Justice (Part Two)

If you're new here, this is a weekly column consisting of letters written to my grandchildren (who exist) and my great-grandchildren (who aren't here yet) -- the Stickies -- to haunt them after they become grups and/or I'm dead.

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Irregularly Appearing Imaginary Guest Stars

Marie-Louise -- My beautiful muse (right shoulder) and back scratcher 

Iggy -- Designated Sticky

Dana -- Designated gentlereader (left shoulder)

Dear (eventual) Grandstickies & Great-Grandstickies,

OK class, let's review.

In Justice (Part One) I discussed the cardinal (hinge) virtue, justice. I posited that its importance is self-evident. I argued that kids in particular, and everyone else in general, are obsessed with justice. That the obsession is summarized by/captured by/epitomized by/etc. the phrase That Ain't Fair!!! Please note the deliberate (and rare, for me at least) use of three exclamation points.

I mentioned the work of Jonathan Haidt, moral psychologist (and one of my heroes). Dr. Haidt's moral foundations theory lists six foundations, one of which is Fairness/Cheating. The relevant Wikipedia article puts it thusly, "Fairness or proportionality: rendering justice according to shared rules; opposite of cheating. Their bolderization, my italicization. 

[I just made up a new word, bolderization. If you don't believe me, look it up. Oh wait, you can't, it doesn't exist. Bolderization: clicking the bold button of a word processor in order to render a word in a bolder way than other words. GRIN.]

Dr. Haidt, incidentally, didn't weave his theory from whole cloth. His work is based on numerous, and ongoing (check THIS out) experiments and studies. You should also read one of his books, "The Righteous Mind." Life-changing, mind -blowing shtuff written in clean, clear English (as opposed to psychobabble).

Anyway, please note the phrase, "rendering justice according to shared rules." In part one I pointed out that we've lost our consensus, that the late sixties ushered in something I call the Great Fragmentation. I ended the column by asking, "So, how do the members of a fragmented culture agree on what constitutes just and fair?"

[Just who is this we've you speak of cranky one? asks Dana, imaginary gentlereader.]

Good question. Hmm... I guess, no, I know, that when I talk about us, or we, I'm usually referring to muh fellow maricans (Lyndon Johnson saying, my fellow Americans). More broadly, the cultures and people of the West. I really should define my terms more in light of political correctness. Citizens of the planet Earth, please accept my insincere apology.

OK. In this particular case, I'm talking about the fragmentation of American culture. I'm also wildly oversimplifying some of Dr. Haidt's conclusions (sorry doc) and adding a few of my own. Read the book folks, you'll thank me.

H. sapiens (not just maricans) are tribal. This is because belonging to a tribe dramatically increases the chance we might live long enough to reproduce and raise our kids. It dramatically decreases the chance we will be killed and/or eaten before having a chance to do so. Also, get enough people on your team and the next thing you know you'll have civilizations and flush toilets and the like.

It's the drive responsible for us v. them. At one extreme it's total war and the demonization of the enemy. At the other, it's the drive behind competitive sports, which serve as a (usually) harmless outlet. See where I'm going here?

It's the reason why up until the sixties, America -- mostly white, mostly Christian, mostly sharing the same playground, and often preoccupied by wars with them and/or struggling to get three hots and a comfortable cot, were (sometimes more, sometimes less) on the same team.

And then the Boomers came of age in an era of unprecedented prosperity and security. A lot of wonderful things happened.  These ranged from the country officially acknowledging the obscenity of slavery and Jim Crow (mostly and eventually) and passing civil rights legislation, to landing on the moon.

Incidentally, these laws and landing on the moon were accomplished by the Greatest Generation, not by the Boomers, who will go down in history for, well, um... oh, I know! Rock n' Roll! And personal computers. Now we all have a home or pocket version of technology originally developed by the..., um, never mind.

But what happens when a generation of callowyutes, raised to take unprecedented prosperity and security for granted, go through the rebellious/idealistic (some anyway)/I ain't gonna' be like my parental units/I hope I die before I get old adolescent (which we now know typically lasts to the age of 25 or so) stage? And let us not forget to mention relatively easy access to the pill (can you say sexual revolution?) and mind-altering drugs.

Well...

[Oh, one second. Yes, we/they were raised taking the possibility of nuclear annihilation for granted (duck and cover) and we/they might also be drafted and die (the males anyway) in Vietnam.

BIG BUT.

By adolescence most realized that if the nukes were launched we'd probably all be dead anyway. Get under your desk, put your head between your knees, and kiss your ass goodbye. Ishhkabibble. As for Vietnam, pursue a deferment or learn to love (and live with) our neighbors to the North.]

Well, what happens is team America -- left, right, and (ever-shrinking) center -- starts fragmenting into cliques/gangs that divide up the playground like a prison yard.

A lot of water passes under the proverbial bridge. H. sapiens will be/were H. sapiens. And here we are.

We can go a-googling 24x7 and prove anything. How? simple. If you want to believe something you'll ask yourself if you can believe it, then you'll go looking for confirmation. You will, inevitably, find some and then you (well, not you or me of course, but most people) will stop looking.

If you don't want to believe something you'll ask yourself if you must believe it, then you'll go looking for reasons not to. You will, inevitably, find some and then you (well, not you or me of course, but most people) will stop looking.

This is the second most important thing the book taught me. That's a tease 'cause you really should read the book.

Modern tech provides a TV channel and/or a website for every taste, from the sublime to the warped and twisted. New sorta-social media platforms appear every couple of eye blinks. Sorta-social? Yup, choose your friends, real and virtual, tweak your settings (or not, the machine will do it anyway). Poof! your own customized playground of the like-minded, and you don't even have to leave the house.

[So, how do we reach agreement on anything? For example, on what constitutes justice. And what about the other cardinal virtues? Iggy, imaginary grandsticky, poses a question.]

Compromise, don't demonize. Breathe. Electronically fast -- turn off your computer and smartphone for 24 hours and go for a walk, read a book, make brownies, go to your grandstickies eighth-grade band concert.

America's newfound and ever-worsening polarization is fueled by demonization (Haidt) and the 24x7 flow of dizzinformation (me). Poppa loves you.

[Compromise!?! How can you compromise with the devil's minions!?! An imaginary troll has wandered into my personal zeitgeist. BANG! Marie-Louise, my muse, unhesitatingly pulls her piece from her garter holster, blows it's head off, and calmly begins scratching my back.]

Have an OK day.


[P.S. Gentlereaders, for 25¢ a week, no, seriously, for 25¢ a week you can become a Patron of this weekly column and help to prevent an old crank from running the streets at night in search of cheap thrills and ill-gotten gains.

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©2017 Mark Mehlmauer   (The Flyoverland Crank)

If you're reading this on my website (where there are tons of older columns, a glossary, and other goodies) and if you wish to react (way cooler than liking) -- please scroll down.

Justice (Part One)

If you're new here, this is a weekly column consisting of letters written to my grandchildren (who exist) and my great-grandchildren (who aren't here yet) -- the Stickies -- to haunt them after they become grups and/or I'm dead.

[Blogaramians: Blogarama renders the links in my columns useless. Please click on View original (above↑) to solve the problem/access lotsa columns.]

Irregularly Appearing Imaginary Guest Stars

Marie-Louise -- My beautiful muse (right shoulder) and back scratcher 

Iggy -- Designated Sticky

Dana -- Designated gentlereader (left shoulder)

If we should deal out justice only, in this world, who would escape? No, it is better to be generous, and in the end more profitable, for it gains gratitude for us, and love. -Mark Twain


Dear (eventual) Grandstickies & Great-Grandstickies,

Warning: If you're a regular reader who doesn't much care for my constant references to sharing the playground with the other kids, you're gonna' really hate this column. I'll understand if you choose to bail at this point, although I don't think it would be the prudent thing to do (GRIN).

All the kids have to share the playground and the majority of kids are hardwired with an obsession that I call That Ain't Fair!!! syndrome.

Please note the deliberate use of three exclamation points. Please note that an obsession with fairness is an obsession with justice. Please note that when callowyutes reach the grup stage in the life cycle of H. sapiens the obsession remains. However, it's often, but not necessarily, muted by life's lessons.

[Aside: I chose the word obsessed because in my experience, having been an actual kid several thousand years ago and currently living with four of them in my freakishly large household, obsessed is accurate. Also, even the most mildly mannered grup is acutely aware of justice, or more likely, injustice. As I have  pointed out previously, Earth's a very rough neighborhood.]

So, where does this obsession come from? If you're of a traditional religious bent, there's an excellent chance that you think that it, like everything else, comes from God.

Most psychologists (I know, I know, grain of salt) now believe that we're not born with blank slates, that we arrive already programmed (so to speak) with certain basic information.

Jonathan Haidt is a moral psychologist (and one of my heroes) who has made it his life's work to identify what are the fundamental tenets of what he calls the moral mind. He believes, as do I, that newbie H. sapiens arrive here already wired with these fundamentals.

Note that an atheist, or a fundamentalist, or something in betwixt might find some common ground here. Don't demonize, compromise (DDC).

[This video, a TED talk, not only explains where he's coming from, it explains the difference betwixt progressives and conservatives, and why they're so antagonistic towards each other, in 18 minutes and 32 seconds. You have to listen closely, he talks too fast.]

Now, regardless of where you think this "obsession" comes from, as long as you accept that Justice is a thing and that it affects all of us to one degree or another, you see why it's a cardinal (hinge) virtue. I must also point out that religious or non-religious, left, right or center, and regardless of skin tone, that consideration of the virtues, particularly the four cardinal ones, just might provide some common ground in these unhinged times -- DDC.

[It occurs to me that I didn't explicitly point this out two columns ago when I began this series, this finding common ground theme, which is one of the primary reasons I'm on about the virtues. It's hard out here for a Garrulous Geezer.]

                                                        * * *

So, just what is justice anyway?

Well, besides being "your one-stop-shop for the cutest & most on-trend styles in tween girl's clothing" Justice is...

(Insert sound of car tires screaming from a panic stop, here.)

Okay, wait a sec'. Why is a store that sells glad rags for girls called Justice? 

The Justice Mission
To positively IMPACT and EMPOWER our associates, ALL GIRLS and those that love them by creating authentic connections through FASHION and FUN.

Or... how to say absolutely nothing with 22 words.

And we're back.

My old buddy Merriam-Webster offers up a deluge of definitions for justice. I choose 2a: the quality of being just, impartial, or fair.

[Well duh! What's yer point? Dana the imaginary gentlereader is awake. Marie-Louise, my muse, has taken Iggy (imaginary grandsticky) and gone shopping for new shoes -- yet again.]

My point is that though the definition is rather open-ended and vague, it works because we do have an intuitive grasp of just what justice is. One will encounter gray areas, one will always encounter gray areas.

But I maintain that 98.39% of the time that you will know instantly what's fair, what would be just, in any given situation. Careful, the devil lives in the remaining 1.61%.

Incidentally, I also maintain that one also knows, 98.39% of the time, whether or not what you're doing, have done, or plan on doing -- is right or wrong. This applies to all of the virtues and will be the subject of a column once I get through them.

[Dana: So what's your prob Bob, I... ]

The problem is, besides the 1.61% problem, well, let me put it this way. When I was a kid, I divided my free time (weather permitting) betwixt the 12th street and the 22nd street playgrounds (the former being larger and with more shtuff to do and the latter having a tiny swimming pool).

Kids in the dark ages were also obsessed with justice (fairness) but we shared in a consensus that's now shattered.

The same "rules" (more or less) that ensured justice (including punishment) and fairness applied at both playgrounds -- and at home, in school, in the neighborhood, at your friend's house, etc.

While hardly a utopia (substance abuse, child abuse, racism, bullies, etc.), beyond the formal (statutory) laws, there was rough agreement as to what the social laws were.

[HUGE BUT, Not that they all made sense. If you weren't a person of pallor you suffered from discrimination, ranging from mild to insane. Given groups of people of pallor looked down on other groups of people of pallor. Stupid (behavior) was as stupid (behavior) is.]

Jump to the late sixties. Well-meaning boomers, raised taking an (overall) unprecedented level of prosperity and security for granted (remind you of anyone), start tossing tots out with the jacuzzi water. The Great Fragmentation Begins.

So, how do the members of a fragmented culture agree on what constitutes just and fair? Stay tuned for part two.

Poppa loves you.
Have an OK day.


[P.S. Gentlereaders, for 25¢ a week, no, seriously, for 25¢ a week you can become a Patron of this weekly column and help to prevent an old crank from running the streets at night in search of cheap thrills and ill-gotten gains.

If there are some readers out there that think my shtuff is worth a buck or three a month, color me honored, and grateful. Regardless, if you like it, could you please share it? There are buttons at the end of every column.]



©2017 Mark Mehlmauer   (The Flyoverland Crank)

If you're reading this on my website (where there are tons of older columns, a glossary, and other goodies) and if you wish to react (way cooler than liking) -- please scroll down.

Dear Prudence

If you're new here, this is a weekly column consisting of letters written to my grandchildren (who exist) and my great-grandchildren (who aren't here yet) -- the Stickies -- to haunt them after they become grups and/or I'm dead.

[Blogaramians: Blogarama renders the links in my columns useless. Please click on View original to solve the problem and access lotsa columns.]

Irregularly Appearing Imaginary Guest Stars

Marie-Louise -- My beautiful muse (right shoulder) and back scratcher 

Iggy -- Designated Sticky

Dana -- Designated gentlereader (left shoulder)

"Did you ever have to finally decide?" -John Sebastian


Dear (eventual) Grandstickies & Great-Grandstickies, 

This is the first of four columns devoted to the four cardinal virtues. 

Last week's column was devoted to what are traditionally referred to as the seven virtues. There are four cardinal (hinge) virtues that are fundamental to all other virtues and this column is devoted to one of them, Prudence. The other three will be covered in future columns.  

There are three theological virtues that are supplied to us, according to the Christian tradition at least, by God. Being an agnostic, I'm in the process of trying to make a prudential decision as to whether or not I'll explore the theological virtues. 

Nowadays, employing prudence usually refers to being careful and cautious.

Classically speaking, it refers to applying reason, wisdom, experience, morality and the like when a decision needs making. Use your brain! as they say. Given what you know, who you are, what you believe, etc., what's your smartest/best move in light of...

[Wait a minute, Mr. Obvious, ain't that the same thing? Dana, imaginary gentlereader, speaks. Iggy and Marie-Louise, imaginary grandsticky and my muse, respectively, both toss me an inquisitive look.]

Nope.

I could be a careful and cautious weasel, carefully and cautiously considering the best way to murder you in your sleep and abscond with your cuckoo clock collection. Most would not define me as a virtuous dude.

But, as I was about to say, what's your smartest/best move in light of the fact that how you go about deciding on a course of action is, or at least should be, a virtue unto itself?

[Iggy: Poppa, I like, don't understand what...]

Patience, sticky one, all will soon become clear. Let me back up a bit.

You, and everyone else, are confronted all day and every day, with choices. They range from the trivial (which flavor of coffee creamer shall I use?) to profoundly important (is this the person I want to marry, do I want to be married to anyone?).

[Dana: Once again our hero demonstrates he has a keen eye for the obvious.]

Stop giggling you lot, and pay attention. In both of the examples above making a prudent decision simply means that regardless of your immediate/initial impulses, adopting a big-picture view and then making the best possible decision under the circumstances. Simple right?

Well, no, not really.

Simple to define, somewhat harder to put into practice. Regardless, you need to choose what's behind door number one, two, or three.

                                                    * * *

Door number one: Immediate/initial impulses, or, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die", an understandable reaction, given the fact that no one gets out of here alive. This is the choice of least resistance. This is the if it feels good do it option.

Examples: I'm not gonna' worry about how much sugar is in my yummy coffee creamer (or anything else). Life is short, live for today. Get married just because I'm pregnant/I impregnated someone just because it's a fact that having a mum and a dad is any given kids best option? I don't even like him/her! What about my happiness?

I make no judgments. Not (fortunately) my job. I've made no shortage of mistakes and I certainly wouldn't care to be married to someone I don't even like.

BIG BUT

Note that in the first example, coffee creamer, in the short term at least only one person is involved, you. In the second, at least three, and likely, many more. We have to share the playground with other kids.

And I must point out that birth control is available at any convenience store and that employing it would have been the prudent thing to do.

Next up, door... Sorry, listen, while I know this is the era of the casual hookup and that sex, formally considered the most intimate activity two humans beings can engage in, is nowadays just another need to be taken care of, I can't help but wonder.

Given (evil microscopic) bugs, and babies, and the dramatic qualitative difference between having sex and making love to someone you love (or, at least are deeply in like with), I should think that prudence trumps immediately and unconditionally surrendering to your howling DNA.

                                                      * * *

Door number two: Traditional path. You believe in an afterlife of some sort, the nature of which requires that you follow a prescribed ethical/moral code to either go somewhere better than here or reincarnate a step or two up the ladder after you are deleted.

So, either you or someone(s) you take seriously, didn't toss the tot out with the jacuzzi water. Good. You're not just adrift on the Sea of Life, you've set a course and have a destination. Life is hard. Life with a context, less so (more on this in a minute).

Two things. What you say, goes, but only for you (HT: Thaddeus Golas). The sermon you live is much more powerful, and effective, than the sermon you preach.

                                                    * * *

Door number three: The door for people that reject doors one and two. This is my door, and while many choose it, I'll only speak for myself.

First, two more things.

"All generalizations are false, including this one." -Mark Twain.

My three-door theory is a generalization -- and an analogy. Analogies and generalizations, and all words for that matter, are at best, useful symbols. I'll be exploring that subject at some point in the future.

And also, of course, generalizations oversimplify for the sake of clarity. Many, no, most of us, regularly take a peek at what's up behind all the doors.

I try to practice prudence for two reasons. (Today's column is sponsored only by the number two. The letter P didn't pay its bill.) Prudence is what separates the man person from the beastie. Also, life with a context, as mentioned above, is not as hard as life without one.

While I believe in and have written about the concept of gut first, brain later I'm an almost rabid proponent of the importance of brain later. This is the gift that enabled/enables us to rise to/remain at -- the top of the food chain.

Earth's a very rough neighborhood. While I acknowledge that there are legitimate objections raised by ecologically and/or spiritually-minded folks as concerns H. sapiens domination of the playground, it works for me. Brain over brawn.

Thomas Hobbes is famous for pointing out that the state of nature is a war of all against all wherein life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. Word! The state of nature also doesn't include books or grilled cheese sandwiches (shudder).

As to life with a context, yes Virginia (or Iggy), one could plausibly argue that, as is often said, life's a bitch and then you die. Who gives a damn about prudence, or any sort of virtue for that matter? Do as you please and try not to get caught if it's illegal. Door number one thinking.

What I mean by life with a context is simply a life with an imposed framework. Those folks that choose door number two are supplied with a time-tested framework that imposes order on chaos (as defined by the previous paragraph), which is part of the appeal.

In my semi-humble opinion (and I'm not alone), as long as you keep an open mind, a life with context, that is: personal rules, goals, interesting work, a code that defines/acknowledges the sharing of the playground, Arete, or (insert your thoughts here), is just better than embracing self-indulgence and chaos.

[Better?] 

Yup, better.

It feels better. It's something you have to feel, directly experience -- mere words won't do. Decide, resist drifting, and you'll know. If/when it stops working, make a new decision. Poppa loves you.

Poppa loves you,
Have an OK day

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©2017 Mark Mehlmauer