Do we really want justice?

Do we really want justice? Really? Most people would say, "yes! Definitely! We need justice in our society!" But do we really, deep down inside, want it? And does our society today, over 2000 years after Plato, have it?

It seems to be an obvious issue- we want to live in a society that is as perfect as can be, ergo we want to live in a just society. But living together as a society has it's side effects that are hard to see just by looking at it on paper. The most clear side-effect of having a just society is a loss of individualism and personality as a result of living as a collective people. Most people don't want to give these up. In addition, more fundamentally, we humans have personal (sometimes unjust but personally beneficial) ambitions and desires, and we're more willing than it would seem to stomp on each other for personal gain. It is this taboo but very real nature of ourselves that keeps us in a society designed to be unjust.

So it may seem that we don't want a perfectly just society. This is evident, seeing as we live in a society that is far from just.  It is corrupted and manipulated for a small elite class for their own benefit, and is accepted- if not endorsed- by the lower classes as they wait and work for the day when they're in that elite position (a day that seldom comes for many).

While justice is good, makes for goodness in a society, and is generally desired by everyone, people don't want to be the ones who have to sacrifice in order to get the collective benefit. If there's a trash problem, everyone wants a new landfill- it's just that nobody wants them across the street from them. Likewise, we like the idea of justice, but we also like individuality and selfishness. Justice, too, is hard to define- what may be justice for someone can be injustice for another. So it's hard to conceive of a just society, and even harder to live in one. And while we like justice, sadly, we don't really want it in our greater society.