“The world isn’t a fair place” is a phrase that has been used in the media and everyday conversation for a long time, but human nature tells us something different. In my sociology class, we learned about something called the just-world fallacy.

The just-world fallacy states that humanity innately believes the world operates in a fair manner — people who do good bear good tidings, whereas those who do bad are justly punished. 

This belief in karmic judgement isn’t necessarily bad at face value, but overreliance on it can erase empathy in the average person. Once politics come into play, this fallacy has led to disregarding those in need. 

The just-world fallacy needs to be considered before lawmakers choose to write off policies that could help millions simply because they don’t look like they deserve help on the surface.

The fallacy was first identified in the 1960s by social psychologist Melvin Lerner. He noticed therapists at his hospital — typically kind people — would treat their mentally ill patients negatively, as if they deserved to suffer for their illnesses. Through a scientific experiment, Lerner demonstrated his hypothesis: We naturally believe the world is fair, but when faced with an injustice we cannot easily change, we rationalize it by blaming the victim.

Peeling back the curtain on human nature like this is harrowing, but in an experiment, we have the safety of a controlled environment. We can tell the participants it was fake, and the graduate student can get paid for their acting skills.

 But the tears of a rape victim aren’t an act. Those tears are born from trauma and fear, yet America wipes them away with a tissue that says, “Well, maybe you shouldn’t have worn that dress.”

The mother who turns on the morning news to learn her child was killed in a drive-by shooting wants nothing more than to move to a better city, but the newest policy just cut state funding even more to save money on food stamps. 

But hey, one less mouth to feed at the table, right?

Now, this theory holds more influence than ever. Even though the theory came up in my class as part of the curriculum, it could not have come at a better time in light of the presidential inauguration. People are voting for officials who promise to punish everyday people for being victims — of poverty, racism, sexism, or any other issue with no easy solution.

Before you log onto X, formerly known as Twitter, to say how people are lazy, or that they had it coming, think about what you may not see behind the scenes. Question whether the problem the people you’re talking about have is a personal trouble or a public issue. And please, treat others the way you want to be treated. 

That’s how we make a “just world.”