Institutionalized Unfairness

The election is over, but the bellyaching continues.  The liberals, in particular, remain deeply disgruntled.  They keep casting around for villains to blame for their failure.  It never occurs to many of them that they might be responsible for their defeat.

In earlier columns, I have suggested that the electorate might finally have rebelled at the institutionalized dishonesty progressives introduced into government, the media, and education.  Political correctness has become so pervasive that millions of voters could no longer conceal their distain.

Liberal commentators, of course, have continued their self-deceptive ways.  Despite ostentatious “soul-searching,” they are still looking outward to understand why they were rejected.  Indeed, some of their recriminations are nastier than ever.

I have also suggested that we are victims of institutionalized irresponsibility.  Millions of Americans obviously want to be saved from their follies.  They require the government to protect them and to do the heavy lifting.  In this case, folks on both the left and the right are implicated.

Clearly those on the left want politicians to guarantee them a good job with high wages, but so do those on the right.  They too ask the president to intervene to make sure they are protected from life’s hazards.  The difference is that conservatives also ask for an opportunity to run their own businesses.

But now I want to turn to the proliferation of institutionalized unfairness.  In recent years, there has been a greater emphasis on treating people differently depending on their social category.  Discrimination and prejudice have become fashionable—that is, as long as these are applied to unshielded groups.

Another way to describe what has occurred is to label it “identity politics.”  The citizenry has been divided up into groups that are appealed to in terms of their allegedly distinctive characteristics.  Blacks, Hispanics, Gays, and Women are regarded as separate and thus deserving of special benefits.

On the other hand, Whites, Straights, Men, and Christians have been flung into the bowels of the earth.  They are told that they are a basketful of deplorables and therefore are not entitled to respect or social preference.  The fault for this is supposedly their own and hence they have no right to complain.

One of the most glaring examples of unfairness is affirmative action.  People are nowadays ushered to the front of the line if they possess the correct group credentials.  Thus they get admitted to colleges although their grades are below par.   They also get hired and promoted on the job in order to fit predetermined quotas.

What makes matters worse is that this favoritism is defended in the name of social justice.  It is said to be an essential means of returning equity to our society.  Never mind that some people get hurt.  They must be sacrificed on the altar societal progress.

Many Trump voters caught on that as members of the white working class they were expendable.  They realized that if, for instance, only Black lives matter, theirs don’t.  They began to understand that they were scorned and marginalized.

Liberals have assumed that they can bring about fairness by being unfair.  They believe that the only way to correct historical injustices is to institute a variety of contemporary injustices.  The new victims had accordingly best shut up and take their medicine.

Except that millions in the heartland decided that they were fed up with remaining silent.  They too had grievances that were not being addressed.  The new rules told them that they were the cause of other’s distress, but now they protested against this demonization.

The fact is that the only way for a society to be fair is to apply the same rules to everyone.  A democracy that is based on partiality, no matter how well intended, cannot be stable.  The losers ultimately discover they have been cheated and demand recompense.

This is apparently where we have arrived.  Relentless appeals to political correctness are falling on deaf ears.  Innocent people cannot indefinitely be made to feel guilty for the sins of others.  In time, they conclude that they too have rights.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University