Monday, May 2nd
What is justice? How would you define justice in your own words? What would be examples of a just government? Of an unjust government?
Please write a minimum of a full paragraph and use concrete examples to prove your argument.
Today we have learned about the death of Osama bin Laden. Feel free to examine 9/11, the war on Afghanistan and the killing of bin Laden in your response. You can use this blog post to process this significant current event if want.
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Justice is complete fairness. A just government will have equal rights for people and will not take away rights of people who don't deserve them being taken away. A just government will also always tell the truth and won't withhold important information from people. An unjust government creates laws that are not needed and takes more money than they need from people. A government needs to peacefully protect it's people. War is not a fair thing, since so many innocent people die and leave their families and friends behind without a very important part of their life.
I believe that justice is making things right. The ends always justifies the means. TO justify something doesn't mean you're doing the right thing ALL the time, but in the end it's better for a plural number of people, even if one gets hurt. I believe that killing Osma was the right thing to do. He hurt many people and was an ultimate threat. So his death helped others. It's just like utilitarianism.
Justice is when all is equal, right, and fair. Nothing and no one is excluded, and nothing is biased against someone or something. To me, a just government would be set up where democracy is a true policy. Citizens get to choose what they want to see change, as well as what they would like to stay the same, and political leaders would be there as a middle ground for people, not as a single deciding factor. An unjust government would be where political rulers do as they please, and make laws/rules without consulting the people. The political leaders would also make decisions without seeing what the people thought.
Justice is when someone gets a fair consequence for their actions. Justice isn't always the result of negative actions. If someone saves another person's life, they might get justice from earning an award in their honor. Sometimes justice is the result of a negative action. Some might say that justice will come if a murderer gets the death penalty. Some people equate justice to a result that makes things right. A person who had been physically harmed might say that they would get justice if their abuser had to "pay" for his or her actions. Something that is "just" is fair. It is not the cause of a biased opinion or idea. Justice is important, because it can help to make the world more fair.
Justice is handing out consequences to punish people for crimes they have committed. A just government prosecutes offenders and imposes punishments that fit the severity of the crime. An unjust government is one that has rules that limit civil rights and liberties and then places excessive punishments. An unjust government would have excessively harsh punishments that are excessive and can be considered cruel and unusual. If a criminal is found guilty of a mass murdering spree, the government should have the legal and investigative means to catch and prosecute the offender and then imprison them for their crimes. An unjust government would have severe limitations and laws that include complete restriction of religion and free speech and then impose the death penalty or torture as the punishment.
Justice is undefinable as love. No one answer will be correct for all people, and thus every ounce of justice that is pronounced from on high is unjust to someone. Every body of government must, at one time or another, decide what is right and wrong in their society, and proclaim the punishments for those actions. This is not justice, it is merely a way of keeping order in their states. Justice can only be administered by an objective higher authority, that knows in truth what is right and wrong. Thus, the only being capable of pronouncing justice is a Godlike being who created the rules of their universe. And such a being has never been proven to exist, nor do they interfere with daily affairs, and so no true justice can occur. And even that supreme being cannot be in all cases just, as any person could consider their own moral philosophy to be separate from that of that being, and thus it would be impossible for that being to be just.
In the dictionary, justice is to treat equally and to act with moral rightness. To me, however, justice is a reciprocated reaction to an initial positive or negative action. A just government is one that allows freedom of its people when the people show that they can handle it. If a society cannot handle the freedoms appropriated unto them, a government has to step in and the effects (hopefully positive) are the result of the people’s actions. As in America, the people here act like adults (the majority) and so are treated as such in accordance with the legal system. An unjust system would prosecute as they please, possibly taking bribes to let criminals off the hook but letting the impoverished waste away without due process because they can’t pay. Being just comes from an inner sense of honor and morality; a morally weak person is more likely to be unjust than the morally strong.
Justice is when someone who has done major harm has been punished. Either a major criminal getting years in prison or someone being put to death. A just government is one that does not just go and kill people for doing anything wrong but to determine the punishment that is right for the crime. Such as shoplifting, you would not get put to death for that but there would some form of punishment. But when someone is a serial killer then they should get a harsher punishment. A unjust government is one that will go out and try to fear others and their own people.
Justice is the concept of moral rightness based on ethics along with punishment if any unethical behavior is acted upon. I believe that justice occurs when an action causes the government or another person to take action against the person who committed the action. The person could have done the action with either good or bad intentions, but either way if the action was unethical, I believe that justice has occurred when they are punished. A just government is a government that acts fairly, but isn't afraid to punish a person for their actions. An unjust government is one that doesn't listen to both sides of a story, or one that does not have the country's best interest at heart. I believe that the recent events that have transpired have brought justice to the eyes of many Americans. The capture and death of Osama Bin Laden has brought closure to many families that lost loved ones in the September attacks against America. I don't think that this has magically solved all our problems and that the war is over, but we finally got what we originally came for. Because of that, I can honestly say that justice has been served.
In my opinion, justice is the action of taking away opportunistic power. When someone commits a crime, justice is served by taking control or power away from their situation. For example, when someone commits a murder, they are sent to jail. They are stripped of their “freedom” in our society. Similarly, when someone gets prosecuted for a speeding violation, they are required to pay a fine which hinders their financial status. Justice may be more powerful or relevant depending on the person. People enjoy being in control of their lives, justice serves as a punishment to legitimize a persons wrong doings in society.
What is justice? How would you define justice in your own words? What would be examples of a just government? Of an unjust government?
Justice is equal requital for an act one makes, whether it's good for a good act or bad for a bad act. For example, justice would be both tax credit for donating to charity and also a legal punishment for a illegal crime. A just government would make sure that a majority at the very least (a high majority ideally) of people who do substantial good for society are recognized and rewarded, while the opposite also occurs for people who do substantial bad. The substantial part is what, I would argue, comes into play most often in our society. And unjust government, to put it simply, would not fulfill those criteria, to whatever degree that meant, whether it meant low recognition or actually backwards retribution.
I think justice is when someone is rightly punished for transgressions that they have committed. A just government would make 100% sure that a person is guilty before they suffer the consequences. I say an unjust government wouldn't put much effort into proving that a person is guilty and would just imprison someone to end the problem. Another example of an unjust government would be if they punished someone wrongly just to satisfy the press.
Justice is the correct punishment for transgressions deiced by earthier the victim or a group of people society. In my own words i define justice as getting the correct payback for the person who was harmed. A just government would be given a person life in prison for killing another person. An unjust government is giving someone the death penalty for killing a person.
justice is fairness, or to me justice is like karma, if you do something wrong it will come back to you. An unjust government does things like make slaves of people and deny there people information that could be important or relevant to the people. A justified government does things like try creating programs to help the less fortunate, and have laws about punishments like the Death penalty. The death penalty is different in each state government, but there not going to have it for things like grand theft auto, that would not be justice. But there are some people in the world that do not deserve to live, but everyone does deserve there chance.
I’d say the most simple way I could define justice is simply: being fair. In the book, Rawls says that a government where the citizens have natural rights and are entitled to land/choice as long as it doesn’t violate the rights of others, is a just one, and he gives FDR's New Deal as an example of a "just gov't,"
Anyhow, to reflect on Osama bin Laden, I think that while clearly a lot of Americans think we've reached a fair conclusion with his death, we should demonstrate to the world that we take the act of killing another human, even if he was madman, seriously and that such action was taken only as a very last resort. I've never been very fond of the whole "eye for an eye" idea, but I think a lot of Americans feel as though this serves as justice. But maybe instead of celebrating, or feeling as though we've "won," we should treat this event with sobriety and see it for what it really is: the unfortunate (but just) consequence for someone who has killed 3000ish innocent humans.
I think that justice is a very hard concept to define really, what one person calls justice, another could call otherwise. Plus we use "justice" to justify everything. I think really what we expect from justice is that whatever is due, is done. But then you have to debate what is due, and what needs doing? This is what complicates that answer to the point that it becomes impossible to have one clear answer fo everyone. Google's definition is: "Just behavior or treatment" and "The quality of being fair and reasonable." But what people will quantify and legitimize these definitions with vary greatly.
In my own words, I think I'd say that it was essentially revenge. What actually separates the ideas? We can hardly justify something without having prior reason and motivation in certain act. Someone "wrongs" us, we "wrong" them harder; boom, justice. Which is wrong motivation, but there is hardly anything that separates the two ideas.
When a nation is "just" it's in their own eye, not all foreign nations are going to agree. I think more Americans agree that we are a just nation, but plenty, and maybe even I, disagree with that. We're crazy, and constantly debate what is in our own practices and what is "justice" in the end. I just don't think that there is a clean cut definition that can actually safely, and surely define what justice is. Justice the word, sure, but justice the entity, the practice, and idea are things that are going to be constantly argue and things that are going to stir with the turning ideas of the governments and individuals that they reign over.
Justice can be defined as ensuring fairness among all people. Justice should be the same for everyone, regardless of social class or outward differences. If someone kills another, the punishment should be the same for all people in the same situation. In a just government punishment for crimes would be given equally among all social classes, genders, races and ethnicities. Justice does not, however, mean an eye for an eye. The death penalty for murders may increase the safety and welfare of the people, but that does not constitute it as justice. An unjust government is one in which the elite are allowed more freedoms than the poor, and punishment for crimes are not distributed equally. In the case of Osama Bin-Laden, his death does not even come close to resolving the destruction he caused, and although his death may increase public safety, it was not justified. I believe killing for revenge is never right and since justice means equality among all people, that applies to terrorists as well.
Justice is a difficult concept to grasp. I believe that it represents the moral and ethical equivalent of whatever the unjust act was. This equivalent is variable to how immoral and unethical that act was. Justice can range from giving a person a zero for cheating on an exam or giving a person life imprisonment for homicide. A just government is a government that gives every individual the right to live their life to the fullest, without inhibiting the lives of others. An unjust government is one that does the exact opposite; it is one that takes rights away from individuals so they cannot live their life.
Justice is an attempt to define the best response to crime or wrongdoing. For some people this means an eye for an eye, for others it means that the perpetrator must take responsibility for their crimes. Justice varies from situation to situation and person to person. For example someone close to a murder victim might call the death penalty justice while the majority of the population would not. In government the line gets even more blurred as the concern becomes less of actual "justice" and more on preservation of order. For the government to function it must appear justified to its people and if it consistently gives harsh punishments for crimes in the name of justice eventually people will start to question what is better for society.
Justice is where everyone gets what they deserve. For something to be just if has to be fair, and the only way something can be fair is if everyone gets what they should. This goes for reward as well as punishment and is held widely by most schools of thought: Christianity has Heaven and Hell, Buddhism has Karma, and almost every society has created rules to punish those who do bad things. A just government would have to follow this sort of guideline: rewarding those who do good (contribute to the society that the government controls in this case) and punishing those who do bad (harm, hamper, or don’t contribute to the society). The government would also be under the idea of justice too. This means that the government would have to contribute as much to the society as it deserves, and the society must contribute to the government as much as it deserves. An unjust government would be one that takes more from the people than it gives back. An example of this is taxes: a just government collects them and in return offers services like protection, roads, education, health care, etc; where an unjust one would just collect taxes.
Hmmm. The big “J”. Well by the definition I would say it is doing what is right. Going from there how do we define what is right? What is appropriate in action and response. Justice is seeing that ought to be done is, and making it happen, whether that be the first action like protecting what is valued, or receiving reciprocity from someone who’s done you wrong. The tough part I believes comes in when you try to determine what the right reciprocity is. Is it the perpetrator’s life? Money? Jail time? Can the act be undone and if it can’t does anything make the wrongful act right? With this being so difficult an issue to discern, I would expect a government have established laws that are enforceable and punishable.
In regard to the recent assassination of Osama bin Laden I think this is both difficult to not support and hard not to celebrate. By that I’m not sure whether it can be called justified. The acts he is responsible for causing, particularly the September 11th terrorist attacks of 2001, immediately give a reason for his termination. However, does that actually make it right and proper to kill him? That sounds a lot like revenge and murder. Two wrongs don’t make a right and all that. Then to counter that view what of self-defense? Extrapolating that with the knowledge of his intents to inflict more atrocities on American lives, is eliminating him acceptable because we are protecting ourselves? Well this is heavy, and while I support pacifism when possible I am willing to take a utilitarian position on this and call it justified.
I had to answer a similar question on an AP test I recently took. Coincidence! Justice, according to Webster's Dictionary, is defined as: the quality of being just, impartial, or fair. I believe justice to be whatever an individual believes to be right. As America celebrates the death of Osama Bin Laden, the question of "Was assassinating him a way to justify the evils he's done upon other nations?" has been brought into play. Yes, a terrorist should be punished for his/her crimes. However, barbaric celebrations in America's streets and crude remarks on the subject are no appropriate way to celebrate a death. Moving on to governmental examples of justice... In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the Party was the power the governed the warring nation of Oceania. It suppressed the power of the individual and robbed rights and liberties from its people. An unjust government is one that overlooks personal and unalienable rights. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is democracy. Democracy considers the voice and power of the individual and grants it rights and responsibilities.
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