If You Are Neutral In Situations Of Injustice – Explain

|If You Are Neutral In Situations Of Injustice. Explain whether you agree or disagree? Unfortunately, the world we live in is full of injustice. From bullies on the playground to dictators on the world stage, people are committing acts of cruelty every day. Sometimes all it takes is a small action or word of support to save the victim, and other times even armies cannot stop a tormenter in action. But either way, bystanders play a crucial role in each situation.

By definition

For upon  By definition, a bystander is someone who “is present at an event or incident but does not take part.” When you witness an injustice taking place, you are automatically a bystander and therefore you have gained a huge responsibility. At first, it seems that someone who “does not take part” in a form of injustice is doing the right thing, we not supposed to participate in that kind of behavior, right?

But notice that when it says “does not take part” it means that the bystander does not take part in any way; the bystander is literally just watching this misfortune take place. One could argue that the bystander is neutral in this case, and therefore cannot be expected to stand up for the oppressed, however, by allowing the mistreatment to continue are they not encouraging the oppressor?

what if the teacher decides to be neutral about the situation?

When a student runs down the hallway, they are careful to steer clear of teachers. But eventually, a teacher will be walking down the hallway as a frantic 1st grader sprints around the corner. This teacher is a bystander of the “crime” this student has committed, and this behavior can easily be stopped with a stern warning. However, what if the teacher decides to be neutral about the situation, after all, he or she is only a bystander and has no obligations, right? So the teacher simply looks at the student, and then walks past, completely ignoring the fact that this 1st grader is breaking the rules.

Now, clearly running down the hallway hasn’t been world-breaking news (yet), but the principle is the same. When the teacher sees the misbehavior and chooses to do nothing to stop it, he or she is encouraging the student to continue to run down the hallway. In the same way, when a bystander sees an act of injustice and chooses to do nothing to stop it, he or she is encouraging the oppressor to continue.

Desmond Tutu, who said “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor,” was a South African social rights activist who spoke out against injustice his whole life. I couldn’t agree more with the second half of his quote: “If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”