social justice issues, earlier life experiences which may have influenced law study, how you would spend the funds

 My reasons for applying are more personal than academic at this time. I hope it will become clear to the reader that I am not financially secure, am proud of Australia’s long history involving social work, including social justice as one of the principles for social work (along with human rights, change in society, and freedom) as laid out by the International Social Worker Federation, and am incredibly interested in social justice in particular, despite my relative unfamiliarity of it and the perhaps unpopular nature of these areas. Any mistaken assumptions made here about the Earth and the human race are my own misconceptions, and as I was unable to view social justice through a single perspective, for instance, a medical, sociological, political or legal view, much of the three texts below will be highly ‘personal statements’. They are all malleable thoughts and will not constrain my future ways of thinking. I hope to work across disciplines, act beyond borders, think extreme, and survive by caring for myself and others well. Thank you also for providing this open opportunity for ‘just-commencing’ students such as myself.

 

I see many social issues of the social justice nature portrayed in various media both domestic and International (mainly American/Japanese). For the affected peoples it is often proper and decisive action that is required rather than monetary means of change/escaping from the situation. Where perfected solutions cannot be derived as we do in mathematical and scientific thinking, I have often spoken out in more ‘physical’ terms, (in a way) similar to Malcolm X, in that our slight exaggeration of speech is conducive to greater participation in making constructive decisions and actions happen. That was until I came to read many legal studies textbooks and Australian Law texts beginning from three years ago. It was the ‘de-blurring’ moment. I was seeing broadly without actually seeing before this. Clarity came upon the muddles of business and literature I had exposed myself to. While most students would learn fundamental axioms (etc) first, I first learned arithmetic without learning to count using English words. However, abstraction and complicated thinking styles never really ‘got me anywhere’. Gaining a clearer vision of society made me more self-aware, and law was a jigsaw piece complementing everything I had come to know at that point.

 

As I grew up shielded from the need for serious thinking, it was not until age 11 that I came to read of more advanced texts expanding from the ‘Introducing Books series’. Several consecutive family disasters also led me to lightly ponder as well as frustrate myself with the consequences of the actions of others. While psychology is now a very broad discipline with an even wider range of applications, I still find C. Jung’s urgent call for our necessity to know the ‘nature of mankind’ to prevent ‘evil’ or disasters (as seen throughout history, particularly as warfare chemistry and technology became advanced), quite compelling. That, in addition to our helplessness for utterly hopeless, helpless and lost asylum seekers on Nauru (or similar sufferers) who must suffer the anti-depressives and what-not for the economic system, for politics, for medicine-manufacturers…strikes me at the core with indignation, no less than when similar things happen to my more closer relatives, where the motive is darker, and the fault lies more heavily on the ‘others’ than the victim(s).

 

I intend to take an inter-disciplinary approach, with a modified version of Dr Tokoro’s Open Systems Science Methodology. Eventually, I am more of a systems and software architect than a poetic skilful programmer (I usually cannot persevere to achieve the set aims of others no matter how much I agree – it has to come from within), more of a philosopher of science than a mathematician or scientist (I cannot specialise in a single field by undertaking reductionism), more of a mastering engineer than a recording engineer or artist/musician (being the key person who determines the final quality – based on experience and previous work, as well as a certain laziness – performing, setting up microphones or mixing is much too difficult). I would prefer to not integrate into the new wave of digital euphoria, digital start-ups, and digital everything. But I must. So it is fitting that I spend 3.5 to 4 years in university, where the environment is placed beyond any shielding but is less intimidating than the business world, since actual open innovation can easily take place.

 

Studying law makes one love it more and more. Its intersections with medicine, business, technology including the virtual spaces, and outer space particularly intrigue me as they are less fully developed areas. But social justice? Wherever that is meant to sprout from is obviously unclear to everybody. I assessed many short pieces of writing by primary school students when I was in Japan, on topics ranging from community to Fukushima-related disasters and the aftermath. They are the ones capable of contributing to a better society. Yet they leave it to the others, the ‘elders’ with position and experience, who unfortunately are up to no good 80% of the time. Once a person is satisfied, those things external to that person might just as well disappear so long as they are unnecessary to sustain and gratify this person. And a person perennially unsatisfied would need to learn, even train in Buddhism, Zen, Zhuang Zi and other Chinese texts in their original wordings, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein or the equivalent of those. Actually, I was once quite satisfied in Japan, until I developed recurrent tonsillitis and associated complications of the heart and kidneys. That fall was a great blow to me, for in Japan a common middle school student trains daily for 2 hours, sometimes 4 (weekends) to 7 hours (on special days) like an elite sportsperson through club activities for volleyball and such. They push themselves beyond their physical and emotional limit, which are not as high as elite players in the first place, and today I reflect on the many broken bones I witnessed from my team and also my own concussion in the first year and spine injury in the second. We should have been more rational (!) I also undertook Kyokushin Karate training three times a week initially as an excuse to try and conclude this disastrous daily volleyball fever, but it only served to worsen the situation – I did both, all the way to the day I went to the child medical clinic for nothing but a small fever, picked up a more serious virus there, and developed my severe tonsillitis after training in the cold rain outside on a Saturday. I remember clearly it was a parent teacher interview day too.

 

The End.

 

2015 May. In June, spurred on by a teacher, I enrolled in Marryatville High at an economically bad time with the Japanese yen at its weakest ever (it recovered straight after and has only become ever stronger since). I am indebted to my mother, who has sacrificed much more than any other, and suffered much more than any other. I daresay more than any alive today which includes those bragged as ‘super-mums’ by their sons. Far more than Meng Zi’s mother too, however I would never know historical people and their lives as well as the people I can see alive today. And I feel the guilt of my many actions and those I could not prevent others from taking. I reflect on my eroding positivity but enduring character of being liable to turn my back on the darker side of nature. I think only the discipline of law saved me and will/might save me. In the meantime, I am very much alone from friends, now unsupported by any parents or relatives, too frequently conflicting with businessmen or ignored by academics/mentors. So I value (what I have seen of) the university environment much too highly now. And that is why, for all of the things that make me Noah at present, although I am not interested in gold at all, I have applied for the Dunstan Foundation Len King Scholarship. I expected nothing of this kind happening only mere months ago.

 

Everybody has their ‘can and can’t dos’ but for me, scholarly funding might be a great opportunity to show I can. And even better, there are responsibilities and frequent checks attached to it. I often wonder why, if the same applied to everybody else who works in society for a salary, then why is there fraud, corruption, and some detections of it without the full story.

 

Thankfully, I won’t ever be satisfied. These words can be done away with too. Satisfaction, respect, jealousy, all those words need not exist. One cannot respect the entire human race. One has to disrespect some. That is one problem. They wrought great harm enough to topple the towers and shake the earth clean. I won’t forget that ‘kind of fury’, that high-pitched - those loud words middle school students of Hiroshima made available to us inside our school gymnasium. I doubt they were made audible to others. Certainly the educated Americans don’t wish to confront it. They cannot even stop flinching upon hearing that a researcher had converted to Islam in China, to the point that ‘the air of the room changed’. The letters sent to the many countries – who listened? So whether Bertrand Russell or Linus Pauling did their activism or not makes little difference. It’s still great to see more visitors in Hiroshima by the way. Peace is something we do not talk about. We talk about suffering.

 

Various current advertisements speak of grand changes and ‘rethinking everything’ for the sake of the 21^st century. I once did speak the same, but now we are simply waiting for the next big change. Either we all do research, or we wait.

 

I imagine I would benefit from receiving monetary funds by obtaining freedom, more focus, and ‘driven purpose' for my studies. I would use it properly to aid in my living costs, my studies, and transport fees in cases of competitions held interstate or internationally (some of which Adelaide Law School was never a part of but why exclude!) Joining or developing more AUU or sporting clubs without impacting too far on my studies, spending more time volunteering where possible, and actively seeking work experience placements with ‘higher quality’ experiences than paid part-time jobs will also become easier. Then I would like to spend more time on properly planned non-profit activities with intention to achieve a clear purpose. It may involve services provided to the public and if so, I intend it to be honourable and something we and the entire country without a single doubt can be properly proud of to have achieved. Either that, or nothing. For me. However others may profit at the expense of others as they wish.

 

I will not go into fuller details of my imagined expenditure as I believe it is up to the Foundation to decide whether the funds will be useful or not for a given student or in fulfilling the scholarship’s aim.

 

Thus I have no drawn up plans for the use of these funds. With increased experience of life, one’s optimism fails to spark as easily. I am realistic and I know clearly from previous examples that there are great opportunities to ‘make a difference’ but whether these cross my path is highly uncertain. And who knows whether having funds produces negative consequences, just as the man experiencing true love dies in literature. I had thought true love would save the world.

Currently when I explain my decision of undertaking study in the field of law numerous names are mentioned in the conversations: Malcolm X (turned down by his then-teacher when a career in law was mentioned as an aspiration without any deep intentions or thought), Lenin (with his incredible speed in completing his law degree), and many more former politicians.

 

The darkly humorous Uno Kōji’s Closet LLB (translated by Jay Rubin) portrays protagonist Sansaku as a man I can identify with presently, however, everything about the character reflects what a law student must never be like and ultimately hints at what society must become. As for The Paper Chase p. 127-136 includes the scenes describing the other students not wanting a better answer and the protagonist aiming to be an AI program trawling each and every single relevant text for his professor’s background data (a trivial matter as it turns out), I feel without doubt that while I still strive for perfection, I won’t be repeating what I have done in the past. Definitely – I want to prove the many fictional stories wrong too.

 

Actually, I think the shapers of society must come from all backgrounds and disciplines. So law students aren’t necessarily the drivers of social justice. I chose law for it appeals to me greatest out of all the subjects and trades I have come across to date. In science and engineering particularly, the air seems constrained and the full picture unobtainable. Philosophy is not a supportive profession in this day. There only remained one choice. Law seems like ‘not much’, but rewards me the deeper I delve. And most of all it is exciting no matter how complex the task is. I like it very much and nobody in my family ever had a background in law. And yes, early on, my interest in police, detectives, forensic scientists (while at Killara High those who went on a camp revealed very interesting accounts to me) and such, as well as my desire for ‘justice’, built up over time due to exposure to Australian, Japanese and Chinese TV, are prominent influences. Most of all, my own skills development is a high priority. It seems this is the best timing, with everything planned to be positive for Adelaide in the long-term and interesting opportunities for collaboration increasingly available all around the CBD.

Social justice seems to be part of a reductionism going on for the big plans of tackling society’s issues. And it’s primarily political or economical. Is sociology involved?

 

My view on the politics of universities is as follows. We rely on universities to enrol a more diverse range of students from all countries, social classes, positions, families, and make a leeway for those who would bloom with the adequate guidance but might not have demonstrated remarkable academic excellence, general good character, and a broad-minded attitude etc. which may or may not be achieved depending on the situation globally. It’s one of those concepts we dream in. Widened access is still hampered by loan repayments, cultural barriers, and ineffective ‘half-way there’ reforms. Radical and conventional changes tend to require data and years of plodding work. In general, opportunity is considered to be something not to be given to all people. And yet, it is. Anybody willing to enter university may do so. Either way matters little, while more next generation tradesmen and women are needed in SA until the time a broader and more creative AI appears cheaply. Only, the latter part differs hugely between places. Disadvantaged people will remain so in most areas of the world. Inequity is built into the system. Not much useful action can be taken to remedy this. Until such time as ‘AI’ is sufficiently smart enough to truly brag about, then we can put a new system into place. It will be more difficult than making Australia independent from the Commonwealth, but it will be far more meaningful than that.

 

China was once hugely great. Everybody gay (old meaning) and content, kind, wallets put onto a public desk would remain untouched for a day (as long as it’s not near the shops etc), nobody talked so much, very little crime (though it still existed), good relations all around, public baths shared together, less disease, less care/worry, less stress, less youth discontent, less everything negative we see today. Less need for knowledge! Now it is increasingly authoritarian and capitalist. It is great, and everybody is all about money. Great. Wealth, power and privilege go to those who seek it. Who exploit it. And with our populations, unstoppable change, and original ‘Nature’s inequities’ for example the varied soil conditions and climate found in different areas, of course there is no going back to the past. Everybody seemed to live in a dream-like fantasy fiction. Now we all live in reality – so everybody lives to cause the worst kind of troubles for others. We are an awakened race, or maybe we are. I hope we are, in the good way. Educating people happens to feature prominently in conclusions of research articles but that should be omitted for it is education itself (as it stands now) that mostly acts against equity. And digital education, with all the hopes I had placed on it, turned out to be a hushed embarrassment whether or not some future AI is involved. All unfortunate since facts can only be written and spoken about behind closed doors in confidential documents or meetings of the decision-makers. What we, the public, all see, is illusion. Of course, I am simplifying the complicated here.

 

What does justice, equality, free speech and so forth really define? We take for granted the values of equity, justice, and fairness, despite these words having varying interpretations. Essentialism (human life has central defining features) may or may not conflict with history or minorities. But with such shaky foundations, how can we take large actions without harming those we wish to save?

 

Simple things like food, safe housing, adequate income, and supportive workplace are so difficult to achieve for each demographic. Some people are overlooked all the time and while steps to reduce inequalities have worked, too much remains unattempted. Enduring changes to how we relate to one another have happened – inclusivity is one. Another is the questionable uptake of digital technologies. Leadership needs to be morally purposeful to contribute to a world that is fair for everyone. They should know the patterns of inequality, and always focus on doing something about injustices. We must overturn our problems, after eliminating the ambiguities and contradictions in the foundations of this area of social work. Equal distribution isn’t hampered by individuals, but by rules on how we treat each other. We are unconcerned about the social disadvantages of ‘others’, and thus cause disparities. (Back to ‘universal love’ again.) Professionalism and humanism supposedly respects the individual’s identity. So I suppose the very smart people alive today are conscious of themselves and others, and are committed to eliminate all suffering and address all disparities with action. Unfortunately they aren’t all doing all that. It is all too much for the all-capable conquerors of the Milky Way.

 

Achieving equal ‘access to opportunity’ reminds me of ‘microcredit’ (I think it was). At the time it was a great example, but since then I’ve seen nothing new except Brazilian welfare. From data, these initiatives have been proven unsustainable from their fundamentals. To spark that willingness of the masses to even pursue new propositions of support requires massive work. Then once the initial success is past, who cares about those who still straggle? And ‘professionals’ usually speak not work. For speaking is far easier. The critic’s job is just too easy. And after the beautiful words are put on paper or broadcast, then they can go back to ‘destroying society’. Naturally it is the unseen, unpraised, hardworking people known as ‘social workers’ or others who must restore, futilely, the balance…so far the only famous social worker I know of – author Kazuo Ishiguro.

 

As for interest in social justice issues, I ask, who is not interested? Who isn’t interested in the depths of their consciousness and unconsciousness, their heart, mind, brain, spirit, and soul. The answer is all or none. I do not choose this. It is laid out clearly. Whether Russell had ‘universal love’ or not – it is unlikely he did. We lie to ourselves with stories. A simple reason why all of us are interested in social justice goes back to our days in schools, with our never satisfied curiosity of what the great headmasters do in their role. The overall difference between schools is due to their actions relating to social justice.

 

But when one advocates for nuclear disarmament, that’s pointless. Right there is an example of ignorance of social justice issues. Peace only comes with equal distribution and contentment. Other methods are no longer relevant for today. If equal satisfaction cannot be made possible, as it is now, we will soon be through the ‘careful balancing act stage’, and into another unpredictable age of darkness. Some will view AI+ as the saviour. Though I use no social media other than LinkedIn, why is it that everything from Microsoft’s twitter AI to nutella’s family labelling became rather ‘inappropriate for young children’? And if AI comes along with certain ‘conditions’ – suppressing unwanted aspects of their ‘learning’ (from the daily use by all users), is that not inequity? Are social justice issues even deserving of being tackled? Is there any hope for humanity as a whole? Certainly I want to answer yes to all! After all, if a single person can demonstrate change – in changing themselves, then humanity can also. And if social justice can act as a tool to instil hope, then I will use it well. My past experiences of communicating with higher-ups indirectly through staff on issues from NSW medical related legislation, excessive smoke from chimneys in SA, shocking fumes from cars (petrol quality and car legislation) in SA, to fluoride-no way anybody can push this away (avoid tea and toothpaste then!), were all about making life more liveable for the disadvantaged(?) Perhaps, but I also see that the issues most others (my knowledge is limited by the media I have access to) face are not as simple or specialised as I have faced. And those are less the system’s fault. More of their own fault. But to reduce that bit of ‘system’s fault’ from 35% to 0.5% is a huge difference! That’s justice, put simply. We need no secret service, terrorism, random charges, etc but if these ‘inefficiencies of the system’ (the future people will view such things as inefficiencies) are to have some changes occurring to them, the work must be done beyond globally. Social justice in the end is people and the law. Indeed, more the law than the people. The law must not be bending towards the people who demand loudest of all.

 

I remember mostly standing on the sidelines and observing my friends, family, and peers take on various experiences society provided to them.  I’m unaffected by people’s words, statements, recounts of happenings, ‘so called injustices’ – I take all of them purely as events and phenomena. It’s all normal and there’s nothing anybody can do about it. It would be best to feel just how much larger the Earth became through digitisation. I am still in awe of it, yet how little constructive effort came out of the global village we now have! What I have observed, discussed, or directly took part in as far as I can recall include the forums on dumping nuclear waste in SA, competitions of writing, photos, and sports, SRCs of many schools, Duke of Edinburgh's awards, primary school Leukaemia and Heart Foundation fundraising since I moved between many schools and spurred on the implementing of these popular NSW activities where there was none in my newer school, Premier’s Reading Challenge for seven years, Spelling Bee, Killara High School Award, fractured bones from sporting injuries, the past effects of other’s ongoing domestic violence (the Chinese people living in Japan in the past were unable to do anything but keep living as though nothing had happened! Despite a death), many years of media reports of child abuse or sexual harassment cases, suffering indirectly the utterly self-destructive family’s financial abuse, culminating in suffering indirectly the effects of injustices and criminal acts (it was against the legislation when they detained somebody close to me) by inarguably simple psychiatrists for theirs and the twisted NSW healthcare system’s benefit (fault lies in far more actually – indeed this is a thriving global issue behind closed doors, just like nursing homes), suffering neighbours' numerous 'atrocities', contacting organisations, politicians, etc. volunteering by helping the elderly do shopping or pay a bill...whatever can be done when on the other side of the coin, things are in fact hopeless or out of control. I did more volunteering while in Japan, but never a lot here owing to the more busy nature of school. Other than a barrage of passive experiencing and observing suffering and now the realisation that historical concentration camps, prisons of US and AU (not Norway), Nauru-like places, Fukushima aftermath shelter houses etc really are no light undertaking among other realisations,  I have done no work for ‘justice’ nor society. I suspect nobody else of my generation has either. If somebody has, and it’s undisputable fact, then I would like to be friends or neighbours with them. Where people congregate, how can equity prevail? How can people live? The biggest questions nobody cares to tackle. Perhaps even looked down upon. Don’t dream. We, each one of us, know it’s fake. Interestingly, this scholarship may bridge my lack of access to bigger opportunities I crave but for which I may not be adequately trained nor prepared for.

 

Besides bringing benefit to the politicians, economists, sociologists, and others, plans of tackling society’s issues seldom made long-lasting impact to the PEOPLE. To you and I. To all of us. We ‘need something right here, right now’ to work with. We ‘won’t get it by sitting in’, by ‘praying we shall overcome’. If solar panels were actually not the right solution then we’ll get the right way, either eliminating electricity, spreading use of DC current, or CSL’s Open Energy Project will concoct something. If malaria must be eradicated we’ll go to these countries, target every mosquito species and develop a safe breeding technique to eliminate them all, at least for a while. Naturally far from possible currently. If car fumes keep getting through the window, make an arm with a sensor to sense each unwanted smell, from cigarettes to trucks and close the window. From the big to the small issues I’ve done everything I can to solve them – which is…not much. But social work strikes me. I have had nothing except experiences of asking others to help me solve issues. If law can be applied in solving social justice issues, just as open systems science applies to 21^st century global scale problems, I think this is what I was in search of.

 

Through my legal studies, I hope to gain a firmer foundation to enable me to delve deeper into the little-known area of social work, starting from a closer look at previous academic texts published in this area and discussions on the definitions of key terms including ‘justice’. It might be easier to dismiss the term as non-existent altogether! If law was fun and interesting, social work, as varied and ever-changing as it is, takes the throne position. Not just for its rewarding effect on society and myself, but its ability to offer a much brighter vision of the future – brighter than tech cities or anything imaginable for me at present…only now I fully agree with Ishiguro’s ‘I am optimistic. Why shouldn't I be?’

 

Whether my studies help me to make a contribution in terms of social justice isn’t predetermined in any way. The world doesn’t ever work to plan, precedence, or prediction as beautifully as they make it out to be, and often history is made by individuals just happening to be there at the time. Certainly I have a strong willingness which will not go away even if I suddenly trained as a philosopher, to assist in the best possible way I can the country I was born on. And not as the current ‘others’ do. No way would I accept any form of dawdling, anything besides the point which doesn’t help others-perhaps even harms them, only profits oneself, and creates further problems for the Social Justice People to clear up again. So although I have many plans and the years ahead will open many doors and broaden my mind to ever more possibilities, I will not write more on the possible consequences of my studies.

In writing my statements, I have opted for a style professor Zizek uses for his texts. It is my first time using the ‘oratorical approach’. Somewhat similar to a transcript of a presentation in my case, it involves notes of ideas written as if I had said them, followed by the fleshing out of these ideas rather than painstakingly building up arguments as I have done for many years. I am not good at this new style but I recognise that the spontaneity of thoughts is preservable and perhaps enjoyable (for the writer anyway).