution, a concept centered on equal result instead of equal opportunity. The concept of justice is asserted to portray the belief that some citizens among us rightfully deserve the same result as other more prosperous citizens and society has not delivered on that conviction, thus it is seen as an injustice that needs to be remedied. What makes this so attractive is that is requires no responsibility for one’s standing in life, it is too easy to play the victim proclaiming how unfair everything appears while expecting financial resolution under the pretext of justice. Equally disturbing to this thinking are the proponents of this mindset that actually believe this to be legitimate and expect one to compensate another only because they have attained wealth. The results are not perceived to be equal in our society, thus the remedy of reallocation is needed, and this can be accomplished while proclaiming it to be about equal opportunity. If it was really about equal opportunity and not equal result, then why is it not labeled social opportunity or something similar? A question that comes to mind is if all the money was equally redistributed tomorrow, would there still be a social justice movement in search of opportunity? If the answer is no, then ask yourself how long would it be before it resurfaces again. The answers are obvious and easily illustrate the true objective of social justice however malicious and absurd it may be.