Hear no evil, see no evil

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

When we hear this quote, we think of the "great" historical evils; the quintessential example for those of us who grew up in the 20th century is the Holocaust. It's a way of wagging a finger at the moral failures of the ordinary people in those situations, the ones who knew better and should have spoken up but didn't. In our heads, we wonder how they could have allowed such things to pass when they were so obviously wrong. In our hearts, we congratulate ourselves because we are good people who would have done the right thing, if we'd had the chance.

But this quote is not applicable to the "little" evils of our day, things so minor that they don't really justify being called evils. They are "unfortunate" events, when poor and disenfranchised people suffer around the world or in the next neighborhood over. If someone in Ethiopia loses access to their land or water so that a richer country can take advantage of those resources, or if someone in North Minneapolis is struggling to find shelter or food or a safe place where their children can play, this is not a manifestation of evil. It's sad, of course, and it would be great if something could be done, but poverty is intractable and the causes are too complex for us to fix, and all we can do is shake our heads while we sip our latte and realize that we can't really change those things. Quite frankly, those things are distant "third-world" problems; and while we may self-deprecatingly laugh at our "first-world" problems, those are the ones that we have and they are the only ones we can really deal with.

Some might say that the real first-world problem is that we are reliant on the existence of the third world to support our standard of living. Without it, our goods would not be so cheap and plentiful, our lives not nearly so convenient, our growth not so rapid, and our favored status not so clear. That is why third-world problems both cannot be evil and must not have solutions; otherwise, any investigation into their roots might point a finger too near our direction. But even if this were true, it is not our fault. We did not make these systems, and we certainly can't change them. This is just how it is, and we have to get along as best we can.

Martin Luther King said that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," but these things are not a threat to us, and they are not truly injustice; that would imply that there is a right and a wrong to these situations. And that can't be true, because if if were, then we would know it, and we would be doing the right thing. We are good good people, not like those other good people, and if there were a true moral question we would be on the right side of it.

Comfort is not the reason good people do nothing. What is wrong with comfort? Comfort is a reward, a sign that we have done well, worked hard, followed the rules, and earned your rest. If other people don't or can't achieve what we have, it is not good for them, but has nothing to do with us. It is certainly not our responsibility to change anyone else's life, or to make sure they are secure. Because our comfort and their discomfort are separate things, and we owe those people no debt. The fact that we worry at all is a sign of our sensitivity, our generosity; we don't have to think about those things at all, but since we do, that shows that we are good people, people who will definitely fix injustice if we see it.

And we know what justice is about; it is about rights, about documents, about equality before the law, about voting. It is about equal opportunity, anti-discrimination, a level playing field, and merit. It is about individual aspirations and the belief that everyone can succeed if they try, and those who deserve it will be rewarded. Sometimes it is about keeping people from being killed, but that is only under some circumstances; there are many reasons why people are killed. But if someone is killed and it really is unjust, justice will allow you to get everything you are entitled to under law. Justice happens in law; and if we have any duty, it is to be honest jurors and vote for good legislators.

But justice is not about what we buy. It is not about where we live, or where someone else lives. It is not about who goes to what school and the kind of education they get. It is not about who owns what. It is not about who is hungry or who is healthy. Those things result from a tangled web of individual, corporate, and government decisions, and you can't even assign responsibility to anyone. Supposing you could - you still would be hard pressed to find anyone doing evil. We are just trying to earn a good living and have decent lives and make good decisions for our kids, and we aren't hurting anyone else. We certainly aren't responsible for what happens to unfortunate people in the world around us. But we are good people, and when we have the chance to fight evil and injustice, we definitely will.