In this project, were asked to answer the question: What is the most just course of action to resolve an issue of injustice about which you are passionate? All of us chose topics that reflected on our own personal philosophies that we developed over the course of the semester through research on The 4 Philosophies of Justice (John Rawls, Libertarianism, Utilitarianism, ect.). After developing a solid understanding of justice/injustice , we discussed the issues of environmental ethics and injustices, including gas and oil drilling in the Chaco area. Our ultimate goal was to take some form of action to combat issues of injustice that we feel passionate about. I chose to focus on stem cell therapy research awareness.
Justice Monologue
From a very young age, we are taught that we must obey the law. Stated in Howard Zinn’s “Law and Justice” from the Zinn Reader, “That is a powerful teaching, often powerful enough to overcome deep feelings of right and wrong, even to override the fundamental instinct for personal survival”. John Rawls was an American political philosopher. His most well known philosophy: “Justice as Fairness”, speaks on a society that believes that if everyone doesn't have a fair chance at success, we are not really free. John Rawls believes that to solve social and economic disadvantage, we should make laws without our own personal biases and prejudices, and this is something that I wholeheartedly agree with. If everyone took a step back and realized that if they didn’t have a clue or choice in where they were born and under what conditions they would live their lives, they would probably be inclined to change the way that our society functions altogether. People may be more inclined to choose rules and policies that will guarantee all people a fair shot regardless of the circumstances in which they are born into, for fear of being thrown aside by the unfairness of our current society. People who are born into a family of higher income, who are not born as a minority, who are born in an area where they have a higher chance of success in their lives, those who benefit from the current injustice in our societies, aren’t really forced to think too hard about what it would’ve been like to be born into another, less “luxurious” life. The truth of how our society as a whole is built upon suffering and greed seems to be completely hidden, and this is a huge factor as to why societies don’t become more fair. As a minority who has been through times of complete stability to no stability at all, the Veil of Ignorance is an idea that I truly support. John Rawls raises the question, “If we knew nothing about where we’d end up, what sort of a society would it feel safe to enter?” We already know what sort of a society we’d want to live in, but we haven’t pushed for change because the rules that are implemented in society have already been set. This is just how it is. All of the 4 founding philosophies of justice have their pros and cons, but if we took a step back and incorporated liberty, fairness, and equality into all of our societies, I believe that we could reach a place where no one is thrown to the wolves of society. We would all be given a fair chance of success and wellbeing, no matter our individualities or backgrounds.
Final Products
Educational Infographic
Email Sent to Organizations in Support of Stem Cell Research
Artist's Statement
Art Piece
QR Code Leading to Infographic
Project Defense and Reflection:
Defense: For my project, I ended up doing everything I said I’d do in the proposal. I made a painting, an infographic, an artist’s statement, and I created a QR code that directs you to the infographic.
I believe that everyone should have an equal chance at living a life with quality. Everyone should have the right to be equal to one another, no matter their disability, background, or financial situation. Like John Rawl’s most well known philosophy: “Justice as Fairness'', I believe that everyone should have equal access to education and resources that provide them with an equal chance at achieving stability, success, and wellbeing, no matter their unforeseen circumstances. My project reflects this philosophy because stem cell research is pushing for the answer to this issue in the realm of health inequality. This is something that I have personally dealt with for over half of my life, so it is extremely important to me. People who suffer with “incurable”, debilitating diseases and disorders have a lower quality of life, and because people see stem cell research as being unethical or too controversial to enter many trials, we haven’t done enough research to even give them a chance of success in different areas of disease. The ones dealing with these issues are often living in silence. I know first hand that we are put through years of different treatments, tests, and trials. We are often kept waiting and wondering in the dark, and it can feel extremely chaotic and frustrating. I’ve depicted these feelings in my art piece through the blank expression on the girl’s face while she is being surrounded by mounds of chaos that are inching towards her face. Stem cell research could save lives, and my goal is to educate people on this so that we can push for the justice and cure of those who suffer. I did a sufficient amount of research in order to take an informed stance on this issue. I reached out to several organizations who are fighting for this cause and educating populations on this topic, including NSCF (National Stem Cell Foundation), NYSCF (The New York Stem Cell Foundation), and APDA (American Parkinson’s Disease Association). I reached out to these organizations because my original idea was to create prints and sell them to raise money for these organizations. I changed my mind though when I unfortunately didn’t receive a response from any of them. When I did my research, I looked at sites like eurostemcell.org and articles from Web MD.
Reflection: In what ways were you successful in meeting the goals you established in your project proposal? I believe that I was generally successful in meeting my goals that I established in my project proposal, because my main goal was to educate others on stem cell research and its benefits. Before I even displayed my project, I had other people scan the QR code that I made to direct them to the infographic I created. I would say that in a way, this is definitely educating others if they took the time to read through the infographic. In the end, I created an art piece, a statement, and an educational infographic, and ultimately I am extremely proud of each thing that I made. I think that I was able to be successful in making all of the things that I said I would make, because I chose to do things that reflected on my own personal interests and passions.
In what way were you unsuccessful in meeting the goals you established in your proposal? A goal that I had established was to raise money for an organization that supported stem cell research and education, but I didn’t end up doing that because I never heard back from any of the organizations. To overcome this, my new idea was to simply educate others on my topic. I think my thought process was that if the people I educated on stem cell research cared about the topic enough they would look into donating and getting involved on their own. Also, something that I wanted to do was hang my art piece in a place that was relevant to my topic, but I was so focused on creating the project and reaching out to national organizations that I ran out of time to reach out to any local ones. Something that I would do differently next time would be to focus on the small details first, or manage my time a bit better so that I don’t run out of time to accomplish the goals that I had originally set for myself and my project.
To what extent did you SHOW UP for this project? I was extremely engaged in completing this project for the whole two weeks we were given to work on it. The topic of injustice I chose to focus on is something that I’m extremely passionate about, especially because it pertains to myself, a lot of my family members, and people that I am just generally close to. The painting that I created was a six hour project in itself, and I sat down and completed it with no issue. I tried extremely hard to produce beautiful work that I knew I would be proud of with the painting AND the educational infographic.
What TWO key lessons did you learn from this project that you can apply to senior project? Lesson #1: I learned that I need to reach out to organizations and people earlier if I’d like a chance to collaborate with them. When I reach out, I should also highlight the goal/reason for contacting them, and be more clear with my intentions to prevent being ignored or blown off. Lesson #2 It is a good idea to choose a topic that you are really passionate about, and that you won’t possibly get burnt out on. The topic that I chose for this project was extremely similar to what I wanted to explore for my senior project, and by the end of the two weeks we were given to complete it, I definitely felt a bit burnt out by the project. I don’t feel less passionate about it, but I have less interest in working on it for the rest of my senior year. I actually changed my entire senior project idea because of this, and it was stressful to complete a large amount or research on the new topic in only two days.