Justice

[The Wizard]

Justice has abandoned us. That's the core of it. The little spark that tells us "this is wrong" has up and died on us. I don't know when and I don't know how, but it's gone.

This realization came upon only a couple minutes ago after I had a run in with one of my friends. Now this friend is one of the folks at my school who gets picked on continually. It's gone on as long as I've known him. I've always backed him up, always made sure that it never got physical, but not letting him rely on me for rescue. So, I'm just walking around and I see this kid, Mikey. Mikey is another friend of mine, and he gets it even worse than my first friend. He's overweight, intelligent, and quiet, the small town triumvirate of victimization. And as usual, I find Mikey being followed by some asshole, who's getting his hard on by messing with the poor kid. And lo and behold it's my first friend, Jake. Jake who's been a victim his entire life, is turning around and doing to this other kid.

I lost it. I've been betrayed by friends, tricked by people who claimed to like me, all kinds of shit, but nothing has ever infuriated me like watching Jake torment poor Mikey. My hands shook, my face went red, and I tear Jake a new one. I scare the living shit out of him. He goes white and when I finally let the little bastard go, he runs.

Now, I understand. Justice is gone. The Lady is curled up in a dark corner, crying out of sightless eyes. She bleeds from her palms, and she screams out at the world "What have you done?". We don't here her though. We're too busy drowning ourselves in pools of our own vomit and excrement, our only pleasure being the mindless cruelties we inflict on each other. Sure, we have courts and anti-bullying seminars and all the garbage that authority throws at us. But it's all just a blindfold, one making us as blind as Lady Justice.

The Lady Justice, that blindfolded bitch. She sold her scales to bureaucrats to count our their bribes. She gave her sword to the abusers so that they wouldn't hurt her. And she gave us her blindfold so we couldn't see what she had done.

The victim becoming the abuser is just a catalyst for me. It led me to an epiphany. We can't rely on Lady Justice to save us, or to even point us in the right direction. She's blind for Christ's sake! No. Justice is a dead memory. But there's Vengeance. It's not pretty and it's never fair, but at least it does something. When the greater good has sold its soul, we have to turn to the lesser evil.

Justice is gone. Time for Vengeance.

Or kill me

[The Wizard]

Hmm. Anyone have anything to say? I've gotten mostly Fuck You's off of the poll, but oh well. Even if you hated it, say so.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Hmm. Anyone have anything to say? I've gotten mostly Fuck You's off of the poll, but oh well. Even if you hated it, say so.

Patience, grasshopper.  I will respond in the morning, when I am still all fucked up on pills.

[The Wizard]

Okay, thanks. As long as I know I'm going to get feedback, I can wait for it.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Okay, thanks. As long as I know I'm going to get feedback, I can wait for it.

Yeah, it blows when a rant just sits.  I'd rather get shit on than just have a rant sink.

I like it a bunch, and I will respond properly tomorrow.  I lack time right now, and the right frame of mind.

[The Wizard]

Fair enough. I look forward to your reply.

[The Johnny]

Justice has abandoned us. That's the core of it. The little spark that tells us "this is wrong" has up and died on us. I don't know when and I don't know how, but it's gone.

You state it as if there used to be a universal moral system upon which "justice" was built on. There is still for each one of us that "this is wrong", but, its very much slanted to our own benefit.

This realization came upon only a couple minutes ago after I had a run in with one of my friends. Now this friend is one of the folks at my school who gets picked on continually. It's gone on as long as I've known him. I've always backed him up, always made sure that it never got physical, but not letting him rely on me for rescue. So, I'm just walking around and I see this kid, Mikey. Mikey is another friend of mine, and he gets it even worse than my first friend. He's overweight, intelligent, and quiet, the small town triumvirate of victimization. And as usual, I find Mikey being followed by some asshole, who's getting his hard on by messing with the poor kid. And lo and behold it's my first friend, Jake. Jake who's been a victim his entire life, is turning around and doing to this other kid.

So oh, youre the little shining armor paladin thats out to make justice in the schoolyard?

I lost it. I've been betrayed by friends, tricked by people who claimed to like me, all kinds of shit, but nothing has ever infuriated me like watching Jake torment poor Mikey. My hands shook, my face went red, and I tear Jake a new one. I scare the living shit out of him. He goes white and when I finally let the little bastard go, he runs.

Maybe this isnt "justice" maybe its you simply being "anal" and wanting to control the power relations that happen around your watch. If you really cared for either of them, you would teach them how to stick up for themselves, instead of treating them like your own personal pets for which you play a little game of "escort missions" every lunchbreak.

[the other anonymous]

Maybe this isnt "justice" maybe its you simply being "anal" and wanting to control the power relations that happen around your watch. If you really cared for either of them, you would teach them how to stick up for themselves, instead of treating them like your own personal pets for which you play a little game of "escort missions" every lunchbreak.

QFT.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

This is good.  I can appreciate where you are coming from.  I just don't quite agree.  Life is survival of the fittest which means everyone is trying to prove their worth.  Part of that is you are either predator, prey or scavenger.  Predators survive.  Scavengers are prey who have evolved into finding their own prey, yet haven't made that step to predator.  Prey is prey.  

Now your friend Jake is a scavenger.  He's working his way up.  Your friend Mikey, well he either needs to step up to the plate or he is and always will be prey.  But it is HIS CHOICE.  He chooses not to fight back.  He chooses to put up with the bullshit.  I have a freckle faced 15 year old son with bright red kinky curly hair and crooked teeth, skinny as a rail.  His prey potential started in the freaking womb.  But you know what, he's a serial predator.  He refused to let anyone try and give him shit.  He came out fighting and never allowed anyone the chance to make him prey.  

The problem is when prey goes postal and decides to take as many predators as they can with them on their way out.

In any event, there is no justice, there never has been.  

Vengeance doesn't need to be fair, it just needs to be painful.

[the other anonymous]

Your friend Mikey, well he either needs to step up to the plate or he is and always will be prey.  But it is HIS CHOICE.  He chooses not to fight back.  He chooses to put up with the bullshit.

That's not a choice; it's a dilemma. Either commit violence which is bad, or be subjected to violence which is bad.

All this talk of predator/prey reminds me of rape culture 101

[Kai]

Your friend Mikey, well he either needs to step up to the plate or he is and always will be prey.  But it is HIS CHOICE.  He chooses not to fight back.  He chooses to put up with the bullshit.

That's not a choice; it's a dilemma. Either commit violence which is bad, or be subjected to violence which is bad.

All this talk of predator/prey reminds me of rape culture 101

Thats humans for you.

[The Johnny]

Part of that is you are either predator, prey or scavenger.  Predators survive.  Scavengers are prey who have evolved into finding their own prey, yet haven't made that step to predator.  Prey is prey.  

I dont think that paradigm other than evolution/economy applies really.

Social-interaction wise i think its a horrible way to see the world.

I dont pick on people; people dont pick on me.

[the other anonymous]

Your friend Mikey, well he either needs to step up to the plate or he is and always will be prey.  But it is HIS CHOICE.  He chooses not to fight back.  He chooses to put up with the bullshit.

That's not a choice; it's a dilemma. Either commit violence which is bad, or be subjected to violence which is bad.

All this talk of predator/prey reminds me of rape culture 101

Thats humans for you.

I expect more.

-toa,
this is where everybody laughs at me

[Captain Utopia]

Justice is balance.  Doing harm to a monkey is wrong.  Doing harm to a monkey because that monkey harmed another monkey is justice.  So justice is tolerated, or rather welcomed, as the only socially acceptable form of vengeance.

But most bullies were bullied themselves.  So the balance justice wields is always in a subjective context, it cannot hope to right all wrongs and so it does not try.  Oh there are rules we create from simple schoolyard creeds to byzantine laws of the land, and from that we extract the desired feeling of clarity that comes from formulaic categorisation.  Really though, we just want to see another bleed, right one wrong for the ten which got away.

So justice is "fuck you".  It's the option left a monkey pissed off that he follows the rules out of fear and sees them being broken without consequence on a daily basis.  It's not the best option, but it is the most satisfying, and that's why it got my vote.

[The Wizard]

Maybe this isnt "justice" maybe its you simply being "anal" and wanting to control the power relations that happen around your watch. If you really cared for either of them, you would teach them how to stick up for themselves, instead of treating them like your own personal pets for which you play a little game of "escort missions" every lunchbreak.

I don't want to control anyone. All I've done is make sure that they backup if it gets physical. I don't try and rescue them (well not usually, this time I did). I always tell them that they need to stick up for themselves, and that all I can do is make the situation worse. This time though, I was caught off guard. Seeing Jake do something like that made something snap.

This is good.  I can appreciate where you are coming from.  I just don't quite agree.  Life is survival of the fittest which means everyone is trying to prove their worth.  Part of that is you are either predator, prey or scavenger.  Predators survive.  Scavengers are prey who have evolved into finding their own prey, yet haven't made that step to predator.  Prey is prey.  

Fair enough. I can appreciate where you're coming from, but I can't get behind your views either. People aren't prey. There are scavengers and predators, but a person is never just prey.