Towards Voluntaryism (Part 2)
1.2. Introduction: The Challenge of the Entrenched Societal Injustice Belief System
Towards Voluntaryism (Part 2)
As discussed previously, I have suggested that a just society is one that is voluntary, meritocratic and altruistic (for more on this, see the introduction to my post The Social Justice Movement is Its Own Worst Enemy. In order to achieve a just society, I propose that it will be helpful to first consider the greatest hurdle to its creation, something I have termed the 'societal injustice belief system'.
I propose that the 'societal injustice' narrative is the primary existential threat to peace and prosperity for both individuals and groups of people globally and the fuel that rationalizes coercive collectivism. If a just society is one that is voluntary, meritocratic and altruistic, societal injustice encompasses and embraces those behaviors and beliefs that are contrary to a just society, i.e. violently coercive collectivism, anti-meritocratic partisanship, corruption and greed.
The guiding principles of
A Just Society vs. An Unjust Society
Voluntaryism vs. Forced Participation / Coercive Subjugation / Involuntary Servitude
Meritocracy vs. Cronyism / Favoritism / Nepotism / Corruption
Altruism vs. Greed / Violence / Selfishness
Viewed from this perspective, we can observe that the organizing framework for human existence today is largely defined by societal injustice in many respects:
The elimination or restriction of individual rights and freedoms in favor of centralized control is rampant, the militarized corporate surveillance state is an objective reality.
Forceful expropriation and redistribution of wealth via partisan channels and cronyism under threat of draconian consequences is fully institutionalized as a form of governance. Corruption has eliminated accountability for political or governmental crimes except in the rarest of circumstances.
Greed has given rise to a form of materialism so all-pervasive and inhumanly perverse that people starve to death in front of billionaires who buy an old bowl for 37 million dollars and are then celebrated for it.
Societal injustice is a self-perpetuating belief system which proselytizes and propagates that:
people wouldn't help each other without being forced to,
people are too stupid to learn to take care of themselves,
people are incapable of peacefully resolving conflicts,
there has to be a leader who tells others what they can or cannot do,
people can justly delegate rights/powers they themselves should not have,
some people are too powerful to be held accountable for their crimes,
individual rights are less important than group rights,
violence does not cause more violence, war is necessary for peace,
most politicians are selfless public servants,
giving up individual freedoms for security increases safety and freedom,
corruption of governments by moneyed interests cannot be stopped,
people are the problem, not the solution.
This is, for lack of a better term, the societal injustice belief system.
Based on my own observations, it seems that the vast majority of people are raised from birth to unquestioningly believe almost every, if not every, point on this list - all the while believing they themselves are the exception to the rule. Because this is the belief system that is actively propagated, it achieves social influence, people conform to it, they accept it, and it is considered normal to hold such beliefs.
For many, it provides a legitimizing rationale for antisocial and misanthropic behavior that further perpetuates the denigration and disempowerment of their fellow man. The vast majority of people seem to accept and live within a belief system that is not in their own self-interest and which, if they ever reflected upon it, they would only reluctantly support. Nevertheless, the paradigm endures because they are raised and entrained to believe "that's just the way it is."
Next: 1.3. Introduction: Consequences of the Societal Injustice Belief System
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Further reading: For an interesting write-up on self-interest as a social good, see Stop Trying to Help People for Their Sake.
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