It has been said that the arc of the universe bends toward justice, and while I consider it a valuable sentiment, I don’t really agree, because it makes it seem as if the universe itself is interested in justice. It’s not.
The universe is interested, if it could be said that existence can be labeled interest, in something more akin to order, a drive towards homogeneity.
“Red,” you might say, “aren’t you a communist? Don’t you want order and homogeneity?”
I would reply that communism does not seek order and homogeneity in the same way capitalism seeks it, as capitalism seeks order and a homogeneous outcome to protect its collected wealth.
Instead, communism seeks an outcome where everyone’s needs are met, and since everyone’s needs are going to be different, that would mean a cookie cutter template would not work except to emphasize the needs of the majority at the cost of the minority, which goes against everything communists believe in.
It’s why I consider “horseshoe theory” a hilarious and empty concept. There are people who say that the ultra-left and the ultra-right end up being in the same ballpark, and that only works if you are exceedingly privileged and know nothing about left wing ideology.
For right wingers, simply existing is subject to prosecution. Black? Undesirable. Trans? Undesirable. An immigrant? Undesirable. Why? Because you represent a threat to the white hegemony. You represent disorder and difference.
On the other hand, left wingers, like myself, only call for prosecution when an *act* is seen as dangerous. Starving children? Undesirable. Bombing civilians? Undesirable. Poisoning the air and water? Undesirable.
Communism does not seek out uniformity of behavior and personality, it only seeks to address the needs of the people until the people no longer need any guiding structure to do so. The end state of communism is a stateless, classless, moneyless society.
Can we achieve that now? No, socially speaking we’re nowhere near ready for such a change. That doesn’t mean we don’t push for material improvements in the here and now. The universe doesn’t bend towards justice, but we do, as human beings, and we have the power to make those bends in the rule of law to better accommodate the people in need, to address every need.
This isn’t utopian at all. Quite frankly, I believe we live in a dystopia, and yet I don’t hear anyone saying a dystopia’s not possible. If anything, the people who tell us what to think and what to believe make it sound as if it’s inevitable, as if there is nothing to do but accept our fate and keep our heads down, slaving away for the few at the top who tell the doomsayers what doom they will say next to keep us working and hopeless.
We can save us. We can protect us. We must protect us, and in the process, reverse what has been done to humanity, to the Earth, and make those arcs toward justice ourselves. Real justice, restorative justice, not punitive justice, not revenge masquerading as justice, but real, whole, healing justice.
.Red
