正义
I am tired of rambling about inequality. I shall move on to another pet topic of mine.
"We the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people...democratic society, based on justice and equality..."
From a young age, we recite that almost every day, up till we leave uniformed schooling. Equality? Our Gini coefficient is 0.47-0.49. Get real. On to justice.
Justice is something I really believe in. Everyone has a right to it. Lawrence Kohlberg was a dude who came up with a fancy theory about moral development in children and young people. To illustrate, this is one of the dilemmas he came up with, to determine the stage of moral development the respondent is currently in.
"Heinz's wife was near death, and her only hope was a drug that had been discovered by a pharmacist who was selling it for an exorbitant price. The drug cost $20,000 to make, and the pharmacist was selling it for $200,000. Heinz could only raise $50,000 and insurance wouldn't make up the difference. He offered what he had to the pharmacist, and when his offer was rejected, Heinz said he would pay the rest later. Still the pharmacist refused. In desperation, Heinz considered stealing broke into the store and stole the drug.
Should Heinz have broken into the store to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?"
To me, it depends on:
1. Whether there are others with the same disease, and if yes, how many?
2. What the laws of the country are in the first place. Is stealing a crime there, and if so, how prevalent is it?
3. Why, in the first place, the pharmacist raised the price so much.
This is an extremely subjective issue. But we have a general conception that there should be equal rights for all - only then, can we be a gracious society and everyone can be happy. If I follow Machiavelli and Hobbes, society needs someone to exert control and influence, so that order can be maintained.
Who defines what is the law, and what's right? Okay, so this sort of goes back to inequality - the law and constitution are obviously written by those in power. But what's right is a moral thing - we instinctively know what's "right" or "wrong", even when it's not in the law. We know it's wrong to betray, backstab and hurt others; but it's right to provide support, be kind, and help others in need. It's part of moral development, of growing up, of socialization.
Why do people commit crime? Why did Took Leng How murder Huang Na? Why did Constance Chee throw little Sindee Neo off a HBD block? Obviously, you can say it's because they're mad. That's what everyone says about people who kill others for no apparent reason.
I digress again. Nowadays, the legal system simply puts a quantitive tag on the damage the perpetrator did to the victim., and take it that this amount of money can settle everything. Most of the time, the perpetrator gets a jail term, or in the case of homicide, the death sentence. How on earth does that do justice to the victim and his family? Like for Huang Na, even though Took Leng How was sentenced to death, nothing will bring her back.
For one of my modules, I had to watch a film from a list provided by the lecturer. So I watched this ancient Zhang Yimou thing called "The Story of Qiu Ju", which involves a woman (Gong Li) trying to seek justice for her husband, who got kicked in the balls by the village chief. All she wanted was an apology, but the chief refused. So she took it to the village official, and finally the matter got taken to court - and it was still the same verdict: monetary compensation.
I can sort of empathize with Qiu Ju. You think I'm satisfied with the bastard of a bus driver who knocked me down getting away with only a 12-day jail term and a $2400 fine? If I were to meet him, it would be extremely hard not to give him a good beating, and hopefully cause some permanent damage. I would want to knock him don with a bus too and put him through the exact same pain I suffered, am still suffering, and will continue to suffer.
If justice is fairness, then there is no justice, because you can never put a price tag onto the (non-economic) damages suffered by a victim.
In just that split second, the f***ing bastard changed my life. So many times, I wish I'd died. Then I wouldn't have had to suffer, blah blah blah. You know what I mean. In the past, I actually liked life. Now, it's mostly a drag, aside from working towards my goals, I don't really have much pleasure in life.
I digress again. Conclusion: there is no justice in this world (not in my world, at least). I believe in justice (eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth), but sadly, it doesn't exist.
Ah. Now I see why I'm so cynical and pessimistic. It's because I don't think anything good exists in social systems.
"We the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people...democratic society, based on justice and equality..."
From a young age, we recite that almost every day, up till we leave uniformed schooling. Equality? Our Gini coefficient is 0.47-0.49. Get real. On to justice.
Justice is something I really believe in. Everyone has a right to it. Lawrence Kohlberg was a dude who came up with a fancy theory about moral development in children and young people. To illustrate, this is one of the dilemmas he came up with, to determine the stage of moral development the respondent is currently in.
"Heinz's wife was near death, and her only hope was a drug that had been discovered by a pharmacist who was selling it for an exorbitant price. The drug cost $20,000 to make, and the pharmacist was selling it for $200,000. Heinz could only raise $50,000 and insurance wouldn't make up the difference. He offered what he had to the pharmacist, and when his offer was rejected, Heinz said he would pay the rest later. Still the pharmacist refused. In desperation, Heinz considered stealing broke into the store and stole the drug.
Should Heinz have broken into the store to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?"
To me, it depends on:
1. Whether there are others with the same disease, and if yes, how many?
2. What the laws of the country are in the first place. Is stealing a crime there, and if so, how prevalent is it?
3. Why, in the first place, the pharmacist raised the price so much.
This is an extremely subjective issue. But we have a general conception that there should be equal rights for all - only then, can we be a gracious society and everyone can be happy. If I follow Machiavelli and Hobbes, society needs someone to exert control and influence, so that order can be maintained.
Who defines what is the law, and what's right? Okay, so this sort of goes back to inequality - the law and constitution are obviously written by those in power. But what's right is a moral thing - we instinctively know what's "right" or "wrong", even when it's not in the law. We know it's wrong to betray, backstab and hurt others; but it's right to provide support, be kind, and help others in need. It's part of moral development, of growing up, of socialization.
Why do people commit crime? Why did Took Leng How murder Huang Na? Why did Constance Chee throw little Sindee Neo off a HBD block? Obviously, you can say it's because they're mad. That's what everyone says about people who kill others for no apparent reason.
I digress again. Nowadays, the legal system simply puts a quantitive tag on the damage the perpetrator did to the victim., and take it that this amount of money can settle everything. Most of the time, the perpetrator gets a jail term, or in the case of homicide, the death sentence. How on earth does that do justice to the victim and his family? Like for Huang Na, even though Took Leng How was sentenced to death, nothing will bring her back.
For one of my modules, I had to watch a film from a list provided by the lecturer. So I watched this ancient Zhang Yimou thing called "The Story of Qiu Ju", which involves a woman (Gong Li) trying to seek justice for her husband, who got kicked in the balls by the village chief. All she wanted was an apology, but the chief refused. So she took it to the village official, and finally the matter got taken to court - and it was still the same verdict: monetary compensation.
I can sort of empathize with Qiu Ju. You think I'm satisfied with the bastard of a bus driver who knocked me down getting away with only a 12-day jail term and a $2400 fine? If I were to meet him, it would be extremely hard not to give him a good beating, and hopefully cause some permanent damage. I would want to knock him don with a bus too and put him through the exact same pain I suffered, am still suffering, and will continue to suffer.
If justice is fairness, then there is no justice, because you can never put a price tag onto the (non-economic) damages suffered by a victim.
In just that split second, the f***ing bastard changed my life. So many times, I wish I'd died. Then I wouldn't have had to suffer, blah blah blah. You know what I mean. In the past, I actually liked life. Now, it's mostly a drag, aside from working towards my goals, I don't really have much pleasure in life.
I digress again. Conclusion: there is no justice in this world (not in my world, at least). I believe in justice (eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth), but sadly, it doesn't exist.
Ah. Now I see why I'm so cynical and pessimistic. It's because I don't think anything good exists in social systems.