Philosophy of Social Justice
Social Justice is the fight to protect the rights and freedoms of all people, regardless of race, class, age, gender, or even species. Freedom is the right of all people. However, social justice is not always aggressive. Sometimes it’s as passive as respecting one’s freedom and rights, as well as one’s culture, religion, and ethnicity. Social Justice is many things, but the one thing that stands out the most is: the fight for the right of freedom. During the beginning of my junior year of high school was when I felt strongest about this idea because it was then that there were major problems going on in school. Teachers were illegally fired, AP classes were removed, and our principal was mysteriously removed. I joined the hundred others who felt strongly that our school’s way of life was in danger and that we had to do something about it. We organized and held a sit in, then a march, which got the attention of many people. With the new found attention also came the return of our teachers and AP classes as well as our principal. All those events helped form my definition of social justice in a way that defines it as being the fight to remain free to make your own decisions. That to me is social justice.
Social justice sometimes has its obstacles. Sometimes these obstacles are daunting because the fight goes against the wishes of the people in power. Throughout history people of power have the greatest ability to influence good and bad change. Some people in power are only interested in their own needs rather than the needs of the people they govern. These people are often the heads of corrupt governments or monarchies. Of course it isn't always people in power; sometimes it’s the ones that have enough power to influence the ones in power for their own wishes. These people often end up being the owners of big businesses or large corporations or even drug cartels and mafias. All these people (governments, businesses, etc.) tend to be individuals, and these individuals often don’t stand a chance when large numbers of people protest to get what they deserve. The needs of the many often outweigh the needs of the few.
My vision of struggle is when many people, whether a couple hundred or thousand or even million, join together and work effectively enough to make significant change. One person can always make a difference, but when all those people come together it makes a much greater difference than that one person alone. However, all those people play different roles; some lead, some follow, but neither is more important than the other. It takes all those people in different roles working together to make change.
My role in this struggle is to make people aware of my issue and inspire change and to also try to bring about change of my own. I want this project to help educate more people about the need for wildlife and the natural world, an idea that has become outmoded by modern city life, but is still much more crucial than we think. Eventually I want to go into a career where I can help create more awareness and actually work with animals and fight to protect what little there are left of them. I hope that in the future humanity will have a better understanding and value them. I hope we will begin to “re-wild” our world.
My chosen issue of wildlife conservation has everything to do with my definition of social justice. One of the reasons I like animals so much is because they live their lives with pure, untamed freedom to survive, and that is their right too. Social justice is about defending freedoms and rights after all. However, defending and conserving animals isn't only for the animal’s benefit, but also for people’s benefits. Our world would not survive without the vast biodiversity that thrives on our planet, and we often take that for granted (“The Value of Wildlife” goes into deeper detail about this.) That is why it is important to conserve wildlife and why I want to help make a change to better improve our value of nature.
Social justice sometimes has its obstacles. Sometimes these obstacles are daunting because the fight goes against the wishes of the people in power. Throughout history people of power have the greatest ability to influence good and bad change. Some people in power are only interested in their own needs rather than the needs of the people they govern. These people are often the heads of corrupt governments or monarchies. Of course it isn't always people in power; sometimes it’s the ones that have enough power to influence the ones in power for their own wishes. These people often end up being the owners of big businesses or large corporations or even drug cartels and mafias. All these people (governments, businesses, etc.) tend to be individuals, and these individuals often don’t stand a chance when large numbers of people protest to get what they deserve. The needs of the many often outweigh the needs of the few.
My vision of struggle is when many people, whether a couple hundred or thousand or even million, join together and work effectively enough to make significant change. One person can always make a difference, but when all those people come together it makes a much greater difference than that one person alone. However, all those people play different roles; some lead, some follow, but neither is more important than the other. It takes all those people in different roles working together to make change.
My role in this struggle is to make people aware of my issue and inspire change and to also try to bring about change of my own. I want this project to help educate more people about the need for wildlife and the natural world, an idea that has become outmoded by modern city life, but is still much more crucial than we think. Eventually I want to go into a career where I can help create more awareness and actually work with animals and fight to protect what little there are left of them. I hope that in the future humanity will have a better understanding and value them. I hope we will begin to “re-wild” our world.
My chosen issue of wildlife conservation has everything to do with my definition of social justice. One of the reasons I like animals so much is because they live their lives with pure, untamed freedom to survive, and that is their right too. Social justice is about defending freedoms and rights after all. However, defending and conserving animals isn't only for the animal’s benefit, but also for people’s benefits. Our world would not survive without the vast biodiversity that thrives on our planet, and we often take that for granted (“The Value of Wildlife” goes into deeper detail about this.) That is why it is important to conserve wildlife and why I want to help make a change to better improve our value of nature.