OPINION & EDITORIAL
There’s hope yet for social justice
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Also by Kyle Szarzynski:
- Legal system elitist, void of justice (April 30, 2008)
- 'War on drugs' cloaks oppression (April 23, 2008)
- Candidates betray King's radicalism (April 16, 2008)
- Media coverage favors U.S. interests (April 2, 2008)
- Irrational fears fuel crime focus (March 26, 2008)
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- 'Social justice' far from misleading (February 10, 2005)
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by Kyle Szarzynski
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
In progressive politics, it’s impossible to remain consistently optimistic. The always-unpopular cause of social justice is invariably belittled, isolated and vilified by the corporate-sponsored mainstream, a force that weighs heavy on the popular consciousness. Values like freedom, equity and democracy can occasionally push the mainstream leftward, but with power so concentrated, they can always be pushed back.
Humanity is a tough cause.
The unfortunate paradox of the radical sensibility is in the righteousness of its struggle: Its efforts toward the creation of a better world — based on the altruistic and empathetic impulse innate in human beings — garner hostility more often than solidarity, and consequently, failure more often than success. Much to its detriment, power is powerful.
Leftism is an ideology of opposition. Its ultimate value — human welfare — doesn’t elicit a lot of honest concern from the ruling ideology (the mainstream), so it can only find its niche in a difficult exile from acceptable thought. It is always criticizing the unacceptable status quo, which in turn unfairly brands it as an ideology of negativity and misguided anger. In truth, it is expressing righteous contempt for unnecessary misery.
It is some consolation to know dissident movements are never popular in their own time, and that past causes and figures of the left have been redeemed by history. Martin Luther King Jr. was probably the most despised man of his day, but at least part of his cause eventually achieved success and acceptance from the majority population. Time can be a friend of progress — but not always.
The ideological apparatus of the elite is perhaps its most powerful weapon. For anyone who cares to take a careful look, progressive causes are glaringly obvious, humanitarian and conservative (in the nonpolitical sense). The right to material comfort and security and a private sphere of freedom are only extreme or unseemly when distorted by the political establishment, the media and other corporate surrogates.
Undocumented immigrants are among the most suffering members of our society, and yet most Americans support frighteningly xenophobic initiatives, including the revocation of driver’s licenses for noncitizens and a militarization of the Mexican border. It would be easy (not to mention depressing) to conclude that most people have an inherently malevolent fear and dislike of the “other” if not for the fact that undocumented workers are consistently scapegoated as criminals and economic liabilities by the elite, thereby manufacturing the widespread hatred.
Similarly, most Americans did not support the invasion of Iraq because they wanted to see a bloody war for oil profit, but because they were lied to about the real reasons for the policy. Indeed, once Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction were exposed as nothing more than an illusion created by neoconservative magicians, Americans turned against the war. Concomitantly, President Bush’s approval rating is now among the lowest in American history.
Therein lies the reason for hope, even in the most disagreeable of eras. Beneath the stupid prejudices and anxieties, beneath the coarsening effects of competition and scarcity, humans are limitless in their desire to see something better for not only themselves, but fellow members of their species. Progressives are continually hammering away at the artificial walls that separate the powerless majority, a task aided by the mystical magnets that pull people together: human solidarity.
As long as injustice exists, as long as the existing system stifles creative development and stunts the potential for cultural refinement, progressivism will not only remain relevant; it will have the potential to usher people into truly democratic action and create social change.
Nonetheless, the task is always difficult. In a celebrated collection of essays, Ralph Ellison, reflecting on the long, terrible centuries of black oppression, sees the music of the blues as perhaps the most poignant expression of resistance. He writes, “The blues is an impulse to keep the painful details and episodes of a brutal experience alive in one’s aching consciousness, to finger its jagged grain, and to transcend it, not by the consolation of philosophy but by squeezing from it a near-tragic, near-comic lyricism.”
As Mr. Ellison contends, reflection on the oppressed condition requires a tragicomic outlook, one that allows for both tears and laughter, both of which are necessary for the nonrobotic activist. But beyond that, there is always resistance. It can take diverse forms — from Mr. Ellison’s writing to the single mother’s 10-hour workday to the tactics of freedom fighters branded as terrorists — all of which share a heroic, if wavering, effort to improve the standard of living within a system that has the means to do so.
Obviously enough, hope is necessary. If progress is to stand a chance, its proponents must remain energized and optimistic. Even in times like our own, I think we have good reason to be.
Kyle Szarzynski (kszarzynski@badgerherald.com) is a junior majoring in history and Spanish.
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 8:06am):
"Leftism is an ideology of opposition."
What? To me, leftism has nothing to do with opposition. Leftism should be focused on new ideas and promoting new ideas. The left should convince the right that they need not fear the unknown, and that a better future is possible.
The right, being conservative, by definition is the real ideology of opposition: opposition of new ideas and change, maintaining the status quo.
The left makes the new ideas, like racial equality or women's right to choose, and the right shoots them down.
Get it, Kyle? You might just be confused, because our current batch of leftist congressmen don't know what the hell they're doing.
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 8:39am):
Tom Cruise: I see a car accident and know that I as a Scientologist am the only one that can help
Kyle: I see a car accident and know that I as a pinko commie am the only one that can help
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 12:34pm):
Enjoy the "difficult exile" from the mainstream, Kyle.
Today Kyle reaffirms his thesis-- that terrorists have a "right" to kill American soldiers.
http://badgerherald.com/oped/2007/09/25/iraqi_insurgents_hav.php
Only now Kyle's terrorist murderers are not only "heroic"-- he shamelessly slanders single mothers by association in the same breath.
Kyle terrorist sympathies are clearly heartfelt and unrepentant. The Badger Herald owes an apology for publishing this garbage, ad nauseum.
*spit*
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 12:43pm):
Thank you for showing me my misguided desire for individual liberty, which I thought would allow me to better myself and my fellow citizens, is completely unfair. Your profound and magical insight into what is best for me and mankind is clearly superior. I think leftists like you (I believe you referred to these people as the "elite") should enforce equality by any means necessary. Not equality of opportunity, but equality of result. We need fairness and change.
P.S. If I sign up now, can I be one of the elite? I'm benevolent (I care about children) and I promise to compassionately tell others how to live, what to do, and how much to pay in taxes.
P.S.S. I know you don't necessarily believe what the corporate media is telling us, but maybe you ought to take another look at this "global warming" thing. We know the science doesn't back it up but that's not important. We could use this "global warming" stuff to anger the non-elites, then they won't complain when we regulate just about everything, set really high fees on using anything, and give a whole bunch of money to our elite buddies in other parts of the world. Just think how much fairness and equality we could impose!
P.S.S.S. If we become really really good leftist ideologues and oppose everything (I mean even beyond opposing everything Bush does), won't we actually be opposing some things that are actually good for the country?
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 1:19pm):
This is the most inane and self-serving thing I've read in quite some time. Let's run the gamut of "feel good" causes and thus claim moral superiority. Yet, we don't even want to ponder when our various causes are actually opposed in reality. We want liveable wages for all, but we want free and open immigration by the most poorly educated, which drives down wages (and also makes luxuries cheaper for the middle classes - including students). We call if a war for oil, when there is no reality to this claim (I wish it had been a war for oil, then it sure would be cheaper to fill at the pump). We claim the war was against humanity, but yet the person in charge had systemized torture that even the Nazis would have commended. We demand legal rights for "freedom fighters" based upon the Geneva Conventions, yet these fighters are incredibly brutal with their captives, do not qualify for the GC due to their practices, and fight to oppress others (including those of different political/religious views and sexual orientations). Yep, I love that leftist superiority, for it is so self aware.
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 2:10pm):
Duuuude. Your like totally right man! It's the machine! Do you have any more acid? Because it sounds like whatever you are taking is powerful stuff. You make me sick
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 2:32pm):
WOW! When did the Badger Herald get a Cartoon Page???!!!!! This is the best satirical parody and comedy of 'leftist elite values' I have ever seen! LOL cubed!!!
Someday I hope to meet the real person behind the nom du plume "Kyle Szarzynski" and buy them a shot and a beer, in thanks for all of their most excellent humor!
YYYEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWW!!!
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 2:36pm):
2:10...hahahahahaha
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 2:36pm):
Nice column, Kyle. For once, you've written about human rights without bashing Israel. Keep up the good work!
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 3:53pm):
12:43, I love how you and others have painted leftists and democrats as elitists. Some have suggested that the unwashed, uneducated, lower-middle-class masses vote for republican tax breaks that favor the wealthy (read: actual elite), because they hope that one day their American dream will come true and they'll be adversely affected by taxes on their hard-earned mountains of cash.
Now, a guy like Obama, who was not born to and Admiral and not married to a President is tagged as an elitist. If anyone knows what it's like to be from a small town, down on your luck, and in a deficit of hope, it's Obama. Elite? Shit, just because you go to Harvard or Madison doesn't make you elite or an elitist. Getting into Yale and Harvard because your father was a legacy or US Senator... that's elitist. Becoming president on your father or husband's coat tails, that's elitist.
We live in a strange world where garbage in the airwaves or on the internet becomes gospel. If you say Obama or Kyle's an elitist over and over, it'll probably come true.
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 3:55pm):
actually he said, neocon magicians...pretty sure that's some protocols of the elder type junk.
marxists need to find a new phrase other than 'social justice'...the words together are fear mongering alarmist words with no bottom in sight.
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 5:24pm):
actually he said, neocon magicians...pretty sure that's some protocols of the elder type junk.
marxists need to find a new phrase other than 'social justice'...the words together are fear mongering alarmist words with no bottom in sight.
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 6:26pm):
Well-done, leftist loons. It's because of you that most "indepedents" I know will be voting for McCain.
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 7:33pm):
preach it kyle!
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 7:46pm):
I think I saw a Ford Econoline just now with 1,600 pounds of explosives with the keys still in the ignition. Oh wait, that's just Kyle's.
But whatever (and/or whomever) he blows up and/or kills is in the name of "social justice!"
Paul Courchane (May 7, 2008 @ 8:50pm):
Hey Kyle, why leave it to some brave Iraqis to fight for "social justice"? If the US Government really is waging a tyrannical war for oil and getting ready to shred the Constitution, shouldn't you get off your ass and join in? Maybe bomb Stirling for old time's sake? Are you some kind of chickenhawk insurgent?
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 8:50pm):
"Undocumented immigrants are among the most suffering members of our society,"
NOPE - not members, INVADERS!!!
ILLEGAL immigrants are criminals stealing opportunities from US citizens and LEGAL immigrants.
Anonymous (May 7, 2008 @ 8:56pm):
"Indeed, once Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction were exposed as nothing more than an illusion"
Will the canard that Iraq was all about WMD never die?
Anonymous (May 8, 2008 @ 1:12am):
No one's trying to "Criminalize" undocumented immigrants. The offense of breaking into America without going through the immigration process has been criminalized for a very long time, actually. We have laws for a reason, think long and hard about what kind of reasons we might have to enact immigration laws.
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