Bandy around a word too much, too carelessly, and next thing you know, it has no meaning.
We’ve got social justice, racial justice, environmental justice, gender justice–and now we’ve got a chain of “Justice” shops, specializing in girls’ wear. Lots of sequins and glitter.
Why would such a shop be named “Justice”? What does tween girls’ pajamas and sweaters have to do with justice? I was so curious, I went in and asked the clerk. “I don’t know,” she said. I asked the manager. “I have no idea,” she said. “I never thought to ask about it.”
I imagine the shops got their name from an awareness that, by the time they’re in their early teens, American children have been stuffed to the gills with assorted variations of “justice,” all held up as profoundly desirable. “OK, ‘justice’ is good. So if I call my shop ‘Justice,’ people will know that whatever it’s selling is good.” But I doubt one out of a hundred of those young teens can offer a coherent definition of the word. Go ahead, put it to the test. Ask any 13-year-old, “What is justice?” Just ask. I’ll bet you dollars to donuts the answer you get is a giggle, a grin, a shrug, and maybe a “You know!” or two.
Liberals and “teachers” have all but destroyed the word “justice,” applying it to every damned thing on their socio-political wish list. It approaches total meaninglessness.
But that’s what leftids do to language.