Social Justice as Mob Action
Dorothy Rabinowitz: “It was a transformation made strikingly clear in the four-day rule-by-mob. It showed in the confident thuggery of the looters, and even more so in the fact that a number of regular job-holding Britons took part in the action. Others opined in emails that it was all a matter of social justice—after all, big department stores that had been ransacked had plenty of insurance. Nowhere was the transformation clearer than in the helplessness of citizens largely left to the mercy of marauders in the first stages of the riots. There would be little help initially from the police—outmanned, taken by surprise, uncertain of what they were allowed to do and not do in this situation. What violation of human rights regulations might they be charged with?” (“Mob Violence and the ‘Looting Bankers’ Defense,” The Wall Street Journal, Aug 17, 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903480904576510814144419874.html, accessed Dec. 12, 2011).
The Urban Dictionary: [entry # 3 for social justice] “Social Justice: Mob violence, usually associated with a victim group. [examples]: 1969 Stonewall Riots; 1992 L.A. Riots” (urbandictionary.com, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Social+Justice, accessed Oct 17, 2013).
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[entry # 2 for social justice]: “Social Justice: A euphemism for an economic mugging by political force” (urbandictionary.com, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Social+Justice, accessed Oct 17, 2013).
Robert Stacey McCain: [Headline for a video of a Union member shoving a female with a camera] “Thugs for Social Justice: Union Goon Gets Rough With Tabitha Hale on Video” (http://theothermccain.com/2011/02/23/thugs-for-social-justice-union-goon-gets-rough-with-tabitha-hale-on-video/, accessed Oct 18, 2013).
Carl Svanberg: “If altruism is right, then if you refuse to sacrifice for others, then you are wrong and evil. Why, then, not force you to sacrifice? If the poor need it, then the good government should ‘spread the wealth around,’ for the benefit of the poor and needy. The moral ideal is, therefore, the welfare state. If the government fails in its moral task of ‘redistributing’ the wealth, then the people can feel justified in taking matters in their own hands, so to speak. Thus, criminals can engage in robberies and the looting of stores and feel that they have the right on their side, because they are doing it in the name of ‘social justice’”(“The Entitlement Mentality,” Aug. 2011, http://thecoldvoiceofreason.blogspot.com/2011/08/entitlement-mentality.html, Dec. 2, 2011).
Theodore Dalrymple: [regarding a riot] “According to reports, mobile telephones and social-networking sites enabled them to coordinate their efforts. But what was really heartening was that, for the first time in the recent history of French rioting, la racaille (the scum), to use the president of the Republic’s judicious term, was racially very mixed, at least if the photographs published in the newspapers were anything to go by (which, of course, they might not be). Furthermore, again for the first time, members of the female gender participated fully and—according to reports—just as violently as the males. There’s progress for you, and on two fronts—race and gender—simultaneously! What is more, to judge again from appearances, social justice is fun. The strugglers for justice were enjoying themselves immensely” (“Solidarity Forever,” in City Journal, http://www.city-journal.org/2010/eon1126td.html).
Ann Coulter: “Liberals' relentless attack on the judicial system is yet another example of their Jacobin [meaning extreme left-wing] lunacy in opposition to calm order. You will note that they never ask: Who did what in this case? All they want to know is which class of people are on trial. Social justice is the only justice that interests the Left because it's the only justice that can be delivered by the political agitation of a mob”(“Liberals Only Care About Social Justice,” June 26, 2011, http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/one-107819-review-consider.html#ixzz1dTdR3TLK, accessed Nov. 11,2011).
Samuel Fleischacker: “‘Distributive justice,’ also called ‘social justice’ or ‘economic justice,’ is a phrase on many people’s lips these days. Demonstrators against globalization invoke it when they decry the evils they associate with multinational corporations; people who oppose capitalism altogether have used it for much longer than that” (A Short History of Distributive Justice, 2004, p.1).
Paul Kengor: “Liberals -- if they'd ever heard of Latsis, which they probably haven't in their universities -- might ridicule the extremism of my analogy. After all, they aren't talking about ‘eliminating the bourgeoisie as a class,’ as did Latsis. Fair enough. But, again, it's a matter of degree. Certainly, the acceptable demonization of an identified, despised class, for the purpose of working the masses into a rush of rage for political exploitation, is not terribly different.
As members of Congress target the likes of AIG chief executive Edward Liddy, mobs target the homes of AIG employees in Connecticut.
Of course, our sophisticated members of Congress separate themselves from the fray by choosing a non-violent but, ironically, somewhat Bolshevik-like response: they confiscate AIG pay (‘bonuses’) at a flat, full tax rate of 90%.
Will this financial penalty satiate the mob's bloodlust? No. That's the problem when deadly sin -- envy -- becomes government demagoguery and policy. The torch-carriers spill into the streets to take ‘social justice’ into their own hands” (“Love That Hate,” March 26, 2009, American Thinker,
http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/03/love_that_hate.html, accessed Oct 17, 2013).
Steve Gilbert: [This article was written regarding the London Riots of 2011 and was a sardonic response to the portrayal of the rioters as victims]. “[British Prime Minister David] Cameron does not seem to be exhibiting the proper amount of empathy here. These youths are just seeking social justice. After all, a father of four was gunned down in cold blood, simply for drawing a weapon and possibly shooting at the police.
Besides, everyone recognizes that these youths are desperate to work and make a better life for themselves. But thanks to the rampant racism in the UK they have been denied any chance at education or employment. Worse yet, the heartless British government does nothing to help to feed them or clothe them or house them or give them medical care” (“London Reels After 3 Nights of Social Justice,”
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/london-reels-after-3-nights-of-social-justice#.UjjY7D_3PNk, accessed Oct 17, 2013).
Mary Anastasia O’Grady: “Nevertheless, Argentines will re-elect her and not without reason. Labor has always been the stronghold of Peronism and that loyalty continues. Local producers may dream of ridding themselves of ‘voluntary’ price controls imposed by the government, but the depreciating currency has kept them competitive abroad, and they like their government subsidies. Farmers have been riding a boom in dollar-priced exports. Even the famous ‘piqueteros,’ bands of left-wing activists who block roadways and paralyze cities to demand social justice, have a symbiotic relationship with this government: Satisfying their ‘moral outrage’ requires greater government intervention, so they are a useful tool for Mrs. Kirchner. Think about that the next time someone tells you that Occupy Wall Street is a liability for Mr. Obama" (“Argentina’s Warning to America,” Oct 17, 2011, Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204002304576630973369218208.html?KEYWORDS=social+justice).
Matthew Vadum: “If only ACORN were that charitable and public-spirited! ACORN doesn’t teach anyone how to fish: it breeds artful dodgers, teaching people how to steal fish from their neighbors, whether through stealth or open confrontation. This mobocratic species of self-help is the essence of so-called ‘social justice,’ itself a particularly un-American concept that rests upon a pathological hatred of material inequality. The pursuit of this holy grail of social justice serves as the justification for a never-ending war that ACORN helps the nonproductive elements of society wage against the productive" (Subversion, Inc.: How Obama's ACORN Red Shirts are Still Terrorizing and Ripping Off American Taxpayers, 2011, Kindle Locations 337-341).
Edward Clint: “If you’ve been to a secularist conference or two, or read from one of many popular blogs, you’ve heard accounts of events that start like this:
A feminist, who is an on-line personality, says something mildly controversial on her website. The result should be a short bit of civil discussion, maybe even debate. Instead, she is mocked and ridiculed mercilessly. She is called a ‘stupid cunt.’ Threats of violence appear on the internet against her, and in her e-mail. Stalkers take pictures near her home. She is finally forced into hiding, in fear of her life.
At this point I must surely be describing backlash from emotionally-stunted misogynists who have been raised in a rape culture. What if I told you the threats and hateful epitaphs were slung by self-described social justice proponents? Impossible? It happened- two months ago to a vlogger named Laci Green . . .
[after reporting on death threats to Laci Green and her being called a ‘transphobic cunt,’ the writer continued] The Daily Dot reported that Laci’s fans believe this reaction came from the Social Justice section of Tumblr, calling it 'militant.' Given the tenor of some of the remarks, that seems rather likely. A sample of hate from a self-labeled 'feminist liberal' can be seen here [this was a link on the website]” (“Social Justice Community Turns Into Angry, Violent Mob. Wait, What?” http://www.skepticink.com/incredulous/?p=280, accessed Oct 17, 2013).
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“Laci Green’s story reminds us that, counter-intuitively, being part of a social justice community actually makes you more likely to fall prey to such frailties because participating in any well-defined, morally-charged, homogeneous group increases any person’s vulnerability to tribalistic, us-them thinking. This is not a statement about social justice groups, but any such groups. The same is true of political parties, churches, reddits, and even such things as sports fan clubs at times. Again, I am not picking on Atheism+ or social justice. This is not about them so much as about the properties of certain type of groups” (“Social Justice Community Turns Into Angry, Violent Mob. Wait, What?” http://www.skepticink.com/incredulous/?p=280, accessed Oct 17, 2013).
Future Conscience: “There is no doubt now that when the internet sees an act that is deemed to be a social injustice, it has an unrivaled ability to bring people together. The result of this is often the rapid collection of information, and there are many dozens of high profile cases where those targeted had their addresses, phone numbers, workplaces and any other piece of personal information that could be dug up put out for anybody who wanted to see it.
It doesn’t take much to realise what happens next. If there is one thing that we should be wary of when it comes to these viral forms of social justice, it is that they are completely uncontrollable and in many cases become little more than hysterical lynch mobs baying for blood” (Tweetivism: social justice or internet lynch Mob?” Oct. 19, 2009, http://www.futureconscience.com/tweetivism-social-justice-or-internet-lynch-mob/, accessed Oct 17, 2009).
Newt Gingrich: “ACORN is part of the enforcement wing and the intimidation wing of the left. . . And because the elite media is so biased towards the left they routinely fail to cover and connect the dots, just as they [fail to] do with union intimidation tactics and with the New Black Panthers intimidation. Intimidation by the left is seen as social justice by left-wing reporters and editors. If anything comparable were happening on the Right it would be a page one national story everyday” (quoted in Matthew Vadum’s Subversion, Inc.: How Obama's ACORN Red Shirts are Still Terrorizing and Ripping Off American Taxpayers, 2011, Kindle Locations 484-488).
Michelle Malkin: “Today, the social justice mobsters on campuses across the country held a nationwide tantrum over tuition hikes. This is how the Left teaches civil discourse to its intellectual progeny: ‘Gimme!’ ‘Revolution!’ ‘Smash Patriarchy!’” (“Campus Chaos: Social Justice Mobsters Attack Police, Smash Windows Over Tuition Hikes,” MichelleMalkin.com , March 4, 2010 http://michellemalkin.com/2010/03/04/campus-chaos-social-justice-mobsters-attack-police-smash-windows-over-tuition-hikes/, accessed May 20, 2012).
Thomas DiLorenzo: “I suspected from the beginning that the libeling of Dr. Block was a set-up by the self-appointed Campus Thought Police, who never stop reminding everyone that they are in favor of ‘social justice.’ (The implication is that anyone who opposes their socialistic political agenda must be in favor of injustice.) It was this ‘social justice crowd’ on the Loyola campus who immediately claimed after Dr. Block’s lecture that a student complained to them about the ‘insensitivity’ of Dr. Block’s rendition of the economics of discrimination. Within twenty-four hours I learned that the university president was preparing his libelous letter despite the fact that he had neither attended the lecture nor contacted Dr. Block to ask him if the scurrilous slanders about him were true. I have always suspected that the student was sent to the seminar with specific instructions to cause trouble, which he did. . . .
That the ‘social justice crowd’ on the Loyola campus was behind the lynching of Walter Block was confirmed to me recently by one of my top students, who made it his business to investigate the whole matter in a way that I could not have. It was also confirmed, as far as I’m concerned, by an extraordinarily hateful and malevolent letter to the school newspaper (The Greyhound) shortly after the lynching took place by one Rev. John Donahue, S.J., a ‘research professor’ at Loyola and one of the ‘social justice’ proselytizers on campus. The letter was written in a very self-congratulatory tone and boasted of what a good job he and his lynch mob partners did in libeling Dr. Block with their false and baseless accusations of racism and sexism” (“Libelous Leftist Lynch Mobs,” Oct. 28, 2009, http://www.lewrockwell.com/2009/10/thomas-dilorenzo/libelous-leftist-lynch-mobs/, accessed Oct 17, 2013).
Lauren Rae Orsini: “Social Justice is a movement on Tumblr without any self-identifying movers—a cause that no activist wants to be associated with.
The ‘social justice’ tag is used for Tumblr discussions of racist, sexist, homophobic, and ableist issues thousands of times every day. But finding a community member from the subculture to discuss it is tougher than you’d expect.
‘It’s a pathetic title,’ said Mehreen Kasana, a 23-year-old Pakistani activist who champions minority rights on her Tumblr blog. Kasana, like the other sources in this article, was recommended by Tumblr users to the Daily Dot as an example of a prominent Social Justice blogger. She scoffed at the association.
‘I do my part of social activism,’ she said. ‘I work against drones as an activist and writer. I work with sexually abused children. I'm on a media regulating panel. Social work, right? But I don't need a title that's been abused by many.’
According to Know Your Meme, social justice blogs are ‘commonly criticized for being rude, obnoxious, and being misinformed and using skewed data in their claims.’ Jezebel said the group is nothing more than a ‘mob.’ The Daily Dot was unable to receive a comment from Tumblr staff about the phenomenon” (“The Complicated World of Tumblr’s Social Justice,” August 17, 2012, http://www.dailydot.com/society/tumblr-social-justice-laci-green/, accessed Oct. 17, 2013).
John Agresto: “The myth persists that the left—while it might often be naive and unrealistic—still has its heart in the right place. Those who want to redistribute income are the gallant Robin Hoods of contemporary life. ‘Occupiers’ and socialists clearly have real concern for the downtrodden and poor. Those who demand social justice are more sincere, more compassionate, more spiritual, and surely more Christian than the rest of us.
Fairness and decency are the heart of the left; materialism and selfishness the hallmarks of the bourgeoisie, Wall Street, the tea party crowd, and, well, ordinary Americans in general. So we are told.
Of course, every now and then this narrative unravels. An Occupy crowd goes on a rampage smashing the windows of small shopkeepers, stealing, destroying private and public property, throwing bricks at the police, and threatening the lives of ordinary citizens. In social-democratic Europe, gangs of idealistic youths take over universities, riot, and firebomb their way to achieve what they characterize as justice” (“Robin Hoods Don't Smash Shop Windows: Shouldn't Supposedly Selfish Conservatives—Not Idealistic Liberals—Be Producing Nasty Mobs?” The Wall Street Journal, Jan 1, 2012, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304070304577397852312185514, accessed Oct. 18, 2013).
Unknown Blogger: “Any suggestion that sj [social justice] warriors try to be polite is called ‘tone policing’ or ‘making the tone argument’. To warriors, anyone who suggests being polite is a ‘concern troll’ or ‘derailer’ who wants to weaken their discussion. The ‘tone argument’ is cited by people of all hues and genders who think their issue gives them the right to be rude. It means ‘I don’t have to be polite; you do’” (“The ‘Tone Argument’ or ‘Tone Policing’: Why Social Justice Warriors Act the Way They Do, July 17, 201,2 http://sjwar.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-problem-with-social-justice-fandom.html, accessed Oct 12, 2013).
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“People who cite ‘the tone argument’ are invariably middle or upper class. The idea that their arrogance should be accepted is, in their terms, their privilege speaking. Working folks have a stock response to people like them: ‘Didn’t your momma teach you no manners?’
Googling to see how common that response is, I laughed when I found ‘Didn’t yo mama teach you no manners, collegeboy?’ Though the warriors’ mothers and fathers might have tried to teach them manners, the college kids of social justice fandom rant and abuse in the belief that will make a better world. They think common courtesy is too common to apply to them” (“The ‘Tone Argument’ or ‘Tone Policing’: Why Social Justice Warriors Act the Way They Do, July 17, 2012 http://sjwar.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-problem-with-social-justice-fandom.html, accessed Oct 12, 2013).
Edwin Locke: “The protestors will reply that capitalism denies ‘social justice,’ because every person (and every country) does not make the same amount of money. They view the rich as immoral and regard the United States as the guiltiest country on earth, because it is so wealthy. What the protestors want is to drain the wealth of the producers and give it to those who are not productive.
The protestors are right on one point: capitalism is the antithesis of egalitarianism. Under capitalism, people only get what they earn; they do not have the right to seize what someone else has earned. What the socialists want in the end is an unjust world, a world where they forcibly harness the able, the competent, the hardworking--the productive--in order to reward those who are not productive. What the protestors refuse to acknowledge is that capitalism is the system of genuine ‘social justice’” (“Protestors at the Democratic Convention are the Enemies of Freedom,” Aug. 11, 2000, http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5196, accessed Dec. 3, 2011).
Ari Armstrong: “Unfortunately, many Occupy Wall Street protesters call for ‘social justice,’ which is a euphemism for more looting. True justice neither needs nor permits the adjective ‘social’ before it. Justice necessarily applies in a social context (the need for justice never arises for a lone individual on a desert island.) While justice applies differently in different circumstances, the principle means the same fundamental thing in each: individuals getting what they deserve. Occupiers calling for ‘social justice’ are calling for the use of force to interfere with the voluntary associations of business owners, customers, and employees—for example, through wage and price controls, nullification of loan contracts (e.g., mortgage and education), increased taxes on the so-called one percent, and other forced wealth transfers. ‘Social justice,’ is plain injustice” (“Contra Occupiers, Profits Embody Justice,” The Objective Standard, Dec. 2, 2011, http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/blog/index.php/2011/12/contra-occupiers-profits-embody-justice/, accessed Oct 18, 2013).
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“According to various Occupy Wall Street protesters, profits hurt people and constitute injustice. For example, an Orange County protester held a sign reading, ‘People Before Profits’; he told Alex Epstein of the Center for Industrial Progress, ‘I think people’s interests [should] always come first.’ I interviewed a Zuccotti Park Occupier who said, ‘In terms of what I’m trying to accomplish and what I would want is a society that actually prioritizes human rights and the notion of social justice over profit.’
While such sentiments paint profit as the enemy of rights, justice, and people’s well-being, in fact profit in a capitalist system embodies all those things. Setting aside for a moment so-called ‘social justice,’ far from undermining justice, protecting the right to profit in a free society is an instance of justice.
What is profit? In the broadest sense, a profit is a gain that comes from exerting personal effort or interacting with others. (‘Profit’ derives from the Latin term meaning ‘to make progress.’) If I plant tomato seeds and tend the ground, I profit by harvesting the tomatoes. A massage therapist profits by selling that service. Apple profits by trading computers and iPhones (and the services that come with them) for money”(“Contra Occupiers, Profits Embody Justice,” The Objective Standard, Dec. 2, 2011, http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/blog/index.php/2011/12/contra-occupiers-profits-embody-justice/, accessed Oct 18, 2013).
Dmitri Rutkowski: “Who are the real agents of change in the social justice crowd? For an answer, conservatives should watch a G-20 Summit protest, such as the revealingly titled 3/28/09 ‘Put People First, March For Jobs, Justice and Climate’ in London. Unruly and often masked in ‘black bloc,’ this seemingly disparate assemblage united under social justice is particularly ‘unjust’ to police (and to the glass storefronts of chain restaurants, banks, and other symbols of capitalism). Foreshadowing the events that occurred in Pittsburgh and Toronto, radicals in London shattered glass, displaying the behavior (see 1:35 onward) of those unafraid to use direct action -- i.e., vandalism and destruction -- in order to ‘save’ us all”(“The Modern Left (Unmasked),” Dec. 14, 2010, http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/12/the_modern_left_unmasked.html, accessed Oct 18, 2013).
Lee Stranahan: “The abstract concepts of social justice and class struggle led Kathy Boudin to help cause the grim reality of the headless, shredded bodies of her friends in the Greenwich Village rubble and to the slain policeman and security guards, those husbands and fathers who ended up dying bloody on the New York pavement in the fall of 1981” (“The Gory Details About Terrorist Teacher Kathy Boudin, April 4, 2013, http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/04/04/The-Gory-Details-About-Terrorist-Teacher-Kathy-Boudin, accessed Oct 18, 2013).
Instapundit: “NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE? So we've had nearly 8 years of lefty assassination fantasies about George W. Bush, and Bill Ayers' bombing campaign is explained away as a consequence of him having just felt so strongly about social justice, but a few people yell things at McCain rallies and suddenly it's a sign that anger is out of control in American politics? It's nice of McCain to try to tamp that down, and James Taranto sounds a proper cautionary note -- but, please, can we also note the staggering level of hypocrisy here? (And that's before we get to the Obama campaign's thuggish tactics aimed at silencing critics.)
The Angry Left has gotten away with all sorts of beyond-the-pale behavior throughout the Bush Administration. The double standards involved -- particularly on the part of the press -- are what are feeding this anger. . . So while asking for McCain supporters to chill a bit, can we also ask the press to start doing its job rather than openly shilling for a Democratic victory? Self-control is for everybody, if it's for anybody. . .” (Oct. 11, 2008, http://pjmedia.com/instapundit-archive/archives2/025622.php, accessed Oct 18, 2013).
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