The world is an unjust place, though many like to imagine otherwise. To a certain extent, we all try to convince ourselves that people get what they deserve, and that karma is more than just an ancient concept without any foundation in reality. This is a kind of defense mechanism against the cruel and indifferent universe, just as religion helps conquer humanities fear of death. Of course, it is an absurd notion that the world discredits every single day, whether it be in the streets of West Baltimore or in the deserts of the Middle East. And yet, human beings continue to hold on to this unreal inclination, just as the majority continue holding on to the idea of a God, in light of growing scientific evidence that most of what our ancient religions claim is simply false.
It seems to be a built in tendency that one has to constantly work at overcoming. Even when one is consciously aware of the great injustices of the world, it still appears unconsciously as a cognitive bias that social scientists have called the “just-world hypothesis.” Basically, it is the belief that ‘you reap what you sow’ -- that Freddy Gray must have done something to deserve what happened to him, or that a rape victim was secretly asking for it.
Many studies have been done in this area, one of the most famous conducted by social psychologist Melvin Lerner in the sixties. At the University of Kansas, Lerner had various subjects witness a woman (a grad student pretending to be another subject), go through a series of tests. When she got an answer wrong, she would receive an electric shock, which gradually became more intense, resulting in what ultimately resembled torture. Certain subjects were given the option to change the experiment, and the majority ended the cruel test. Other subjects were not given this option, and had to continue watching her go through a torturous exercise. At first, subjects were predictably distraught. But as time went on, subjects began to think less of the subject; as if she deserved what was happening. The experimenters told different subjects that she was being paid at different rates, and the lower the pay went, the more subjects became convinced that she was getting what she deserved.
And so, when the subjects could help the woman, they did; but when they could not, they told themselves that she somehow deserved it.
Now, bring this hopelessness into the real world, where everyday we witness awful things happening, without the ability to do anything about it. This unconscious defense mechanism helps one sleep better at night; if you can’t do anything about the tragedies reported on the six-o-clock news, convince yourself that the victims must have done something do deserve it.
Of course, not everyone suffers from this bias to the same degree. Observe modern liberals versus conservatives, and you can see how a different perception of justice and fairness in the world contributes to political views. Conservatives tend to see American society as supremely fair and just, and this contributes to how they view victims. Take police brutality, which has become an unfortunately common occurrence today. When a young black man is shot, or beaten, the conservative media tends to always assume that they must have done something do deserve this. Race, of course, plays a role in this, but so does the automatic assumption that America’s police are always just.
The death of Eric Garner and the medias reaction to it is a good case study in this respect. The video of Garner being chocked to death was so clearly unjust, that some conservatives could not defend the police in this case. Right wing radio pundit, Glen Beck, said:
“I don’t know exactly how this happened, but I will tell you this, the decision of the grand jury in New York, on the death of Eric Garner, here’s a guy who was not resisting arrest, who was not being a jerk, the video is very very clear. The police put him in a chokehold, threw him down, he has a heart attack, and dies...How this cop did not go to jail, was not held responsible, is beyond me.”
On the other hand, other conservatives were not willing to remove their ideological shades -- blaming everything but the police officer. High cigarette taxes, Garner’s obesity, his resisting arrest (which he was not), his criminal record, etc. New York Representative Peter King made this argument: “you had a 350lb person who was resisting arrest. The police were trying to bring him down as quickly as possible, if he had not had asthma and a heart condition and was so obese, almost definitely he would not have died.” This is the just-world bias -- even when there was very clearly police misconduct (at the very least, the police officer broke the law by putting Garner in a headlock), blame is placed on the victim because of his history or his weight. Or in other words, “he had it coming.”
Liberals are not under the same illusion that America is a fair and just society. For instance, look at the extreme wealth and income inequality that plagues modern America. This is clearly a major aspect of capitalism, but there are certain policies that a government could take to lessen the divide. Today, in impoverished cities, children have nowhere near the same opportunity as children growing up in the upper or even middle classes. Liberals aspire to reduce this gap, while conservatives tend to ignore the problem by conjuring up their just-world mindset. Once again, it is the fault of the poor; they are too lazy and dependent and should know better. Republican’s think that it is solely a matter of personal responsibility. Of course, this is an absurdly delusional notion sprouting from the idea that our society is just and fair; that Mitt Romney had the same opportunity as a poor kid growing up in the Bronx, and that a black kid going to jail for a joint is simply a matter of justice. The fact that black people were about four times as likely than whites to get arrested for marijuana in 2010, even though they use it at about the same rate, is just one of the many statistics proving how unjust our society actually is.
All human beings may have the just-world bias at varying degrees, to make the obvious tragedies of the world a bit more bearable; but for conservatives, it is a delusion used to defend an indefensible ideology. It is like American exceptionalism, used to condone the atrocities that this country has committed both domestically and overseas, gift-wrapping our Machiavellian acts with notions of freedom and democracy. Perceiving our society as being just and fair helps conservatives blame the victim, rather than admitting any wrong with the system itself. Their ideology attempts to conserve the past, and arrest progress. Most of all, the just-word delusion helps to control much of the population, and stifle any true revolt against the real injustices. In a note Che Guevara wrote to his children, he points to this perception of injustice as the true catalyst for revolution:
“Above all, always be capable of feeling deeply any injustice committed against anyone, anywhere in the world. This is the most beautiful quality in a revolutionary.”
No wonder conservatives and the extremely well off promote this just-world bias; without this willful blindness, the probability of the masses taking out the pitchforks would suddenly multiply. Promoting our society as being ultimately just and fair helps to foil any real progress or revolt. Keep things the way they are, and tame the masses.
Fortunately, modern technology and social media have suddenly made it very hard to continue claiming that our society is just. When a video of police brutality surfaces every week, it seems inevitable that this just-world bias will slowly but surely begin to break down. Of course, this won't stop conservative pundits and politicians from reenforcing this belief, as they are the enemies of progress. Karl Marx once said that "social progress can be measured by the social position of the female sex." Clearly, we are not there yet, unless, of course, you are Bill O'Reilly.
